Senior Chinese Christian leader dies

Bishop Ding Guangxun, a senior leader of the Christian community in China, died of illness at 10 a.m. Thursday in Nanjing, capital city of east China's Jiangsu Province.

Ding, born in September 1915, had been president and honorary president of the China Christian Council and acted as vice chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, China's top political advisory body.

Ding, an outstanding patriotic religious leader and well-known social activist, is regarded as a close friend of the Communist Party of China.