Ch'en Chi-t'ang 陳濟棠 Ch'en Chi-t'ang (1890 - 3 November 1954), Cantonese military officer, became commander of the Fourth Army in 1928 and chief commander in Kwangtung in 1929. He was best known for helping create a state of nearautonomy at Canton as part of a movement against rule by Chiang Kai-shek, and he controlled Kwangtung until 1936. Fangcheng hsien, the county on the southwestern tip of the Kwangtung coast bordering Indo-China, was the birthplace of Ch'en Chit'ang. After completing his elementary education, he enrolled in the Kwangtung military elementary school at Whampoa, then received more advanced training at the short-course military academy at Canton. He began service as a platoon leader.

The year 1922, which marked Ch'en Chit'ang's emergence from obscurity, found him a battalion commander in the 4th Regiment, commanded by Ch'en Ming-shu (q.v.), of the Kwangtung Army. In that year Ch'en Chiungming (q.v.) moved against Sun Yat-sen and exerted pressure on all Cantonese units to join his move. Ch'en Ming-shu left his command, and Ch'en Chi-t'ang found himself temporarily in charge of the 4th Regiment. His men were then stationed along the West River, close to Kwangsi province. When Sun Yat-sen secured the aid of the Yunnan and Kwangsi armies led by Yang Hsi-min and Liu Chen-huan respectively to suppress Ch'en Chiung-ming, Tsou Lu (q.v.), the veteran Kuomintang leader, was sent by Sun to persuade the Cantonese troops in the western and southern sections of Kwangtung to rally to his support. On the strength of that incident Ch'en Chi-t'ang claimed comradeship in the revolutionary cause led by Sun. When Sun Yat-sen reestablished his authority over the Canton base in 1923, Li Chi-shen became overall commander of the Kwangtung forces, and Ch'en Chi-t'ang was assigned to command the 3rd Brigade under Li.

In 1925, when the National Government made plans for the Northern Expedition, all military forces under its control were reorganized and consolidated. The Kwangtung forces were formed into the Fourth Army, with Li Chi-shen in command. That army had four divisions, and Ch'en Chi-t'ang commanded the 11th Division. When the Northern Expedition was finally launched in the summer of 1926, Li Chi-shen remained at Canton to take charge of the rear base, and Ch'en Chi-t'ang and Hsu Ching-t'ang (13th Division) remained with him. On 1 August 1927, the Communists staged the unsuccessful insurrection at Nanchang, and some of the remnant forces moved toward Kwangtung with the objective of making it their new base. Ch'en Chi-t'ang moved his forces to intercept the Communists in the East River area. Ch'en Chi-t'ang remained loyal to Li Chi-shen in the ensuing struggle for control of Canton between Li and Chang Fa-k'uei (q.v.). In December 1927 the Communists moved to organize the Canton Commune in an attempt to exploit the confused situation. The revolt was quickly suppressed, however, and Chang Fak'uei, though not directly responsible for the Communist uprising, nevertheless found it expedient to leave the area.

In 1928 Li Chi-shen reestablished his authority in Kwangtung, taking the title of commander in chief of the Eighth Route Army, and Ch'en Chi-t'ang then became commander of the Fourth Army. Ch'en Ming-shu succeeded Li as the civil governor of Kwangtung toward the end of that year. In 1929 Li Chi-shen was charged with complicity in the revolt against Nanking's authority by the Kwangsi clique led by Li Tsung-jen and Pai Ch'ung-hsi (qq.v.) and was imprisoned in Nanking. Ch'en Chi-t'ang then took over the chief command in Kwangtung, bypassing Ch'en Ming-shu, who had been his superior officer. A rehabilitation conference in Nanking led to the reduction of the armies, with army units being reorganized as divisions, and divisions as brigades or regiments. Ch'en Chi-t'ang remained in effective command of the Kwangtung area.

Ch'en Chi-t'ang's star was rapidly rising, and in 1930 he was elected to the Central Executive Committee of the Kuomintang. He then appeared to be on good terms with the National Government at Nanking. That cordial relationship proved to be short-lived, however, and in the next few years Ch'en was to become one of the most formidable local authorities to challenge the power of the National Government. In May 1931 the arrest of Hu Han-min (q.v.) at Nanking by Chiang Kai-shek precipitated a major split in the Kuomintang. A number of political leaders opposed to Chiang, including Eugene Ch'en, Sun Fo, T'ang Shao-yi, and Wang Ching-wei (qq.v.), with the military support of Ch'en Chi-t'ang, and later of Li Tsung-jen and Pai Ch'ung-hsi of neighboring Kwangsi, established a secessionist government at Canton. Civil war threatened.

The Japanese invasion of Manchuria in September 1931 saved the situation; the Kuomintang leaders united against the Japanese. Nevertheless, though the Canton government was disbanded and some of the secessionists rejoined the National Government at Nanking, a state of autonomy persisted in Canton, and two semi-independent bodies were created, the southwest executive headquarters of the Kuomintang and the Southwest Political Council; they had self-assigned authority over the provinces of Kwangtung and Kwangsi. The two organs were supported by Hu Han-min and other Kuomintang veterans in the area, but the strong man was undoubtedly Ch'en Chi-t'ang. Ch'en had now assumed political power in addition to his military strength, and his position was enhanced by the support, nominal at least, of the two Kwangsi leaders Li Tsung-jen and Pai Ch'ung-hsi.

Ch'en Chi-t'ang then began to consolidate his strength and to expand his power. In practical terms, his effective rule embraced Kwangtung province alone, since the Kwangsi leaders were independent of Canton's authority. Ch'en first expanded his military establishment, building his original three divisions into three full armies and creating independent divisions commanded by trusted Cantonese military men. His elder brother, Ch'en Wei-chou, was placed in command of the revenue guards, consisting of six excellently equipped regiments. Although he had no naval strength, Ch'en Chi-t'ang began to build an air force. This he placed under the command of Huang Kuang-jui (q.v.), and for a time the Cantonese air force was regarded as a significant unit in national terms. Ch'en maintained an aviation academy for the training of his air force personnel and a military academy at Yen-t'ang, a suburb of Canton.

On the surface, relations between Canton and Nanking during the early 1930's remained normal. Nanking discreetly ignored the two semi-independent organs in Canton. Ch'en Chi-t'ang, for his part, continued relations with Nanking. He even received financial subsidies from the National Government. In 1933, when Nanking intensified its campaign against the Communists in Kiangsi, Ch'en Chi-t'ang was appointed deputy commander in chief of the suppression campaign, Chiang Kai-shek being the commander in chief. Later, following a reorganization of the anti-Communist forces, Ch'en was made commander in chief of the southern front. When the Communists embarked on the Long March in the autumn of 1934, he took steps to prevent their entry into Kwangtung territory. Aside from that action, however, he did not contribute energetically to the pursuit of the fleeing Communist forces. As Ch'en Chi-t'ang's military power expanded, his aspirations grew accordingly. In 1933 he announced a three-year economic development program for Kwangtung, claiming that his measures were in line with Sun Yat-sen's national development plans. In earlier years, under the regimes of Li Chi-shen and Ch'en Ming-shu, much had been achieved toward restoring order in the Kwangtung countryside, and a start had been made in building industrial enterprises. Ch'en Chi-t'ang, with his greater power and resources, was able to achieve more tangible results.

Economic development efforts were concentrated chiefly in the building of a number of sugar mills. The mill equipment was imported from Czechoslovakia. Ch'en also built a modern textile mill and other industrial concerns. The Kwangtung arsenal at Shihching was renovated and expanded, and a network of provincial roads was gradually developed. At Canton, "municipal public utilities were improved, a new bridge across the Pearl River was constructed, and an imposing new campus for Sun Yat-sen University was established in the neighboring suburb of Shekpai (Shihp'ai).

Ch'en Chi-t'ang also turned his attention to social matters. He sponsored a Neo-Confucian movement in south China, calling for the study of the Chinese classics in schools and for the payment of official homage to worthies of old, notably Kuan Yü, of the Three Kingdoms period, and Yueh Fei, the Sung dynasty hero. He also puritanically issued orders forbidding the wearing of short-sleeved gowns by women and took other measures designed to prevent excessive exposure of feminine charms. Ch'en was also credited with placing great faith in such arts as palmistry, physiognomy, and geomancy, and it was said that before deciding on a senior appointment he would have the candidate's physiognomy studied by an expert to see if the man would be reliable. He transferred the remains of his parents for interment at a site in Hua-hsien, Kwangtung, the native place of Hung Hsiu-ch'uan (ECCP, I, 361-67), the Taiping leader, because the chosen locality was considered propitious for the welfare of the descendants of people buried there. As the aggressive intentions of the Japanese became increasingly obvious, the problem of Canton's autonomy grew intolerable to Nanking. In turn, Ch'en Chi-t'ang, together with his associates Li Tsung-jen and Pai Ch'ung-hsi, attempted to attack Chiang Kai-shek by manipulating the issue of policy toward Japan to their advantage. Gradually, the situation approached a showdown. When Hu Han-min died in early 1936, Nanking decided that the time had come to put an end to Canton's insubordination. Ch'en Chi-t'ang, with the support of Li Tsungjen, attempted to forestall Nanking's action. He announced the dispatch of an expeditionary force northward, ostensibly to fight the Japanese in Manchuria, since Nanking would not do so. The troops of Kwangtung and Kwangsi did proceed northward and entered Hunan territory by June 1936, marching in the name of the so-called Anti-Japanese National Salvation Forces, of which Ch'en Chi-t'ang was commander in chief. However, there was no real popular support for Ch'en Chi-t'ang's cause. On 4 July, a group of Canton air force pilots took their planes and defected to the National Government. A decisive blow was dealt Ch'en on 8 July, when Yu Han-mou (q.v.), his ranking subordinate and commander of the First Army of Ch'en's group army, arrived in Nanking on the order of Chiang Kai-shek. Li Han-hun, a former subordinate of Chang Fa-k'uei and now Ch'en's pacification director in the East River area, also declared his loyalty to Nanking. Ch'en Chit'ang knew that his cause was lost, and he quietly left Canton aboard a British gunboat. The National Government dismissed Ch'en from all posts, appointed Yu Han-mou his successor, and officially abolished the southwest executive headquarters of the Kuomintang and the Southwest Political Council. The province of Kwangsi returned to the National Government's fold soon afterward, and the semündependent status of the two Kwang provinces was ended.

After a short stay in Hong Kong, Ch'en Chit'ang traveled to Europe, going first to Italy, but visiting many other countries as well. He returned to China after the war with Japan broke out in 1937. It was reported, though not confirmed officially, that he contributed a very large sum of money to the war chest of the government. In any case, the National Government appeared to have pardoned his past activities. On 22 July 1940 he was appointed minister of agriculture and forestry, a newly created position in the National Government at Chungking. He held that post until 1942. In the early war years, Ch'en spent considerable time in Hong Kong. He was there when the Japanese captured it in December 1941, but managed to escape and return to Chungking early in 1942. Ch'en Chi-t'ang then was promoted to membership in the standing committee of the Kuomintang Central Executive Committee. He was also appointed to membership on the Supreme National Defense Council. After the Japanese surrender, Ch'en Chi-t'ang went to live in Canton. There he began to take an active interest in education and, together with some former subordinates, founded Chuhai University. That institution was later moved to Hong Kong and reorganized as Chu-hai College.

Ch'en was called to the service of his country again in 1949, when the Chinese Communist armies were rapidly overrunning the mainland. In April 1949 the National Government reorganized the island of Hainan as a special district—its intention was to secure the island as a base for counterattack—and placed Ch'en Chi-t'ang in charge. Although Hainan was one of the least developed and most neglected areas in China, Ch'en set to work energetically to improve conditions, using personal funds to finance the local administration. However, the Nationalist authorities continued to neglect Hainan's requirements, and Chiang Kai-shek hoarded his military and financial assets on Taiwan. Meanwhile, the Communist drive southward moved with impressive speed, and despite Ch'en Chi-t'ang's well-intentioned and vigorous efforts, Hainan was captured in the spring of 1950.

Ch'en then retired to Taiwan. Having lost his military position, he was no longer a power in politics, but was given sinecure posts by Chiang Kai-shek. Ch'en's interest in education continued unabated, however, and he was planning the establishment of a school in Taiwan to commemorate Sun Yat-sen when he became ill late in 1954. He died at Taipei in November. In the early 1930's, Ch'en Chi-t'ang, because of his absolute authority, was not popular with the people of Kwangtung—he placed a heavy tax burden on them to support his military establishment and his economic development programs. His stern views on morality also attracted criticism. In retrospect, however,' it is possible to have a more charitable view of Ch'en Chi-t'ang's seven-year administration of Kwangtung province. Although taxation was heavy, there was relative economic stability, if not great prosperity. The countryside was peaceful, in sharp contrast to the earlier years of the republican period when banditry had been rife. And he did lay some foundations for industrial development, though much of that effort was nullified by the war with Japan. Ch'en's efforts in later years to promote education won the approval of all.