Gu Xiulian

Gu Xiulian
顾秀莲
Chairwoman of the All-China Women's Federation
In office 2003–2008
Preceded by	Peng Peiyun
Succeeded by	Chen Zhili
Minister of Chemical Industry
In office 1989–1998
Preceded by	Qin Zhongda
Succeeded by	Position abolished
Governor of Jiangsu
In office 1983–1989
Preceded by	Han Peixin
Succeeded by	Chen Huanyou
Personal details
Born	December 1936 (age 80) Nantong, Jiangsu, China
Political party	Communist Party of China
Children	2 sons
Alma mater	Shenyang College of Metallurgy and Mechanics

Gu Xiulian (Chinese: 顾秀莲; pinyin: Gù Xiùlián; born December 1936) is a retired Chinese politician who was the first female provincial governor in the People's Republic of China. She served as Governor of Jiangsu from 1983 to 1989, Minister of Chemical Industry from 1989 to 1998, Vice Chairwoman of the Standing Committee of the 10th National People's Congress, and Chairwoman of the All-China Women's Federation.

Gu Xiulian was born into a peasant family in Nantong, Jiangsu Province in December 1936. The eldest of five children, she helped her parents with household chores from a young age, and did not go to school until she was nine. She studied at Nantong Girls' Normal School and then Nantong Third High School, and was offered much help from the headmistress and a fellow student, to whom she showed much gratitude after her rise to prominence.

Gu finished junior high school in 1953, during the Korean War. As one of the many young women who were at the time recruited to train as cadres, she enrolled in a police school in Shenyang, northeast China, and became a policewoman in Benxi, Liaoning Province in October 1954. At the same time she also won trophies in basketball and attended night school to earn a high school diploma. She joined the Communist Party of China in September 1956. She entered Benxi Iron and Steel College in 1958, and then transferred to Shenyang College of Metallurgy and Mechanics.

After graduating in 1961, Gu was assigned to work in China's largest nickel mine of Jinchuan, in poverty stricken Gansu Province of northwest China. She was transferred to Beijing three years later, to join her husband who was working there. While in Beijing, she worked in the Ministry of Textile Industry.

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