Ch'u Min-i (1884-23 August 1946), a close associate of Wang Ching-wei, served under Wang as secretary general of the Executive Yuan (1932-35) and as minister of foreign affairs in Wang's Japanese-sponsored government. He was executed as a "national traitor" in 1946. A native of Wuhsing, Chekiang, Ch'u Min-i was born into a scholar-official family. He was brought up in a traditional Confucian and Buddhist environment. However, his father, Ch'u Hsing-t'ien, directed his son to study English, and he began its study with an American known as Mr. Po Lo-wen. At the Ming-li village school and the Hsun-ch'i School Ch'u Min-i studied Chinese and Western literature as well as the physical sciences.

In 1903 Ch'u went to Japan to continue his education. He enrolled first in a higher school and then in a university to study political economy. In Tokyo he became acquainted with young Chinese anti-Manchu patriots, notably his contemporary and future political associate Wang Ching-wei, who had arrived from Canton. Ch'u was drawn into revolutionary activities. He changed his name, first to Ming-i and later to Min-i. However, Ch'u did not join the T'ung-meng-hui when it was founded at Tokyo in 1905. He continued his studies in Japan, but apparently did not receive a degree.

Ch'u Min-i did gain the attention and approbation of an older man from his native place in Chekiang, Chang Jen-chieh (q.v.), who became an important financial supporter of the political cause of Sun Yat-sen. Chang Jen-chieh, who was then living in France, returned to the Far East in the summer of 1907 for reasons of health. Ch'u apparently accompanied Chang on his return to Europe. At that time, Ch'u joined the T'ung-meng-hui. In Paris, Ch'u Min-i became a junior associate of the influential group of Chinese—including Li Shih-tseng, Ts'ai Yuanp'ei, and Wu Chih-hui (qq.v.) —who were publishing the Shih-chieh hua-pao [world pictorial news] and Hsin shih-chi [new century] to propagate revolutionary ideas. After the Wuchang revolt of October 1911, he returned to China and worked in the T'ung-meng-hui organization at Shanghai.

In the winter of 1912, after the establishment of the republic and the eclipse of Sun Yat-sen by Yuan Shih-k'ai, Ch'u again went to Europe and studied for a period in Brussels. Ch'u returned to the Far East after the outbreak of the First World War and went to Southeast Asia to edit a newspaper. He later made a trip to Japan with Chang Jen-chieh, probably in connection with the affairs of the Chung-hua ko-ming-tang, organized in Japan by Sun Yat-sen in 1914. In the autumn of 1915, Ch'u returned to France. Because many Chinese students then were going to Europe, Ch'u, Li Shih-tseng, Ts'ai Yuan-p'ei, Wang Ching-wei, and Wu Chih-hui organized the Franco-Chinese Educational Association. Ch'u enrolled at the University of Strasbourg to study medicine, specializing in histology. He was graduated in 1921, with degrees in both medicine and pharmacy, but never practiced medicine. In 1921 he became vice president of the Institut Franco-Chinois at the University of Lyons and held that post for about a year. In 1925 Ch'u Min-i returned from Europe to China, where he associated himself with the Nationalists at Canton. In 1925 he became a member of the National Government's educational commission, and he was made head of the medical school at Kwangtung University. He later became acting president of that institution. In January 1926 he was elected to alternate membership on the Central Executive Committee of the Kuomintang. When the Nationalists launched their Northern Expedition in the summer of 1926, Ch'u abandoned his university post and took on the duties ofchiefofthe medical corps of the National Revolutionary Army. Shortly after the transfer ofthe National Government of Wuhan in January 1927, the Kuomintang began to split into right and left factions. After Chiang Kai-shek's resignation in August, a meeting was held at Nanking in September to effect a reconciliation of the Wuhan and Nanking groups. Wang Ching-wei became angry because he thought that Sun Fo and T'an Yen-k'ai (qq.v.) had betrayed him, and he departed. Wang's associate Ch'u Min-i attended the meeting in Nanking on 15 September at which the formation of a special committee to establish a new national government was proposed.

Both Ch'u Min-i and Wang Ching-wei were excluded from the new National Government established at Nanking. Ch'u then became president of the Institut Technique Franco- Chinois at Shanghai. He nominally retained that post until 1939, but continued to be closely associated with Kuomintang affairs. He was elected to full membership on the Central Executive Committee in 1928. That year, with a commission from the Nanking government to study public health administration, Ch'u went to Europe, where Wang Ching-wei had preceded him at the end of 1927. Ch'u visited Switzerland, Germany, Belgium and France, lecturing on Chinese politics at various universities. In March 1929 Ch'u was elected an alternate member of the Kuomintang Central Supervisory Committee. Ch'u returned from France and was appointed chairman of the commission for the establishment of national hygiene and a member of the ministry of education's university council. It was presumably at this time that he organized the Chinese Arts Association and became chairman of the Belgian Boxer Indemnity Fund committee. In 1930 he represented China at the celebrations of the centenary of Belgium as a nation.

Ch'u's political position in China remained precarious because he was a close associate of Wang Ching-wei and thus was criticized by supporters of Chiang Kai-shek. In January 1932, however, Wang Ching-wei made his peace with the authorities at Nanking and became president of the Executive Yuan, or premier. Ch'u Min-i at once became secretary general of the Executive Yuan, serving directly under Wang, and remained in that office until the end of 1935. In addition to his administrative duties, he edited a popular health magazine, promoted the traditional t'ai-chi-ch'uan as a form of physical exercise, and attempted to stimulate interest in kite-flying as a sport. One of Ch'u's accomplishments of the period was the invention of a mechanical sparring partner. He also was noted for his performances in amateur Peking theater productions. He specialized in the ching roles. In 1934, when the Kuomintang formally designated 27 August for official celebration of the birthday of Confucius, Ch'u Min-i represented the Executive Yuan in the ceremonies held at Ch'ufou, Shantung, revered as the birthplace of Confucius. The same year he was the leading figure in a Buddhist service held at Hangchow.

In November 1935 Wang Ching-wei was seriously wounded when an attempt was made at Nanking to assassinate him. Unable to continue his duties, he resigned as president of the Executive Yuan. Ch'u Min-i resigned at the same time. He became the director of medical studies of the Institut Technique Franco-Chinois and continued to pursue a variety of cultural activities.

During the first year of the Sino-Japanese war, Wang Ching-wei proposed that the National Government negotiate a settlement with Japan. When the government moved to Chungking after the fall of Hankow to the Japanese in October 1938, Wang became increasingly doubtful of China's ability to sustain a protracted war. Wang left Chungking in December 1938 for Hanoi, where he issued a public declaration advocating peace. At the beginning of January 1939, Wang Ching-wei and his political associates, including Ch'u Min-i, were formally expelled from the Kuomintang. In September 1939 Ch'u became secretary general of Wang Ching-wei's "reformed Kuomintang." After protracted negotiations, a so-called national government was established at Nanking on 30 March 1940, with Wang Ching-wei as its top-ranking official. Ch'u Min-i then became vice president of the executive yuan at Nanking and foreign minister of the new Japanese-sponsored regime. He soon relinquished the post of vice president of the executive yuan to Chou Fo-hai (q.v.). As foreign minister he concluded the treaty of 30 November 1940 by which Tokyo accorded formal recognition to the Nanking government. The November 1940 agreement, contrary to what Wang Ching-wei and his followers had hoped, provided for strong Japanese military and economic domination of the occupied areas and granted the Chinese authorities at Nanking only token responsibility for internal administration. In 1941 Ch'u also concluded the agreements under which Germany, Italy, and Rumania gave diplomatic recognition to the Nanking government. Ch'u Min-i continued to play an important role at Nanking until the death of Wang Ching-wei in November 1944. At that time, the outcome of the War in the Pacific no longer was seriously in doubt. Wang's widow, Ch'en Pi-chun (q.v.), nevertheless took the stand that it was essential for Wang's associates to maintain the government. She induced Ch'u Min-i to assume the governorship of Kwangtung. After the Japanese surrender, both Ch'en Pi-chun and Ch'u Min-i were taken into custody by the Nationalists at Canton in August 1945. Ch'u was sent to Nanking in November. He was brought to trial on charges of treason in April 1946 and was executed at Nanking on 23 August 1946. He was survived by a wife and five children. There was considerable public sympathy for Ch'u Min-i at the time of his trial and execution; many people found it difficult to think of Ch'u as a national traitor because they considered his wartime role a result of his personal loyalty to Wang Ching-wei. A collection of Ch'u's wartime speeches was published at Shanghai in 1939 under the title Ch'u Min-i hsien-sheng tsui-chin yen-lun chi [collection of Ch'u Min-i's recent speeches]. He also wrote a memorial tribute in 1940 to Tseng Chung-ming (q.v.), who was killed in the March 1939 attempt to assassinate Wang Ching-wei at Hanoi. Chü Cheng Orig. Chü Chih-chun T. Chüeh-sheng H. Mei-ch'uan M £. ^c ft £