Top economist made major contributions

Cheng Siwei, one of the country's leading economists and a former vice-chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, the country's top legislature, died of illness on July 12. He was 80.

Cheng was born in June 1935 in Hunan province. He was known as the father of China's ChiNext stock market, a Nasdaq-style board of fast-growing enterprises listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, and the man behind the development of the venture capital sector in the country.

In 1998, during a session of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, the country's top political advisory body, Cheng raised a crucial proposal to speed up the establishment of the venture capital market to foster the high-tech industry.