Hsiung K'o-wu (1881-), anti-Manchu revolutionary and senior Szechwanese military leader, was one of the very few active commanders elected to the Central Executive Committee of the Kuomintangin 1924. He later became a member of the party's Central Supervisory Committee and of the Government Council. In 1950-54 he served Peking as a vice chairman of the Southeast Military and Administrative Committee. Chingyen hsien, Szechwan, was the native place of Hsiung K'o-wu. Little is known of his family or his childhood. After receiving his early education in Szechwan, he went to Japan for advanced study and enrolled in the Shikan Gakko [military academy] . He also joined the T'ung-meng-hui and took part in its activities. After completing his military studies in Japan in 1906, Hsiung K'o-wu returned to Szechwan early in 1907. That was a year of scattered anti-Manchu insurrections in various parts of China, and Hsiung led an uprising at Hsuchow, Szechwan. It failed, and he had to flee the area. He reportedly participated in the uprising at Canton in 1911, later referred to as the 29 March Insurrection, which was led by the prominent revolutionary. Huang Hsing (q.v.).

After the republic was established in 1912, Hsiung K'o-wu returned to Szechwan and took command of a division stationed at Chungking. In August 1913 he joined the so-called second revolution against Yuan Shih-k'ai. Hsiung hoped to lead his troops down the Yangtze to join forces with revolutionaries marching northward from Hunan. Yuan Shih-k'ai, however, had the situation well in hand, and Hsiung's forces were defeated near Chungking in early September.

Hsiung K'o-wu was among those who sought refuge in Japan after the second revolution. When Sun Yat-sen set forth a plan to reorganize the Kuomintang which stipulated that all members take an oath of personal obedience to the party leader, Hsiung and many other members of the party adamantly opposed the stipulation. In 1914, after the outbreak of war in Europe, Hsiung and other Chinese leaders organized the Ou-shih yen-chiu-hui [European affairs research society] .

In 1915, as Yuan Shih-k'ai's monarchical aspirations became increasingly apparent, many revolutionary leaders returned from abroad to their home districts in China to raise armed opposition to him. Hsiung K'o-wu left Japan in October 1915. After arriving in Shanghai, he went to Hong Kong and accompanied Li Lieh-chim (q.v.) to Yunnan, where Li was to join T'ang Chi-yao and Ts'ai O (q.v.) in a new campaign against Yuan. When the expeditionary forces from Yunnan began operations in 1916, Hsiung K'o-wu accompanied the army of Ts'ai O into Szechwan. He rallied the troops that had served under him in the Hsuchow area and soon gathered an army of more than 5,000 men. Liu Tsun-hou, the commander of the native Szechwan forces, defected to the repubHcan cause. Yuan Shihk'ai's forces were defeated, and Ch'en Huan, the Szechwan governor, had to declare independence to avoid further fighting. The campaign against Yuan soon ended; Yuan died at Peking in June 1916. The local Szechwan troops were reorganized into five divisions, and Hsiung K'o-wu was named to command the First Division. Hsiung remained in the Chungking area, where he also served as defense commissioner. In 1917 the Szechwan and the Yunnan-Kweichow armies came into conflict on several occasions. The Szechwanese, although they claimed victory, did not achieve their objective of expelling the Yunnan- Kweichow armies from the province. Hsiung K'o-wu remained neutral throughout these campaigns and, through his presence there, protected the Chungking area from the ravages of war.

The northern government at Peking and the southern military government at Canton vied for the support of the Szechwanese army commanders because the province was rich in natural resources and important strategically. Liu Tsun-hou, who had commanded a Szechwanese division in 1917, supported the northern government, which appointed him military governor of Szechwan. Although the Peking government appointed Hsiung K'o-wu border defense commissioner of Szechwan, he remained loyal to the southern government. In 1918 he ousted Liu Tsun-hou and became military governor.

Hsiung hoped to bring stability to his province. However, T'ang Chi-yao (q.v.) hoped to dominate Szechwan as part of his plan to become the overlord of southwest China. T'ang then controlled both Yunnan and Kweichow and had stationed military forces in Szechwan. The people of Szechwan resented the intrusion from Yunnan, and in May 1920 Hsiung K'o-wu assumed leadership of the Szechwanese military commanders in demanding the evacuation of the Yunnan and Kweichow armies from the province. Fighting broke out, and the Yunnan and Kweichow troops finally left Szechwan. In December 1920 the military leaders of Szechwan declared it an independent and autonomous region. Hsiung resigned as military governor of Szechwan on 31 December 1920, thereby fulfilling a promise he had made when leading the Szechwan armies in the movement to oust the Yunnan and Kweichow troops. At a rehabilitation conference, Liu Hsiang Was elected commander in chief of all Szechwan armies and civil administrator of the province. Liu reiterated the autonomy of Szechwan and the refusal of the provincial authorities to accept orders or appointments from the Peking government. In May 1921 Liu Hsiang took action against Hsiung K'o-wu, who was forced to flee the province. Liu Hsiang's subsequent efforts to establish himself as the supreme authority in Szechwan resulted in a period of civil war in the province.

Little is known of Hsiung K'o-wu's activities from the time of his departure from Szechwan in 1921 to his return in 1923. In May 1923 Hsiung and his troops occupied Chengtu. In June, Sun Yat-sen appointed him commander in chief for "bandit suppression" in Szechwan. At that time, Yang Sen (q.v.), supported by Wu P'ei-fu, held power in Szechwan. In October, Hsiung captured Chungking. In mid- December, however, Yang Sen recaptured that city. Yang pursued Hsiung and drove him out of Chengtu in February 1924. Liu Hsiang, then allied with Yang Sen, also gave pursuit to Hsiung, who was forced to retreat into Kweichow with his men.

In the meantime, however, Hsiung's support of the republican cause had been rewarded by the Kuomintang. At the First National Congress, held at Canton in January 1924, Hsiung K'o-wu was one of the very few military commanders elected to the 24-man Central Executive Committee of the Kuomintang. Sun Yat-sen then was preparing for his long-delayed northern expedition, and revolutionary armies from several provinces were being assembled at Canton. Hsiung planned to move his troops from Kweichow through Hunan to Canton, but when his forces reached Hunan in 1925, Chao Heng-t'i (q.v.), the governor, ordered their immediate departure. Hsiung also was troubled by dissension in his own ranks. In April 1925, Ho Lung (q.v.), who had followed him on the march out of Szechwan, defected. Hsiung K'o-wu brought the remnants of his Szechwan army to Canton. When he arrived there on 3 October 1925, he was placed under arrest by Chiang Kai-shek, who charged him with collaborating with Ch'en Chiung-ming (q.v.), who still commanded troops in eastern Kwangtung. Hsiung was detained at the military fort at Humen, and his army was disbanded. He remained a prisoner for about two years.

In September 1927, Hsiung K'o-wu was elected to the 47-member National Government Council at Nanking. In 1931, when a separatist movement started at Canton as the result of Chiang Kai-shek's detention of Hu Han-min (q.v.), Hsiung K'o-wu attended the meeting of the Kuomintang central committees which was called by the Canton leaders to form an opposition gQvernment. After the settlement of the Nanking-Canton dispute, Hsiung was among those elected to the Central Executive Committee of the Kuomintang in 1932. Although he continued to serve as a member of the National Government Council, he took no part in political life and spent most of his time in Shanghai.

After 1934 Hsiung also maintained a home in Hong Kong, where he spent much of his time. In November 1935, at the Fifth National Congress of the Kuomintang, Hsiung was elected to the Central Supervisory Committee, a mark of his having entered the ranks of the party elders. From 1937 through 1945, Hsiung lived in Szechwan. In 1945, at the Sixth National Congress of the Kuomintang, held at Chungking, he was reelected to the Central Supervisory Committee. In 1946 he was a delegate to the National Assembly at Nanking. In December 1949, as the Chinese Communist forces advanced into Szechwan after sweeping over most of the mainland, Hsiung K'o-wu, along with Liu Wen-hui and Teng Hsi-hou (qq.v.), publicly declared support of the People's Republic of China. In 1950, Hsiung K'o-wu was named a vice chairman of the Southwest Military and Administrative Committee, the principal regional authority in southwest China, and he continued to hold that post until the regional regimes were abolished in 1954. Although he was not one of the original members of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, he later became a member of its first National Committee. In 1954 and in 1958 he was a delegate to the National People's Congress, and in December 1958 he was elected a vice chairman of the central committee of the Kuomintang Revolutionary Committee.