By Deng Jingyin

Lei Jieqiong, a woman known for her colorful political, educational, legislative and academic life, died in Beijing on Sunday.

She was 106.

Lei was a renowned sociologist and the founder of the Central Committee of China Association for Promoting Democracy, one of eight legally-recognized political parties in the People's Republic of China that follow the direction of the Communist Party of China and are members of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.

Lei was one of 11 people sent to Nanjing in June 1946 by the Shanghai Union of People's Associations to petition the Kuomintang authorities to avoid a civil war.

She once discussed the founding of New China with Mao Zedong and was invited to be present at the Founding Ceremony.

She also participated in the preparation of the China University of Political Sciences and Law in Beijing.

Modern woman
Born to a rich family in Canton – or  Guangzhou – in 1905, Lei received a good education influenced by her father Lei Zichang, an overseas Chinese returned from the US.

According to Lei Wanyan, Lei's niece who took care of her until the last minute, Lei's father was overjoyed by his daughter's birth.

Lei Zichang did not discriminate against girls at a time when discrimination was then the societal modus operandi.

It was also rare for girls to go to school. Lei's family sent her to study at the Guangzhou Women's Normal School where Lei was engrafted with progressive ideas laying a foundation for the road she chose later.

She was also proud of riding a bike on the streets in Guangzhou, also rejected by traditional culture at that time, since girls were expected to stay at home, learn needlework and wait for marriage.

After actively participating in the May Fourth Movement that grew out of anti-imperialist student demonstrations of 1919, Lei went to study in Los Angeles and received a master's degree of sociology at the University of Southern California in 1931.

Then she came back to China and began teaching sociology at Yenching University, the predecessor to Peking University.

Having taught for more than 70 years, Lei once said "of all my titles, ‘professor' is the one I like most."

She and her peers established the China Association for Promoting Democracy on December 12, 1945.

Her active participation in democratic movements demonstrated her decision to devote herself to the pursuit of democracy," said Association Chairwoman Yan Junqi.

After meeting Mao Zedong in Xibaipo in 1949, Lei chose to cooperate with the Communists and discussed the founding of New China with Party leaders.

Political Consultative Conference
She attended the Political Consultative Conference as an Association  representative in September 1949 before the founding of new China, participating in the drafting of the Organic Law of the Central People's Government.

She went to Tiananmen Square on October 1, 1949 when she was 44, to witness the birth of a new era.

After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Lei served as vice-chairwoman of the country's top advisory body the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and vice-chairwoman of the standing committee of the National People's Congress.

Lei received a new task later: To establish a political science and law college in China. In 1952, she became the vice dean of studies at the China University of Political Sciences and Law in Beijing.

She was not targeted by the late 1950s anti-rightist campaign, although many of her close friends were persecuted.

Cultural Revolution
During the 1966-1976 Cultural Revolution, Lei and her husband Yan Jingyao were sent to the countryside with other students and teachers to reform through labor.
In 1972, she returned to the campus at the age of 67.

Lei became a deputy mayor of Beijing at the age of 74 in 1979. During her four years in office, she reopened temples and churches closed during the Cultural Revolution.

Besides her many political posts such as vice chairwoman of the Sixth National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and vice chairwoman of the standing committees of the Seventh and Eighth National People's Congress, Lei also served as deputy director of the Law Committee of the National People's Congress.

From 1985 to 1993, she rushed around cities soliciting opinions from the experts and the public for drafting the Hong Kong and Macao Basic Law.

In 1997, she attended Hong Kong's handover ceremony at the age of 91.

Lei's primary concern was always education: She participated in the drafting of the Education Law and the Compulsory Education Law.

Her life is a vital page in book on the life of modern China.