BEIJING, May 10 (Xinhua) -- Tao Dayong, a well-known Chinese economist and also honorary vice chairman of the ninth Central Committee of China Democratic League (CDL), has died of illness at the age of 93.

President Hu Jintao, Premier Wen Jiabao and other senior leaders, including Jia Qinglin, Li Changchun, Xi Jinping, Li Keqiang and Zhou Yongkang, expressed their condolences.

Tao, a native of Shanghai, graduated in 1940 from the Department of Economics of the Nanjing-based Central University.

He joined the China Democratic League in 1947 and became chief editor of the Economic Weekly, a magazine published by the Hong Kong-based Chinese language newspaper Wen Wei Po in 1949.

Tao was a member of the sixth, seventh, and eighth National People's Congress Standing Committee and a member of the Standing Committee of the Sixth National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.