艾莎2026年11月2日中国前副总理、曾任该国最高级别女官员之一的刘延东于上周三在北京逝世。 Stanley Chou/Getty ImagesLiu Yandong, one of the few women to reach the upper echelons of the Chinese Communist Party, but whose career also illustrated the limits for women in China’s ruling elite, died on Wednesday in Beijing. She was 80.刘延东是极少数几位跻身中国共产党高层的女性之一，但其职业生涯也凸显了中国统治精英阶层中女性所面临的局限。她于上周三在北京逝世，享年80岁。Her death, after a long illness, was reported by the state news agency Xinhua and confirmed by her family.据官方通讯社新华社报道，她因长期患病去世，其家属已证实这一消息。 Ms. Liu’s revolutionary pedigree, prestigious education and time toiling in a factory helped pave the way for her rise in the 1980s. As one of just six women to have ever served on the Politburo, the party’s elite policymaking body, she demonstrated what women in politics could achieve, spearheading diplomatic efforts and gaining recognition for her personal approach.刘延东的革命家世、名校教育背景，以及在工厂辛勤工作的经历为她在20世纪80年代的崛起铺平了道路。作为迄今为止仅有的六位曾任该党最高决策机构中共中央政治局委员的女性之一，她展示了女性在政治领域可以取得的成就，不仅领导了外交工作，并因其个人作风而获得认可。Yet her portfolio of duties overseeing education, science and technology, health and women’s and children’s affairs — some of which are typically relegated to female politicians — underscored the constraints on that power.然而，她负责的教育、科技、卫生以及妇女儿童事务——其中部分职责通常被视为女性政界人士的领域——恰恰凸显了这种权力的局限性。In its announcement of her death, Xinhua eulogized Ms. Liu as “an excellent Party member, a time-tested and loyal communist fighter” and praised her for her work on the Politburo. But her position on that committee — the party’s second-most powerful group — which she joined in 2007, was not evidence of a liberalizing Communist Party, said Minglu Chen, an associate professor at the University of Sydney who studies gender and politics in China.在宣布她逝世的讣告中，新华社称赞刘延东为“优秀党员，久经考验的忠诚的共产主义战士”，并赞扬了她在政治局的工作。但悉尼大学研究中国性别与政治的副教授陈明璐表示，她于2007年任职于政治局——党内第二大权力机构——并不能证明共产党正在走向自由化。在韩国平昌举行的2018年冬季奥运会闭幕式上，刘延东与年轻的参赛者们在一起。“The party leadership has always been a boys’ club,” Ms. Chen said, noting that three of the six women who have reached the Politburo were also charged with overseeing health and women’s and children’s policy, areas that have traditionally been considered softer. Today, there are no women in the Politburo.“党的领导层一直是一个男性俱乐部，”陈明璐说。她指出，曾进入政治局的六名女性中，有三名被安排兼管卫生和妇女儿童政策，这些领域传统上被认为较为软性。如今，政治局中已没有女性。Ms. Liu was born on Nov. 22, 1945, and grew up in Nantong, a city in the coastal province of Jiangsu. As the daughter of Liu Ruilong, a military commander and former vice minister of agriculture, she was what is known as a princeling, or a descendant of a senior party official. That may have given her a keener sense of political strategy than her peers. But she began to carve a path in politics only after studying engineering at Tsinghua University, and then working in factories for a decade in the 1970s.刘延东出生于1945年11月22日，在沿海省份江苏省的南通市长大。作为军事指挥官、前农业部副部长刘瑞龙的女儿，她属于所谓的“太子党”，即中共高级官员的后代。这或许使她比同龄人更具政治战略眼光。但直到她在清华大学学习工程学，随后在20世纪70年代在工厂工作十年之后，她才开始在政坛开辟自己的道路。She took a job in the municipal government in Beijing in 1980 and, not long after, joined the Communist Youth League, a training ground for many of China’s top leaders. It was there that she started to be groomed for a political career, and where she got to know Hu Jintao, who was China’s president from 2003 until 2013.1980年，她在北京市政府工作，不久之后加入了共青团中央，这是许多中国最高领导人的训练营。正是在那里，她开始为政治生涯接受培养，并结识了2003年至2013年担任中国国家主席的胡锦涛。It was not until 2002, when Ms. Liu became head of the United Front, which works to make alliances outside the party, that she started amassing broader political influence. China had just joined the World Trade Organization, opening the country to international trade and the global economy.直到2002年，刘延东出任致力于在党外结成联盟的统战部部长后，她才开始积累更广泛的政治影响力。当时中国刚刚加入世界贸易组织，向国际贸易和全球经济开放。Her approach to her own work reflected that outward turn. In the United Front, Ms. Liu took her responsibility for building relationships beyond the party seriously. She drew acclaim during a 2006 visit to Mount Sanqing, in Jiangxi Province, when she insisted on climbing the mountain to the summit, beyond the reach of the cable cars, in order to meet with Taoist priests, who said “they had never seen such a high-ranking official before,” according to state media.她的工作方式反映了这种向外看的转变。在统战部，刘延东认真履行了她在党外建立关系的责任。2006年，她在访问江西省三清山时赢得了赞誉，当时她坚持徒步爬上缆车无法到达的山顶去会见道士，据官方媒体报道，这些道士说他们“从未见过这么大的官”。The following year, Ms. Liu was promoted to the Politburo, and in 2013 she became a vice premier, among the country’s highest-ranking officials.次年，刘延东晋升为政治局委员，并于2013年出任国务院副总理，跻身该国最高级别官员之列。During that period, as trade between China and the United States was booming and their economies were growing more intertwined, Ms. Liu became known for cultivating deeper cultural ties between the two countries. Together with Hillary Clinton, then the secretary of state, she led an initiative in 2010 to deepen the bilateral relationship beyond trade into areas like education and sports.在此期间，随着中美贸易的蓬勃发展，两国经济日益交织，刘延东因致力于深化两国文化联系而闻名。2010年，她与时任美国国务卿希拉里·克林顿共同领导了一项倡议，旨在将双边关系从贸易深化到教育和体育等领域。During her visit to Beijing to announce the program, known as the China-U.S. High Level Consultation on People-to-People Exchange, Mrs. Clinton quipped, “I think Madam Liu and I are going to revive the ping pong diplomacy.” She was referring to the visit of American table tennis players to China in 1971 that helped pave the way for the two countries to restore relations after years of Cold War tensions.在希拉里·克林顿访问北京，宣布这一被称为“中美人文交流高层磋商”的项目时，她打趣说：“我想刘女士和我将重振乒乓外交。”她指的是1971年美国乒乓球运动员访华一事，这为两国在多年的冷战紧张局势后恢复关系铺平了道路。2010年，刘延东在北京与时任国务卿希拉里·克林顿合影。Ms. Liu later gave Mrs. Clinton a photograph of her father, telling her that he had rescued American pilots during World War II. Mrs. Clinton said she would hang it in her office.刘延东后来送给希拉里·克林顿一张自己父亲的照片，并告诉她，她父亲在二战期间曾营救过美国飞行员。希拉里说她会把照片挂在自己的办公室里。Ms. Liu also oversaw planning for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, and under China’s current leader, Xi Jinping, helped support the development of computer chips, semiconductor manufacturing equipment and high-end manufacturing, helping to lay the foundation for China’s increasingly dominant position in areas like electric vehicles. She also worked to lower the steep cost of drugs and oversaw reforms of public hospitals.刘延东还曾主管2008年北京奥运会的筹备工作，并在中国现任领导人习近平的领导下，协助支持了计算机芯片、半导体制造设备和高端制造业的发展，帮助中国在电动汽车等领域日益占据主导地位奠定基础。她还致力于降低高昂的药品成本，并主管了公立医院改革。She had the leadership style of “a cautious, dependable administrator operating within a strongly hierarchical system,” said Fubing Su, a professor of political science at Vassar College. “She projected steadiness rather than charisma, rarely asserting a distinctive personal identity or an agenda of her own,” he added.瓦萨学院政治学教授苏福兵表示，她的领导风格是“在等级森严的体制内运作的谨慎可靠管理者”。他还说：“她展现出的是稳健而非个人魅力，很少彰显鲜明的个人色彩或提出自己的议程。”To climb the ranks of the Communist Party, officials must demonstrate that they can strengthen the economy in cities and provinces under their purview. Women, however, are almost never given those jobs, said Dali Yang, a professor of political science at the University of Chicago.为了在共产党内晋升，官员们必须证明他们能够巩固其管辖下省市的经济。然而，芝加哥大学政治学教授杨大利指出，女性几乎从未被委以这类重任。Despite those limits, Ms. Liu made significant strides. But a woman has never been on the Standing Committee, the highest decision-making body in China.尽管存在这些限制，刘延东还是取得了重大成就。但是，至今从未有女性进入过中国最高决策机构——政治局常务委员会。“If she had been a man,” said Professor Yang, “she would most likely have made it to the Politburo Standing Committee.”“如果她是男性，”杨大利说，“她极有可能进入政治局常委会。”Murphy Zhao对本文有研究贡献。艾莎(Alexandra Stevenson)是《纽约时报》记者，主要报道中国经济及其在全球的影响。翻译：纽约时报中文网点击查看本文英文版。