BEIJING, May 10 (Xinhua) -- Wu Wenying, a cotton spinner who rose to become a key Chinese cabinet minister and ran the country's textiles industry for a decade, has died at the age of 75, the government announced on Thursday.

    Wu died of illness in Beijing on April 26, according to a government obituary that described her as the former head of China National Textiles Council (CNTC), a post she held from 1993 until her retirement in May 2001.

    Wu started as a cotton spinner in a private textile factory in the eastern city of Changzhou. She joined the Communist Party in 1949 and won the honorable title of "Model Worker" of Changzhou in1950.

    In March 1983, Wu, at the age of 50, was promoted to the post of minister of textiles industry, becoming one of the few Chinese female leaders.

    Wu remained in the post for a decade until 1993 when the ministry was transferred to the China National Textiles Council during a major cabinet restructuring.

    She was a member of the 12th, 13th and 14th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.

    President Hu Jintao, Premier Wen Jiabao and other senior leaders have expressed their condolences over Wu's death.