Ku Ying-fen (1873-28 October 1931), prominent T'ung-meng-hui revolutionary in Kwangtung who became minister of finance in Sun Yat-sen's military government, commissioner of finance of Kwangtung, and superintendent of supplies at Canton. After the National Government was established, he held less important posts, and in 1931 he helped establish an opposition government at Canton.

Canton was the birthplace of Ku Ying-fen. His father, Ku Chieh-nan, was a merchant who had scholarly as well as commercial interests. The young Ku was encouraged to study the Chinese classics, and in 1902 he passed the examinations for the sheng-yuan degree. Two years later, he won a government scholarship for study in Japan. He went to Japan in the winter of 1904 and enrolled at Tokyo Law College.

In July 1905 he participated in the organizational meeting of the T'ung-meng-hui. By the end of 1907 the Japanese authorities had forced the T'ung-meng-hui to suspend most of its activities. Ku then returned to south China with Chu Chih-hsin (q.v.) to promote anti-Manchu activities and to teach at the Kwangtung facheng hsueh-t'ang [college of law and government]. Among his students were Ch'en Chiung-ming and Tsou Lu fqq.v.), who soon joined the T'ung-meng-hui. Ku's revolutionary activities escaped the notice of the Kwangtung authorities, who appointed him secretary to the provincial assembly.

Early in 1911 Ku Ying-fen went to Hong Kong to assist Huang Hsing and Hu Han-min (qq.v.) in planning an uprising at Canton. The uprising took place in April, but it was not a success. When the imperial authorities at Canton were overthrown on 9 November 1911, the republican revolutionaries elected Hu Han-min governor of Kwangtung, with KuYing-fen as secretary general of the military government. Ku became ch'iung-yai tupan [governor of Hainan island] in 1912. After the collapse of the so-called second revolution in 1913, he fled to Hong Kong.

The following year, he returned to Kwangtung and worked with Chu Chih-hsin and Teng K'eng (q.v.) to induce the outlaw bands known as min-ping [militia men] to rise against Lung Chi-kuang (q.v.), the governor of Kwangtung. Ku also made three trips to Southeast Asia to raise funds in overseas Chinese communities for the campaign against Yuan Shih-k'ai. The campaign ended with Yuan's death in June 1916.

Beginning in November 1918, Ku Ying-fen served under Ch'en Chiung-ming at Changchow, Fukien. He participated in Ch'en's 1920 campaign to wrest control of Kwangtung from the Kwangsi militarists and served as commissioner of political affairs for Kwantung after Ch'en became governor of Kwangtung in November. By the middle of 1921 Ch'en Chiung-ming's personal ambitions had begun to conflict with Sun Yat-sen's plans to unify China. Ku attempted to curb Ch'en's efforts to impede Sun's northern campaign, but without success. After the assassination of Teng K'eng at Canton in March 1922, Ku resigned from Ch'en's staff and went to Shanghai.

Ch'en Chiung-ming's forces took control of Canton in June. Acting on orders from Sun Yat-sen, Ku helped Teng Tse-ju (q.v.) and others to form an anti-Ch'en coalition. Troops from Yunnan and Kwangsi joined with Kwangtung forces which had remained loyal to Sun Yat-sen and drove Ch'en from Canton. In February 1923 Sun Yat-sen returned to Canton to reestablish his government.

On 24 February 1923 the Kwangsi commander Shen Hung-ying staged an attempt to assassinate a number of Kuomintang leaders at Canton. Ku Ying-fen immediately went to Chiangmen, where he established a command post and mobilized loyal Kwangtung Army forces. His decisive action prevented the Kwangsi forces from making any further attempts to take control of Canton and unified the Kuomintang military forces in Kwangtung. In August, Sun Yat-sen appointed Ku secretary general of the expeditionary headquarters for operations against Ch'en Chiung-ming, who was regrouping his forces in eastern Kwangtung. In November, Ch'en attacked Canton, but he was driven back to his stronghold in the East River Area.

On 23 September 1924 Sun Yat-sen appointed Ku Ying-fen minister of finance of the military government, commissioner of finance of Kwangtung province, and superintendent of military supplies at Canton. Ku's financial tasks were difficult and complex because a large part of Kwangtung was controlled by Yunnan, Hunan, and Kwangsi troops whose commanders appropriated the local tax revenues.

When the National Government was established at Canton in July 1925, Ku Ying-fen was elected to the Government Council, headed by Wang Ching-wei (q.v.). He also became commissioner of political affairs. The growing influence of the Communists, both Chinese and Russian, within the Kuomintang distressed Ku, and when the Nationalist authorities at Canton sent him to Kiangsi in October 1926 to bolster the morale of the Northern Expedition forces, he met with Chiang Kai-shek to discuss the possibilities of ending the Kuomintang alliance with the Communists. In March 1927 he went to Shanghai, where he participated in the Central Supervisory Committee meeting of 2 April which led to a drive against the Communists by the conservative wing of the Kuomintang.

When Chiang Kai-shek established a national government at Nanking in opposition to the left-Kuomintang government at Wuhan, Ku was made minister of finance and a member of the government's standing committee, headed by Hu Han-min q.v.). To help finance the Northern Expedition, he issued government bonds, which had a face value of China S20 million. He also established criteria for the imposition of local and national taxes. When Chiang Kai-shek retired from office in August 1927, Ku resigned from his posts and went to Japan with Teng Tse-ju. On his return, he settled in Hong Kong. On 16 December, he and Teng were asked by the Nationalist authorities to investigate Wang Ching-wei's role in the Canton Commune (see Chang T'ai-lei). Despite their long-standing friendship with Wang, they submitted a report which was highly critical of him.

Ku Ying-fen was appointed wen-kuan-chang [chief of civilian officials] in the new National Government which was inaugurated at Nanking on 10 October 1928. His chief task was to act as a mediator in disagreements between party factions. He endured the frustrations of this job until December 1930, when he announced that he was going to Canton for back surgery and left Nanking.

On 28 February 1931 Ku's friend and longtime associate Hu Han-min was placed under house arrest by Chiang Kai-shek. Ku and three other members of the Central Supervisory Committee of the Kuomintang—Lin Sen, Hsiao Fo-ch'eng, and Teng Tse-ju—issued a statement in April which called for the impeachment of Chiang Kai-shek. In May, Ku joined such political leaders as Sun Fo, Eugene Ch'en, T'ang Shao-yi (qq.v.), and Wang Ching-wei in establishing an opposition government at Canton. Ku served on both the government council and the standing committee at Canton.

The Canton regime was dissolved after the Japanese attack on Mukden in September created a national emergency. Hu Han-min was released on 14 October, and delegates from Canton and Nanking met in Shanghai later that month for peace talks. Although Ku had been named to the Canton delegation, he was prevented from going to Shanghai by illness. He died at Canton on 28 October 1931.