Tao Siliang

Tao Siliang (born April 1941) is a Chinese physician, politician and philanthropist. After a medical career in the People's Liberation Army hospital system, she worked in central government and later became a leading figure in civic and medical philanthropy.

Early life and education

Tao Siliang was born in April 1941 in Yan'an, Shaanxi, the wartime base of the Chinese Communist Party. Her ancestral home is Qiyang, Hunan. She is the daughter of Tao Zhu, a senior revolutionary leader of the Chinese Communist Party, and Zeng Zhi, a prominent organizational leader within the Party. In 1945, when her parents were ordered to move south to open new anti-Japanese guerrilla base areas, the four-year-old Tao was left at the Yan'an Nursery and entrusted to the care of veteran Red Army soldier Yang Shunqing. During her childhood and adolescence, she lived and studied in Guangzhou, where her parents worked in political roles.

In 1961, Tao entered the People's Liberation Army Second Military Medical University in Shanghai. She joined the Chinese Communist Party in 1965 and graduated in 1967 with a bachelor's degree in medicine. Beginning in 1968, she worked as a physician in several military hospitals, including the PLA No. 7 Hospital, the PLA No. 26 Hospital and the Air Force General Hospital. She practiced medicine for nearly two decades and attained the professional rank of attending physician.

Political and philanthrophy career In 1987, Tao was transferred to the United Front Work Department of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, where she worked as deputy director of the Sixth Bureau. In 1991, she left her position in government and entered the civic and non-profit sector. She currently serves as advisor to the China Mayors Association, honorary president of its women's mayor branch and founding chairperson of the Beijing Aier Public Welfare Foundation.

Tao was a specially invited member of the 10th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) from 2003 to 2008 and later was as a member of the 11th National Committee of the CPPCC from 2008 to 2013.

On the afternoon of 5 November 2022, amid the COVID-19 pandemic in China, Tao accompanied her husband by high-speed rail from Beijing to Huzhou to attend an event. To ensure a smooth return to Beijing, the couple underwent nucleic acid testing almost daily, but before returning, Tao discovered a pop-up alert on her Beijing Health Kit health code which prevented her entry into the city, while her husband's code remained unaffected. Over two days, she submitted multiple appeals and contacted public service hotlines without resolution. Tao publicly criticized the big-data contact tracing system as unprofessional and overly crude, questioning whether the Beijing Health Kit complied with the national policy of "precision epidemic prevention."

Honors Tao has received wide recognition for her contributions to public welfare. In 2015 she received a nomination award at the Ninth China Charity Award. In 2018 she was named "Public Welfare Figure of the Year" by China Newsweek. In 2019 she was selected among "70 People of 70 Years of Chinese Charity Brands." In 2020 she was named "Person of the Year" by China Philanthropist magazine.