Li Xiannian (1909-1992), a native of Huang'an (now Hong'an) County, Hubei Province, joined the Communist Party of China in 1927. He was a member of the Seventh through Twelfth Central Committees, a member of the Political Bureau of the Eighth, Ninth and Tenth Central Committees, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Eleventh and Twelfth Central Committees and Vice-Chairman of the Eleventh. During the War of Liberation (1945-1949) he held the posts of Second Secretary of the Central Plains Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, Deputy Commander of the Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan Field Army and Second Deputy Commander of the Central Plains Military Command. After the People's Republic of China was founded in 1949, he served for a long time as Vice-Premier of the State Council and Minister of Finance. In 1983 he became President of the People's Republic. In 1988 he was elected Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.