Shen Yiqin

Shen Yiqin (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 Communist Party Secretary of Guizhou, a province in southwestern China, between November 2020 and December 2022.

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.

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. In April 2007, Shen became a member of the provincial Party Standing Committee of Guizhou and head of the provincial party propaganda department. In the 17th Party Congress at the end of 2007, Shen was appointed as an alternate member of the CCP Central Committee.

In May 2012, she was named Executive Vice Governor of Guizhou. Later that year, she was reappointed as an alternate member of the Central Committee in the 18th Party congress. In April 2015 she became Deputy Party Secretary of Guizhou and Secretary of Political and Legal Affairs Commission (Zhengfawei) of Guizhou. At the time of her appointment to the deputy party chief position, she became the second sitting female zhuanzhi deputy party secretary in the country, and the only female provincial Zhengfawei chief in the country.

In September 2017, Shen was appointed as the acting Governor of Guizhou. Shen Yiqin is the first female Governor of Guizhou, the first Governor of Bai ethnic heritage, and the first Governor to have been born in province since 1993. 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. 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.

On 25 October 2023, Shen was appointed as the President of the All-China Women's Federation (ACWF). 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".