China's ex-first lady dies at 85

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China's former first lady, Wang Guangmei, has reportedly died aged 85, although Chinese state media have not carried news of her death.

The widow of ex-president Liu Shaoqi died of heart and kidney failure at a Beijing military hospital on Friday, Taiwan's United Daily News reported.

Mrs Wang was jailed during the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), when she was accused of being an American spy.

After her release, she dedicated her life to poverty alleviation.

Mrs Wang's funeral will be held at Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery in western Beijing on Friday, Hong Kong's Beijing-funded Wen Wei Po newspaper said.

Ping-pong necklace

Tiananmen Square holds many memories of the revolutionChinese state media have not reported her death, apparently to avoid sparking memories of the Cultural Revolution.

On 16 May 1966, Chinese leader Mao Zedong launched his campaign. He warned that "representatives of the bourgeoisie" had infiltrated the Communist Party and intended to establish a dictatorship.

Hundreds of thousands died, millions more were brutalised and tortured, and much of China's cultural heritage was left in ruins.

Mrs Wang reportedly incurred the wrath of Mao's wife, Jiang Qing, for wearing a string of pearls at a time when fashion was considered decadent.

She was made to wear a necklace of ping-pong balls by the Red Guards when she was purged in 1967. She was then jailed for 12 years.

President Liu was also purged and died in prison in 1969. He was posthumously rehabilitated in 1980, four years after Mao's death.