Chinese women have played an important role in politics as the number and proportion of female cadres are at "historic" levels, an official of the All-China Women's Federation said on Wednesday.

Huang Qingyi, vice president of the federation, told a press conference before the Tenth National Women's Congress, which will be held from Oct. 28 to 31, that there are eight female senior officials of the central authorities.

They are Liu Yandong, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and state councilor; Uyunqimg, Chen Zhili and Yan Junqi, vice chairwomen of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), China's top legislature; and Zhang Meiying, Zhang Rongming, Lin Wenyi and Wang Zhizhen, vice chairwomen of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).

Five years ago, before the Ninth National Women's Congress, the number was seven.

Huang said there are more than 230 female ministerial or provincial officials.

Female deputies comprise 21.33 percent of the current 11th NPC, an increase of 1.09 percentage points from the previous congress, and women account for 17.7 percent in the National Committee of the 11th CPPCC, up 1 percentage points, according to Huang.

Female officials account for more than 40 percent of all officials, Huang said.

The numbers and proportions are at historically high levels, she added.

(Xinhua News Agency September 24, 2008)