Hsiao Fo-ch'eng ( 1 862-1 939) headed the T'ungmeng-hui branch in Siam, edited the Chinese edition of the Hua-hsien jih-pao [Sino-Siam daily], and worked to improve the lot of overseas Chinese. He was a leader of the 1931 secession movement at Canton.

Bangkok, Siam, was the birthplace of Hsiao Fo-ch'eng. His family's native place was in southern Fukien, but an ancestor had opposed the Manchus toward the end of the Ming dynasty and had fled to Taiwan. Later, members of the famity had emigrated to Malacca, and early in the nineteenth century some had moved to Siam, where they had prospered in business. Hsiao received a traditional education in the Chinese classics. Hsiao's tutor, Kao Chuan-pai, had served as a staff officer in the Taiping Rebellion and had escaped to Siam when that movement failed. Thus, the young Hsiao became an ardent nationalist and revolutionary. He also qualified as a lawyer. In 1888, at the age of 27 sui, Hsiao joined the local Triad Society, or San-ho Hui. That group had originated as an organization pledged to the overthrow of the Manchus and the restoration of the Ming dynasty, but it had become a secret society, and some of its members had been implicated in crimes of violence. Nevertheless, some of the traditional objectives of the society had been kept alive, and there were branches of the organization throughout Southeast Asia. Recognizing the need for a more effective organization, Hsiao Fo-ch'eng formed the Kuang-fu Club [club for the restoration of the nation] with a number of other revolutionaries. Meanwhile, Sun Yat-sen had organized the Hsing-Chung-hui, the predecessor of the T'ungmeng-hui. That organization established the newspaper Chung-kuo jih-pao [China daily] at Hong Kong in 1899. This was the first newspaper published by the anti-Manchu revolutionaries, and it gradually increased its circulation in the overseas Chinese communities of Southeast Asia. In 1905 Hsiao Fo-ch'eng established contact with staff members of the newspaper and began to make plans for establishing a revolutionary newspaper at Bangkok. With the help of Ch'en Ching-hua, a former district magistrate in Kwangsi who had been forced to flee after incurring the displeasure of Ts'en Ch'un-hsuan (q.v.), the governor general, Hsiao founded a Chinese newspaper in Bangkok in 1906. Control of that newspaper soon fell into the hands of local Chinese supporters of the constitutional monarchy movement led by K'ang Yu-wei (q.v.). Hsiao Fo-ch'eng, Ch'en Ching-hua, and other republican revolutionaries then founded the Hua-hsien jih-pao [Sino-Siam daily] in 1907. Hsiao edited the Chinese edition and his daughter edited the. Siamese edition. The Hua-hsien jih-pao continued publication until the Japanese occupied Siam in 1942. In 1908 Sun Yat-sen, accompanied by Hu Han-min (q.v.) and others, visited Bangkok. The Siamese authorities would not permit Sun to pursue his political activities openly, but revolutionary supporters met secretly and organized the Siamese branch of the T'ungmeng-hui. Hsiao Fo-ch'eng was elected head of the branch. He and Hu Han-min became friends during this time. Thereafter, Hsiao remained loyal to Sun Yat-sen and helped Sun in many fund-raising campaigns. In 1926 Hsiao Fo-ch'eng attended the Second National Congress of the Kuomintang, held at Canton, and was elected to the Central Executive Committee. At that meeting he advocated that the government adopt a vigorous policy for the protection of Chinese abroad.

In March 1927 Hsiao attended a preparatory meeting for the fourth plenary session of the Kuomintang Central Executive Committee. Hu Han-min presided at the meeting, and Hsiao presented a proposal which contained provisions for affirmation of Nanking as the national capital, abolition of the illegal central party headquarters, abolition of the Wuhan government, expulsion of party members who had dual party membership, arrest of rebels, restoration of the authority of the commander in chief as decided in July 1926, use of armed force against rebels, and publication of a formal announcement embodying the program. The proposal was, in effect, a public declaration of the legitimacy of the Nanking government. For a time, Hsiao served as head of the overseas Chinese department of the Kuomintang at Nanking. In 1928 he returned to Siam, where he became involved in the movement among overseas Chinese, resulting from the May Third Incident at Tsinan {see Ho Yao-tsu), to boycott Japanese goods. The Siamese government, which opposed political activism, took steps to suppress the movement. Hsiao had sufficient influence to convince the Siamese authorities to limit their action to deporting a few men convicted of attempting to kill the boycott-breakers. The Chinese community in Bangkok contributed a substantial amount of money to aid victims of the May Third Incident.

In 1929, when the Third National Congress of the Kuomintang met at Nanking, Hsiao was elected to the Central Supervisory Committee of the party. On behalf of the National Government, he undertook negotiations with the Siamese authorities for a treaty which would improve the lot of the Chinese residents in Siam. He repeated his efforts in 1933, and other representatives were sent by the National Government in the intervening years. In February 1931 Hu Han-min, then president of the Legislative Yuan, was detained by Chiang Kai-shek because of political differences and later was imprisoned. On 30 April, Hsiao Fo-ch'eng, in his capacity as a member of the Kuomintang Central Supervisory Committee, joined three other members of that body, Ku Ying-fen, Lin Sen, and Teng Tse-ju (qq.v.), in proposing the impeachment of Chiang Kai-shek, who was accused of "implicating comrades to build up his personal position." The proposal precipitated a secession movement at Canton. Ch'en Chi-t'ang (q.v.), who then held military power in Kwangtung, supported the group from the Central Supervisory Committee, as did Wang Ching-wei, Sun Fo, Eugene Ch'en, and T'ang Shao-yi (qq.v.). An extraordinary session of all members of the first, second, and third central committees of the Kuomintang met at Canton, and a rival national government was founded there. Impending civil war was averted by the Mukden Incident of 18 September 1931. The Japanese invasion restored unity to the Kuomintang ranks. The Canton secession movement was called off, and the National Government was reorganized toward the end of 1931. Hsiao Fo-ch'eng was elected a member of the State Council.

A state of semi-independence continued to prevail in the provinces of Kwangtung and Kwangsi with the creation of the Southwest Executive Headquarters of the Kuomintang and the Southwest Political Council. The leaders of the 1931 secession movement remaining at Canton, other than the militarists Ch'en Chi-t'ang and Li Tsung-jen (qq.v.), included only Hsiao Fo-ch'eng, T'ang Shao-yi, and Teng Tse-ju. In the party hierarchy, both Hsiao Fo-ch'eng and Teng Tse-ju ranked higher than T'ang Shao-yi.

After the deaths of Teng Tse-ju (1934) and Hu Han-min (early 1936), Hsiao Fo-ch'eng was the only remaining party elder at Canton. However, he had no real authority, and his health had begun to deteriorate. He spent much of his leisure playing Chinese chess and often entertained professional chess players. After the Sino-Japanese war broke out in the summer of 1937, Hsiao returned to his home in Siam. He died at Bangkok in June 1939.