Wan Li, a former top legislator, champion of China's agricultural reforms and driving force behind improvements to the country's legal system, died on Wednesday at age 99.

Born into a farmer's family in Shandong province in 1916, Wan joined the Communist Party of China before he turned 20 and eventually became chairman of the National People's Congress, the country's top legislature. He served in that position from 1988 to 1993.

Among his many contributions to the Party and the country were his efforts to build up the nation's railways, dissolve agricultural communes in the late 1970s and later oversee sweeping reforms that transformed the way farms were run.