Ch'en Ming-shu 陳銘樞 Ch'en Ming-shu (1890 - 15 May 1965), prominent Kwangtung military man, commanded the Eleventh Army, was civil governor of Kwangtung from 1929 to 1931, and in 1931 took command of the Nineteenth Route Army. He was best known for leading the Fukien revolt in November 1933. In 1949 hejoined the Peking government, but came under Communist censure as a rightist in 1957. A native of Kwangtung, Ch'en Ming-shu was born in Hop'u hsien, a district in the southwest of the province noted as the birthplace of several local military leaders. He came from a family of fair means and received a basic education. Like many other ambitious young men of that period, he decided on a military career and enrolled in the Kwangtung military elementary school. At the age of 18 he was promoted to the Nanking Military Middle School. There he was exposed to republican revolutionary propaganda, and he became a member of the local branch of the T'ung-meng-hui. After the Wuchang revolt of 10 October 1911, Ch'en left to follow Sung Chiao-jen (q.v.) and other revolutionary leaders to Wuchang. In the following month he joined the army of the local Cantonese military leader Yao Yü-p'ing, which then constituted part of the revolutionary forces that were besieging the imperial garrison under Chang Hsün (q.v.) at Nanking. After the fall of Nanking on 2 December, Ch'en accompanied Yao's troops in pursuing Chang Hsün as far as Hsuchow. After the establishment of the republic, Ch'en Ming-shu continued his military training at the Paoting Military Academy. In 1915, when the monarchical aspirations of Yuan Shih-k'ai became apparent, Ch'en returned to Kwangtung, and he took part in a plot to bomb Yuan's henchman Lung Chi-kuang (q.v.) , who was then governor of the province. The plot was discovered, however, and Ch'en was thrown into jail. He escaped and went to Japan. There he took up the study of political economy. Little is known about Ch'en's movements during the next five years. He reportedly spent much of this period in Japan, although one source indicates that in 1917 he returned to Kwangtung, where the Kwangsi militarists then held power, and set himself up as head of an independent battalion in the Yang-chiang area of the southern coast of the province. Late in 1920 when Ch'en Chiung-ming (q.v.) regained control of Canton for the Kuomintang, his chief of staff, Teng K'eng (q.v.), organized the 1st Division of the Kwangtung Army. Ch'en Mingshu was assigned to command the division's 4th Regiment. In 1921 he participated in the successful campaign against the Kwangsi generals. In 1922, when Ch'en Chiung-ming broke with Sun Yat-sen, Ch'en Ming-shu was faced with a conflict of loyalities and left his troops. The 4th Regiment, then controlled by Ch'en Chiung-ming, came under the command of his subordinate Ch'en Chi-t'ang (q.v.). After the Kuomintang reorganization in early 1924, Ch'en Ming-shu returned to active military service as commander of the First Brigade ofthe Kwangtung Army's First Division, under Li Chi-shen (q.v.), and in 1925 he took part in the final phase of the eastern expedition against Ch'en Chiung-ming. In that campaign Ch'en Ming-shu was responsible for suppressing the forces of Teng Pan-yin, which were harassing the Haifeng area of eastern Kwangtung. After the formation of the National Government at Canton in 1925, a general reorganization of the military forces under the regime was carried out. The former Kwangtung Army was reorganized as the Fourth Army, with Li Chi-shen as commander, and Ch'en Ming-shu was assigned to command the 10th Division in Li Chi-shen's army. Early in 1926 on the eve of the launching of the Northern Expedition, Ch'en Ming-shu and Pai Ch'ung-hsi (q.v.) were sent on a mission to Hunan to persuade T'ang Sheng-chih (q.v.) to ally himself with the Nationalist cause. That mission was successful, and T'ang Sheng-chih's support enabled the forces of the National Revolutionary Army to make a decisive start on their move northward.

At the beginning of the Northern Expedition in the summer of 1926, Li Chi-shen, commanding the Fourth Army, remained behind to cover the rear base at Canton. However, as deputy commander ofthe Fourth Army and commander of its 10th Division, Ch'en Ming-shu was ordered to advance northward into Hunan with the 12th Division of Chang Fa-k'uei (q.v.). In August these two units gained nation-wide attention for their part in the Nationalist victory over the forces of Wu P'ei-fu (q.v.) at Ting-ssuch'iao in southern Hupeh. _ In September when Chiang Kai-shek, commander in chief of the National Revolutionary Army, transferred the First Army from the Hunan front to Kiangsi, he ordered Ch'en Ming-shu to assume charge of the siege of Wuchang. In October, Ch'en's forces, which included the Fourth Army's 10th and 12th divisions and two regiments of T'ang Shengchih's army, captured Wuchang. After the three Wuhan cities had been occupied by Nationalist troops, Ch'en Ming-shu was named garrison commander of the area and head of the training department of the general political department, then under the over-all direction of Teng Yen-ta (q.v.) . With the continuing success of the Northern Expedition, the National Revolutionary Army was considerably expanded. The Fourth Army's 10th Division was enlarged to form a new Eleventh Army, with Ch'en Ming-shu as its commander.

As garrison commander at Wuhan, Ch'en Ming-shu acted as a curb to the rising political ambitions of T'ang Sheng-chih in Hunan and Hupeh. Early in 1927, after Wuhan had become the temporary seat of the National Government, increasing friction arose between the two military leaders. As tension also mounted between the Wuhan regime and Chiang Kai-shek's headquarters at Nanchang, T'ang Sheng-chih allied himself with the Communist and Kuomintang leftist elements at Wuhan. In March 1927, with their political support, he succeeded in driving Ch'en Ming-shu from the area. Meanwhile, Chiang Kai-shek's forces had advanced from Nanchang to Nanking and Shanghai. When the differences with the Wuhan regime became insurmountable, Chiang established a rival government at Nanking. At about that time the Eleventh Army, then under Ts'ai T'ing-k'ai (q.v.) and under the over-all command of Chang Fa-k'uei, moved into Kiangsi province and was in the Nanchang area when the Communist leaders Ho Lung and Yeh T'ing (qq.v.) led the Nanchang insurrection of 1 August 1927. After the failure of that uprising, Ts'ai T'ing-k'ai was forced to join the Communist forces on their march from Nanchang southward to Kwangtung, but he succeeded in extricating himself and led units of the Eleventh Army into Fukien. At the urgent request of Ts'ai T'ing-k'ai, Ch'en Ming-shu proceeded immediately to Fukien and resumed his former command.

By this time the Communist-led forces from Nanchang had been routed in Kwangtung. Chang Fa-k'uei, who had moved his army back to Kwangtung, then staged a coup at Canton with the objective of ousting Li Chi-shen. Acting on Li Chi-shen's order, Ch'en Ming-shu moved his troops southward, defeated Chang Fa-k'uei's forces in the East River area, and helped to restore Li Chi-shen to power at Canton. In 1928 the military units in Kwangtung were organized as the Eighth Route Army, with Li Chi-shen named commander in chief. Ch'en Ming-shu's authority expanded, and his military power was confirmed when he was continued as commander of the Eleventh Army. He was also made a member of the Canton branch of the Central Political Council and a member of the Kwangtung provincial government council. Late in 1928, when Li Chi-shen relinquished his position as chairman of the Kwangtung provincial government, Ch'en Ming-shu was appointed to that post. In 1929 Ch'en was also elected to the Central Executive Committee of the Kuomintang. Early in 1929 Li Chi-shen encountered political difficulties with the central authorities and was imprisoned at Nanking. At this juncture Ch'en Chi-t'ang took over the chief military command in Kwangtung as commander in chief of the Eighth Route Army, bypassing Ch'en Ming-shu, who had been his superior officer. Ch'en Ming-shu, however, remained chairman of the Kwangtung provincial government. He formulated plans for the economic development of the province, and though his achievements were limited, he did lay the foundations for a network of modern roads in Kwangtung. Ch'en Ming-shu's Eleventh Army was reduced to two divisions, commanded by Chiang Kuang-nai (q.v.) and Ts'ai T'ing-k'ai, and transferred to Kiangsi to participate in the campaigns against the Communists. These divisions were soon reorganized into the Nineteenth Route Army. In May 1931 the detention of the elder statesman Hu Han-min (q.v.) by Chiang Kai-shek precipitated a major split in the Kuomintang. A number of political and military leaders opposed to Chiang Kai-shek met at Canton and decided to establish a rival government there. Ch'en Ming-shu refused to participate in the southern revolt, resigned his chairmanship of the Kwangtung provincial government, and left Canton for Hong Kong. In Hong Kong a fire broke out in Ch'en's hotel, and he jumped from the window, injuring his legs. Ch'en thereafter walked with a limp.

Nanking rewarded Ch'en's loyalty by naming him commander in chief of the anti-Communist forces in Kiangsi, an appointment which, in effect, restored him to direct control of the Nineteenth Route Army.

The threat of civil war between Canton and Nanking was averted by the Japanese invasion of Manchuria in September 1931. Ch'en Mingshu then accompanied the veteran Kuomintang leaders Chang Chi and Ts'ai Yuan-p'ei (qq.v.) to Canton to initiate peace talks, which proved successful. When the reorganized National Government was formed at Nanking in December 1931 with Sun Fo as president of the Executive Yuan, Ch'en Ming-shu was named vice president of the Executive Yuan and, concurrently, minister of communications. Earlier, in November 1931, he had been appointed garrison commander of the metropolitan Shanghai area, where the Nineteenth Route Army had been transferred for garrison duty. In January 1932 the Nineteenth Route Army gained international attention through its stubborn fight against the Japanese at Shanghai. While the heroes of the day were Chiang Kuang-nai, Tai Chi, and Ts'ai T'ing-k'ai, who were in direct command of the combat operations, Ch'en Ming-shu shared in the glory because he was the over-all chief of the force. Unfortunately, the public acclaim given the Nineteenth Route Army for its patriotic stand was not shared by the jealous top authorities at Nanking. The Nineteenth Route Army was soon transferred to Fukien province. Meanwhile, during his years as civil governor of Kwangtung and particularly during his stay at Shanghai, Ch'en Ming-shu had nursed personal political ambitions. During 1931 and 1932 he organized a small Social Democratic party at Shanghai which included a number of intellectuals referred to in China as armchair socialists. He also financed the establishment of a publishing house, the Shen-chou kuo-kuangshe, which issued magazines and books on socialism. Some reports allege that Ch'en Ming-shu had been influenced by the views held by Teng Yen-ta, director of the general political department of the National Revolutionary Army at Wuhan, with whom Ch'en had been associated in 1927. Teng had become one of the leaders of the Third party, which opposed the Nanking government; he was arrested and executed by Nanking in November 1931 about the time that Ch'en Ming-shu began to organize his small socialist movement. As minister of communications in the National Government in the early part of 1932, Ch'en Ming-shu found himself implicated in cases of corruption in the China Merchants Steam Navigation Company and in the telecommunications service, both under the jurisdiction of his ministry. These problems, combined with the suspicions aroused by the exploits of the Nineteenth Route Army, forced Ch'en to give up his government post. He left on a trip to Europe. On his return to China early in 1933, Ch'en Ming-shu, urged on by the members of his Social Democratic party, decided to proceed with making definite plans for a move against Nanking's authority. The Nineteenth Route Army retained its popular aura of patriotic valor. Moreover, as Ch'en assessed the general political situation in China, he found many elements opposed to Chiang Kai-shek's growing authority and power. Ch'en Ming-shu's estimate was that, once he took a decisive lead, support for a genuine anti-Nanking coalition would rapidly appear from many quarters.

Preliminary contacts with his expected allies were satisfactory, and Ch'en Ming-shu made his move in November 1933. The Fukien revolt against Nanking was launched on 20 November 1933, followed the next day by the establishment of a people's government at Foochow, with Li Chi-shen as chairman. The Fukien rebels publicly denounced the authority of Chiang Kai-shek and adopted a platform calling for resistance to Japanese aggression and for democratic government in China. Through the slogan of resistance to Japan, Ch'en Ming-shu and his associates expected to gain popular support for their movement against the Nanking government, which was then following the unpopular course of peaceful negotiation with Japan. Li Chi-shen was essentially a figurehead in the Foochow regime, and Ch'en Ming-shu was the key organizer and policy planner. The leaders of the Nineteenth Route Army did lend support, though some, notably Ts'ai T'ing-k'ai, did so with evident reluctance. The Fukien revolt attracted a few Kuomintang dissidents such as Eugene Ch'en and Hsu Ch'ien (qq.v.), as well as some leaders of the Third party, notably Chang Po-chun (q.v.) and Huang Ch'i-hsiang. However, Ch'en Ming-shu's aspirations were greater than his base of power; the new regime at Foochow failed to attract significant outside support. In fact, with its repudiation of the Three People's Principles and the removal of the portrait of Sun Yat-sen from public view, the Fukien regime blocked the possibility of cooperation from anti-Nanking forces at Canton and, instead, drew their denunciation. Nanking moved at once to suppress the Fukien revolt, and the government at Foochow disintegrated in mid-January 1934, less than two months after its establishment. Ch'en Ming-shu, together with almost all leaders of the Fukien venture, fled to Hong Kong, where he lived for the next three years. In 1935 Ch'en participated in Li Chi-shen's plans for the formation of a new political organization known as the People's Revolutionary League, which again advocated resistance to Japanese aggression.

In 1936 Ch'en took another trip to Europe. After the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese war in the summer of 1937, Ch'en Ming-shu was among the dissident Nationalist leaders to return to China. The Kuomintang had ordered the restoration of party membership to all who had been expelled for political reasons, and the National Government offered political amnesty to former opponents. Ch'en, however, was not forgiven for his leading role in the Fukien misadventure and was never given any substantive assignment during the war. Most of his erstwhile colleagues, including Li Chi-shen and Ts'ai T'ing-k'ai, were entrusted with responsible front-line duties during at least part of the wartime period. Ch'en Ming-shu's enforced inactivity during the long years of the Japanese war sharpened his dissatisfaction with the ruling circles of the National Government. In 1944, together with the ex-Communist and former Third party leader T'an P'ing-shan (q.v.), he began to mobilize a group of dissidents within the Kuomintang. The group, formally organized at Chungking in 1945 as the San Min Chu I Comrades Association, advocated the restoration of the platform advocated by Sun Yat-sen at the First National Congress of the Kuomintang. After the Japanese surrender, Ch'en Ming-shu lived at Nanking, where he operated a poultry farm, and at Shanghai, where he served as personal representative of Li Chi-shen. In the autumn of 1949 Ch'en Ming-shu attended the new Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference convened by the Chinese Communists to form a new government. He participated in the Septe
ber 1949 meetings as a representative of the San Min Chu I Comrades Association, but was subordinate to T'an P'ingshan in the delegation from that group. Ch'en was elected a member of the Central People's Government Council in October 1949. He was also a member, and later a vice chairman, of the central-south military and administrative committee and became director of its communications department; he was a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. When the San Min Chu I Comrades Association was incorporated into the Kuomintang Revolutionary Committee headed by Li Chi-shen, Ch'en was elected to the standing committee of the organization. During the early period of the new regime, Ch'en Ming-shu was also an active figure in Buddhist circles and in the preparations for the establishment of the Chinese Buddhist Association. Like many other Chinese, he had had a long-standing interest in Buddhism, and it was notable that his chosen courtesy name, Chen-ju, was a Buddhist term meaning "reality." Ch'en had sought refuge in the study of Buddhism during interludes of inactivity, notably at Chungking during the Japanese war, where he reportedly had been under the tutelage of the prominent Buddhist scholar Ou-yang Ching-wu (q.v.). Following the establishment of the Chinese Buddhist Association at Peking, however, Ch'en played no active role in the development of its activities.' Ch'en's lot under the new dispensation did not prove to be a happy one. In contrast to his former associates Chiang Kuang-nai and Ts'ai T'ing-k'ai, Ch'en Ming-shu had political interests and ambitions. In 1957, during the course of the anti-rightist campaign, he became a major target of public criticism and was condemned for activities which allegedly were detrimental to the interests of the Communist party, socialism, and the Chinese people. At a meeting of the Kuomintang Revolutionary Committee on 14 July 1957, for example, he was severely criticized; it was charged that he had made defamatory statements regarding Mao Tse-tung. Among his most severe critics at that time were his former close associates, including Li Chi-shen and Ts'ai T'ing-k'ai. On 15 July 1957, at the fourth session of the First National People's Congress, Ch'en Ming-shu, then approaching the age of 70, made a full-scale statement of "confession." The designation of rightist was not removed from him until early 1963. Ch'en Ming-shu died at Peking on 15 May 1965 at the age of 76 sui, according to a brief announcement in the back pages of the official Jen-minjih-pao [people's daily]. He was merely identified as having been a member of the National Committee of the People's Political Consultative Conference and of the central committee of the Kuomintang Revolutionary Committee. His funeral committee was headed by Ho Hsiang-ning and included Chang Chihchung, Shao Li-tzu, and Wang K'un-lun.