Cheng Siyuan, former vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), died of illness in Beijing Thursday. He was 97.

An official obituary calls him a "noted patriotic figure of non-party affiliation, an outstanding statesman, and a close friend to the Communist Party of China."

Cheng served as a vice chairman of the Eighth and Ninth NPC Standing Committees and a vice chairman of the Seventh National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.

Source: Xinhua