Shen Yiqin

In this Chinese name, the family name is Shen.

Shen Yiqin (Chinese: 谌贻琴; pinyin: Shèn Yíqín; born 15 December 1959) is a Chinese politician of Bai ethnic heritage who is currently a state councilor and President of the All-China Women's Federation since 2023. She previously served as the Party Secretary of Guizhou, a province in southwestern China, between November 2020 and December 2022.

Shen Yiqin
谌贻琴
Shen in 2023
State Councilor of China
Incumbent
Assumed office 12 March 2023 Serving with Wang Xiaohong and Wu Zhenglong
Premier	Li Qiang
President of the All-China Women's Federation
Incumbent
Assumed office 25 October 2023
Preceded by	Shen Yueyue
Party Secretary of Guizhou
In office 20 November 2020 – 9 December 2022
Deputy	Li Bingjun (Governor)
General Secretary	Xi Jinping
Preceded by	Sun Zhigang
Succeeded by	Xu Lin
Governor of Guizhou
In office 6 September 2017 – 24 November 2020
Preceded by	Sun Zhigang
Succeeded by	Li Bingjun
Personal details
Born	(1959-12-15) 15 December 1959 (age 65) Zhijin County, Guizhou
Political party	Chinese Communist Party
Alma mater	Guizhou University

Shen is the third female provincial-level party chief since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949 after Wan Shaofen and former Vice Premier Sun Chunlan.

Early life and education

Shen was born in Zhijin County, Guizhou. Shen belonged to a group of sent-down youth in the latter years of the Cultural Revolution. After the Cultural Revolution ended, she began studying history at Guizhou University. After graduating, she was sent to work for the provincial party school in Guizhou as a lecturer. She later became a human resources manager there. In 1998, she became vice president of the Guizhou party school. In 1999, she became Vice Chair of the Guizhou Social Sciences Academic Association.

Political career

Guizhou

In December 2001, Shen became deputy party chief of Qiannan Buyei and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, then deputy party chief and head commissioner (mayor) of Tongren.^[1] In April 2007, Shen became a member of the provincial Party Standing Committee of Guizhou and head of the provincial party propaganda department.^[2] In the 17th Party Congress at the end of 2007, Shen was appointed as an alternate of the CCP Central Committee.

In May 2012, she was named Executive Vice Governor of Guizhou.^[3] Later that year, she was reelected as an alternate of the Central Committee in the 18th Party congress. In April 2015 she became Deputy Secretary and the Political and Legal Affairs Commission (Zhengfawei) Secretary of CCP Guizhou Committee.^[4] At the time of her appointment to the deputy party chief position, she became the fifth and the last post-55 (born from 1955 to 1959 inclusive) female deputy secretary of provincial CCP committee, and the first female provincial Zhengfawei chief in the country.^[5]

In September 2017, Shen Yiqin was appointed as the acting Governor of Guizhou, the first female, the first person of Bai ethnic heritage and the first Guizhou-born person since 1993 on this duty.^[6] Later that year, in the 19th Party Congress, Shen was appointed as a full member of the Central Committee.

In November 2020, Shen was appointed as the CCP Secretary of Guizhou.^[7] She was reappointed as a member of the Central Committee in the 20th Party Congress.

State Council

In March 2023, Shen was appointed as a state councilor and in charge of human resource affairs, social affairs, civil affairs, women and children affairs and ethnic affairs.^[8]

On 25 October 2023, Shen was appointed as the President of the All-China Women's Federation (ACWF).^[8] Later that month, in an article in the Party's top theoretical journal Qiushi, Shen wrote that women must contribute to the “great cause of national rejuvenation and demonstrate the power of half the sky”, continuing by writing the work of women and the ACWF should always follow "the correct political path and the party’s lead".^[8]