T'ang Erh-ho (1871-8 November 1940), Japanese-trained physician and anti-Manchu revolutionary who founded and served as chancellor of Peking Medical College. In the 1920's he held cabinet posts in the Peking government. He became an official in the Japanese-sponsored government at Peiping in 1937.

Born into a Muslim family in Hangchow, T'ang Erh-ho was the son of Sha Ch'eng-liang. As a youth, he was adopted by a childless maternal uncle, T'ang Hsiao-heng, who seems not to have been a Muslim. The elder T'ang provided him with a belated education. In 1900, at the age of 23 sui, T'ang Erh-ho enrolled at the Yang-cheng School (later the First Chekiang Provincial High School) in Hangchow. The dean of the school, Ch'en Fu-ch'en (1859— 1917; T. Chieh-shih), was a prominent scholar and an outstanding teacher who instilled anti- Manchu sentiments in his pupils. Outside of the classroom he introduced interested students to such books as the Ming-i tai-fang lu, a trenchant criticism of the Chinese political tradition by Huang Tsung-hsi (ECCP, I, 351-54), and to translations of such Western works as Montesquieu's De Vesprit des lois, Rousseau's Contrat social, and Huxley's Evolution and Ethics. T'ang Erh-ho and his good friends Ma Hsü-lun (q.v.) and Tu Shih-chen were so fired by revolutionary enthusiasm that they swore blood-brotherhood and decided to go to Japan for military training. On the eve of their graduation in 1902 the provincial authorities, unaware of their revolutionary bent, awarded them scholarships for study in Japan. Just before graduation, however, Ma and Tu were expelled by the principal for their part in defending several students who had been involved in a verbal fracas with an unpopular teacher. Ch'en Fu-ch'en resigned over the incident. T'ang escaped expulsion only because he happened to be sick in bed. After graduation, T'ang Erh-ho went to Japan to enroll at the Seika Gakko, a military preparatory school established by the Japanese to accommodate the many Chinese students who wished to prepare for the entrance examinations of the Shikan Gakko [military academy]. At this time, the Russians were using the Boxer Uprising as a pretext to invade and occupy Manchuria. In the spring of 1903 the Chinese students in Japan organized the Association for Universal Military Training and sent T'ang Erh-ho and Niu Yung-chien (q.v.) to China as their representatives with the mission of persuading Yuan Shih-k'ai to fight the Russians. Yuan, however, refused to see them. Having failed in this mission, T'ang Erh-ho went to Shanghai, then a revolutionary center, and joined such anti-Manchu activists as Chang Ping-lin, Wu Chih-hui, and Ts'ai Yuan-p'ei (qq.v.) in the comparative safety of the International Settlement. The Chinese authorities in Shanghai ordered his arrest, but the foreign officials refused to grant permission for his extradition. He soon returned to Japan, where he eschewed military training in favor of medical studies at the Kanezawa Medical School. In 1905 he married a Japanese. Information about the date of his return to China is lacking.

In the summer of 1911 T'ang Erh-ho took a trip to Japan in connection with plans for establishing a medical school in Hangchow. Almost immediately upon his return, he became involved in the events that led to the overthrow of the imperial authorities in Hangchow. At this time, the people of Kiangsu and Chekiang were angry about the imperial government's plans to nationalize the Shanghai-Hangchow- Ningpo railway. The Chekiang section of that railway was under the control of the privately owned Chekiang Provincial Railroad Company. Its general manager was T'ang Shou-ch'ien, a Hanlin scholar who was highly respected by his fellow provincials. His opposition to the nationalization scheme caused his dismissal by the imperial government, which had some control of the company by dint of loans to it. When a stockholders meeting was held to discuss the matter, T'ang Er-ho, Ma Hsü-lun, and Lou Shou-kuang, who had obtained proxy rights from several stockholders, proceeded to dominate the meeting, maneuvering the passage of resolutions opposing the nationalization of the railway and the dismissal of T'ang Shou-ch'ien. When word of the Wuchang revolt reached Hangchow, T'ang Erh-ho, Ma Hsü-lun, and Lou Shou-kuang suggested to Ch'en Fu-ch'en, then the speaker of the provincial assembly, the organization of militia units in Hangchow. Ch'en endorsed the scheme, as did the local Chamber of Congress. At a meeting of the provincial assembly, T'ang Shou-ch'ien was elected director of the militia, with Ch'en Fuch'en as his deputy. The governor of Chekiang, however, refused to grant permission for the arming of the militia, which therefore did not participate in the capture of Hangchow by the republican revolutionaries on 4 November 1911. The next day, T'ang Erh-ho helped negotiate the surrender of the Manchu garrison, and T'ang Shou-ch'ien became the republican governor of Chekiang.

T'ang Erh-ho was one of four Chekiang delegates who went to Wuchang to discuss the formation of a provisional republican government. Because of continuing military action in the area, the first session was held on 30 November 1911 in the British concession at Hankow. Working rapidly, they completed a set of 12 articles governing the organization of the provisional government on 3 December and laid down conditions for peace negotiations with the imperial government on 5 December. Meanwhile, the revolutionary forces from Kiangsu and Chekiang took Nanking on 2 December, which prompted the delegates to make that city the capital of the provisional government. On 29 December, at a meeting in Nanking, 45 delegates from 1 7 provinces elected Sun Yat-sen president of the provisional government. As the chairman presiding over the election, T'ang Erh-ho was given the honor of presenting to Sun the certificate of office on 1 January 1912. With the founding of the republic, T'ang Erh-ho withdrew from politics to devote himself to medicine. In 1913 he founded Peking Medical College and became its chancellor. He resigned in 1915 to protest Yuan Shih-k'ai's monarchical ambitions, but he resumed the post after Yuan's death in June 1916. Although he was not active in politics, he maintained close relations with many politicians at Peking. One day in 1916 his old teacher Ch'en Fu-ch'en, then a member of the Parliament, mentioned to T'ang and Ma Hsü-lun that the Chekiang members of the Parliament had sent a telegram to Ts'ai Yuan-p'ei in Europe asking him to become governor of Chekiang. Ts'ai replied that he would like to return to China but not as an official. Ma suggested to T'ang that Ts'ai would be a likely replacement for Hu Jen-yuan, the retiring chancellor of Peking University. T'ang agreed and took up the matter with Fan Yuan-lien (q.v.), the minister of education, who, in turn, secured the approval of Li Yuan-hung (q.v.). Ts'ai accepted the post and returned to China in 1917. He sought T'ang's advice concerning a suitable man to be dean of the college of letters, and T'ang recommended Ch'en Tu-hsiu (q.v.). Thus, T'ang was partly responsible for making Peking University the seedbed of the New Culture movement.

On 5 May 1919 the chancellors of the 13 universities and colleges involved in the May Fourth incident (for details, see Lo Chia-lun) met at Peking. They resolved that after they had succeeded in freeing the students imprisoned by the government, they would resign in protest against the arbitrary actions of police and government officials. Telegrams were sent in their names to the educational associations of all provinces, asking their united action in support of the students. Several of the chancellors, including T'ang Erh-ho and Ts'ai Yuan-p'ei, resigned on 9 May, and they did not return to their posts until September.

T'ang Erh-ho became vice minister of education in the Liang Shih-i cabinet on 21 July 1922. When Wang Ch'ung-hui (q.v.) assumed office as officiating premier on 20 September, he appointed T'ang minister of education in what became known as the "cabinet of able men" (hao-jen nei-ko). The cabinet also included V. K. Wellington Koo (Ku Wei-chun), Hsü Ch'ien, and Lo Wen-kan (qq.v.). The wrongful arrest and imprisonment of Lo Wen-kan on 18 November led to the resignation of the entire cabinet on 21 November. Tang returned to the political scene late in 1926 as minister of the interior in V. K. Wellington Koo's cabinet. In 1927 he was made minister of finance. During this period, Peking was dominated by Chang Tso-lin (q.v.). After the Koo cabinet was dissolved in June 1927, T'ang accepted a post as councillor in the headquarters of the commander in chief of the Northeastern Army, but his precise role in the regional government of Manchuria is not known. His personal interest in that region was clear, however, and he later translated a number of Japanese works about Manchuria. T'ang remained in Manchuria after Chang Tso-lin's death in 1928 and and served under Chang Hsueh-liang (q.v.). He returned to Peiping shortly after the Japanese invaded Manchuria in September 1931. He then was appointed to the Northeast Political Affairs Council. T'ang remained in Peiping after it fell to the Japanese in July 1937. On Japanese orders a Peking-Tientsin peace preservation committee was established by Chinese collaborators. On 14 December, this body became the so-called provisional government of the Chinese republic. T'ang was chosen to read the declarations of the new government at the inaugural ceremony, an ironic echo of the role he had played on 1 January 1912. In the puppet government T'ang held office as chairman of the legislative commission, a member of the executive commission, minister of education and cultural affairs, chancellor of Peking University, and chairman of the East Asia Cultural Association. When the provisional government was dissolved in March 1940 at the insistence of Wang Ching-wei (q.v.), T'ang became a member of the so-called north China political affairs council and director of its bureau of education. The council, though under the jurisdiction of the puppet regime at Nanking, had considerable autonomy. In June, T'ang also became a member of the standing committee of the commission for the realization of constitutional government. He died at Peiping on 8 November 1940. A biography, T'ang Erh-ho hsien-sheng, written by his son Yu-tsung, was published in Peiping.