Chinese women have more of a say in politics, with more than 200 of them in top positions such as governors and cabinet ministers, a senior official announced yesterday.

The rise echoes former Chinese leader Mao Zedong's claim that "women should hold up half of the sky."

The proportion of female officials at various levels of government and state institutions has risen to 40 percent, Huang Qingyi, vice president and first secretary of the All-China Women's Federation Secretariat, told a press conference.

"The participation of women in politics has increased enormously," Huang remarked, noting that currently there are nine female state leaders.

These important women include Wu Yi, vice premier and member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, State Councilor Chen Zhili, along with He Luli, Gu Xiulian and Uyunqimg, all vice chairwomen of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, the country's top legislature.

Since 2001, five women have been promoted to high profile positions, Huang added.

At the end of 2005, there were 241 women in ministerial posts, key provincial decision-making positions, or in equally important posts at state agencies.

China has a long history of preference toward men, and only a few women managed to squeeze themselves into positions of power during the country's feudal past. Generations of Chinese women were once forced to bind their feet, a kowtow to the culture at the time that appreciated the "beauty" of small feet.

The position of women in Chinese society started to rise since the Communist Party came to power.

This opened opportunities for women, even from the grassroots of society, to climb up the political ladder.

Huang, 63, is a good example.

She was a horticulture technician in the central Henan Province in the early 1980s. Over the past two decades, she has held positions as a gardening researcher, vice head of an agricultural science institute and vice director of the Organization Department of the Communist Party.

Today, Huang is also the vice chairperson of the National Working Committee on Children and Women under the State Council and a member of the CPC Central Committee.

(Xinhua News Agency May 16, 2007)