BEIJING, Aug. 4(Xinhuanet)-- Cheng Siyuan, former vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress(NPC),was cremated at the Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery in Beijing Thursday.

Cheng died of illness in Beijing on July 28 at the age of 97.

Chairman of the NPC Standing committee Wu Bangguo, Chinese Vice President Zeng Qinghong and other senior officials were at the cemetery to bid farewell to the remains of Cheng Siyuan. They alsoexpressed condolences to Cheng's families.

Chinese President Hu Jintao, Premier Wen Jiabao and other state top leaders showed consolation for Cheng when he was in hospital and extended condolence after his death.

An official obituary called Cheng a"noted patriotic figure ofnon-party affiliation, an outstanding statesman, and a close friend to the Communist Party of China."

Cheng served as a vice chairman of the Eighth and Ninth NPC Standing Committees and a vice chairman of the Seventh National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.

Cheng, born in a village in Binyang County of Guangxi on Aug. 22, joined the National Revolutionary Army to battle against warlords in 1926. He studied in Italy and got a doctoral degree inpolitical science between 1930 and 1934.

Cheng had worked successively on important positions of the Chinese Kuomintang(KMT) Party, the ruling party in China then. Hebecame a columnist for a newspaper in Hong Kong after resigning asa deputy secretary of the KMT central committee in July, 1949.

Cheng returned to the Chinese mainland in 1965, accompanying the couple of former KMT leader Li Zongren. He had since worked successively as a leader of national organizations for promoting the reunification of the motherland and international cooperation in the fields of science and technology. Enditem