Hsü Ch'ien (26 June 1871-26 September 1940), scholar and legal expert who helped reform the judicial system (1907) and who became one of the most prominent leaders in the Wuhan regime (1926-27).

Although his native place was Shehsien, Anhwei, Hsü Ch'ien was born in Nanchang, Kiangsi. He had one brother, Hsü Sun (T. Feng-jen). His father died when he was four, and his mother brought up her sons in straitened circumstances. Hsü Ch'ien, while preparing for the imperial examinations, taught school to help support the family. He passed the examination for the chü-jen degree in 1902 at Nanking and obtained the chin-shih degree in 1904. In the palace examination for the chin-shih, held at Peking, he ranked eighth in the second division; the first division was limited to the three top scholars. Hsü then entered the Shih-hsueh-kuan in Peking and studied there for one year. In 1905 the Shih-hsueh-kuan was merged with the Ching-shih ta-hsueh-t'ang [metropolitan university] in Peking to form the Chin-shih-kuan. From 1905 to 1907 Hsü studied law and government at the Chin-shih-kuan, the forerunner of the college of law of Peking University. In 1907 Hsü was appointed a Hanlin compiler. He became head of the Law Codification Bureau of the ministry of justice and drew up regulations for the reform and modernization of the traditional judicial system which were approved and put into effect by the imperial government. The regulations provided for a four-level court system, procedure for appeals, a fixed schedule of legal fees, standard petition forms for civil and criminal suits, and the appointment of public prosecutors. These provisions laid the foundation for an independent judiciary in China.

In 1908 Hsü Ch'ien was appointed judge of the Peking local court. Within a year he had disposed of more than 1,000 cases, most of which had accumulated in the court because corrupt officials had demanded bribes to process them. Hsü won public favor through his vigorous actions, and he soon was named attorney general for the Peking higher court. In 1910 he and Hsü Shih-ying (q.v.) represented China at the Eighth International Conference on Prison Reform, which was held in Washington, D.C. On their way to the United States, they visited Moscow, Berlin, Rome, Paris, and London to study foreign judicial systems.

Hsü Ch'ien returned to Peking after the Wuchang revolt of October 1911. He immediately resigned from oflnce and called for the abdication of the emperor. He and his brother helped to organize the Kuo-min kung-chin-hui at Tientsin, a society that advocated the establishment in China of a federal republic in which the legislative and judicial branches of the government would be centralized, but the executive branch would be decentralized. Although the plan received little public notice at the time, by 1917 the idea of federalism had come to be supported by a number of Chinese political figures and intellectuals; Hsü's essay on the subject, "Kung-ho lien-pang che-chung shangchueh-shu" [analysis of republican federations], was reprinted by Tai Chi-t'ao in his Chung-hüa mifi-kuo yü lien-pang tsu-chih [the Chinese republic and federal organization].

In spite of Hsü's support of the republican cause, the imperial government, attempting to prolong its own life, pressed him to accept an appointment to the Supreme Court late in 1911. Hsü refused. In March 1912 he accepted the post of vice minister of justice in the first republican cabinet, headed by T'ang Shao-yi. When T'ang left the government in 1912 because of a disagreement with Yuan Shih-k'ai about the constitutional role of the president, Hsü Ch'ien also resigned. In August 1912 the Kuo-min kung-chin-hui and other societies merged with the T'ung-meng-hui to form the Kuomintang, and Hsü was elected a councillor of the new party. He went to Shanghai and joined the staff of Sun Yat-sen, who had charge of national railroad development. Because the so-called second revolution of 1913 failed to dislodge Yuan Shih-k'ai from power, Hsü remained in Shanghai and practiced law there for three years. Hsü Sun, noting his brother's low spirits after the failure of the second revolution, advised him to seek solace in Christianity. Hsü Ch'ien vowed that he would become a Christian if his prayers for Yuan Shih-k'ai's death were answered. After Yuan died in June 1916, Hsü joined the Episcopal Church. Thereafter, he maintained that his conversion to Christianity had originated in a desire to save China. Hsü returned to Peking in 1916 and resumed office as vice minister of justice. At that time the Peking government was dominated by T.uan Ch'i-jui (q.v.), the premier, whose relationship with Li Yuan-hung (q.v.), the president, was far from cordial. The two men disagreed sharply on the question of China's participation in the First World War. In May 1917 Li Yuan-hung dismissed Tuan from the premiership. The Peiyang military leaders, who supported Tuan Ch'i-jui, then forced Li to dissolve the Parliament on 29 May. Hsü tried to dissuade Li Yuan-hung from issuing the dissolution order and advised C. T. Wang (Wang Cheng-t'ing, q.v.), the acting premier, not to countersign it. When Li refused to follow his advice, Hsü resigned from the cabinet and went to Shanghai.

Earlier, when Hsü was in Peking, Chinese Protestants and Catholics had united to form the General Association for Religious Freedom to lobby for the adoption of a clause guaranteeing religious freedom in the national constitition then being drafted. The association elected Hsü Ch'ien its president, with Ch'eng Ching-i and Ma Liang (qq.v.) heading the Protestant and Catholic groups, respectively. Later, Chinese Muslims under the leadership of Sun Sheng-wu joined the association, and Buddhist and Taoist organizations also pledged their support. This unprecedented unity among Chinese religious groups helped to secure the passage of the religious freedom clause. In 1918, at a joint meeting of Chinese and foreign Protestants held under American missionary auspices at Ruling, Hsü Ch'ien proposed the formation of a Christian National Salvation Association. The proposal was adopted, and Hsü was chosen to lead the Christian National Salvation movement. In the meantime, Tuan Ch'i-jui had strengthened his political position at Peking, after the collapse of the attempt to restore the Manchu emperor by Chang Hsün (q.v.) in July 1917. Tuan announced his plans to convene a provisional senate to draft a new constitution and to install a new parliament. Sun Yat-sen accused Tuan of violating the existing constitution and in September 1917 organized a military government at Canton with himself as Generalissimo. Sun appointed Hsü Ch'ien secretary general of his office.

In the spring of 1 9 1 8 the office of Generalissimo was abolished, and control of the Canton government was entrusted to a seven-man directorate. Sun, who refused to participate in the reorganization, assigned Hsü Ch'ien to represent his interests and departed in May for Shanghai. Hsü's mission was to help maintain the military strength of Ch'en Chiung-ming (q.v.). Sun's only source of military support in Kwangtung, and to oppose any suggestion of compromise with the Peking government on the constitution issue. In September 1918 Hsü was named minister ofjustice by the Canton government. At the end of the First World War, Hsü Ch'ien, Tsou Lu, and Lin Sen suggested that Sun Yat-sen represent China at the Paris Peace Conference. Sun rejected the idea, saying that the European powers recognized only the Peking government and that he would not serve as the spokesman of that regime. In January 1919 Hsü visited Sun Yat-sen in Shanghai. Sun agreed to allow Hsü and Eugene Ch'en to go to the Paris Peace Conference as unofficial observers. In Paris, Hsü was among those who opposed China's signing of the Treaty of Versailles because of the settlement of the Shantung question. Hsü returned to China. However, he did not return to Canton because Ts'en Ch'un-hsuan (q.v.) then held power there. Instead, Hsü served as editor in chief of the popular Catholic newspaper Yi-shih pao [social welfare newspaper], which was published at Peking and Tientsin. He resigned from that position in May 1920. In September, after Feng Yü-hsiang (q.v.) had led his 16th Mixed Brigade to southern Honan from Hunan, Hsü Ch'ien and Niu Yung-chien, on instructions from Sun Yat-sen, met with Feng at Hankow. According to Feng, this meeting led him to a favorable view of Sun Yat-sen's cause, and in later years Hsü frequently acted as intermediary between Sun and Feng. In November 1920 Ts'en Ch'un-hsuan was forced out of the government at Canton. Hsü Ch'ien then returned to Canton, where he was named minister of justice once again. In May 1921 the military government was dissolved, and Sun Yat-sen was elected provisional president at Canton. Hsü Ch'ien was appointed head of the supreme court.

In August 1922 Sun Yat-sen had to leave Canton for Shanghai after Ch'en Chiung-ming's revolt against his authority. Sun then sent Hsü Ch'ien [120] Hsü Ch'ien to see Wu P'ei-fu (q.v.) in Honan, perhaps to seek poHtical accommodation with Wu, who was then the dominant mihtary figure in north Chira. That mission led to Hsü's appointment in September as minister ofjustice at Peking in the so-called good-man cabinet of Wang Ch'ung-hui (q.v.). However, both Wang and Hsü resigned in 1922 after the arrest of Lo Wen-kan (q.v.), the minister of finance, by Li Yuan-hung, the president.

In January 1923 Sun Yat-sen returned to Canton. At the end of February, Sun sent Hsü Ch'ien, Hu Han-min (q.v.), Wang Ching-wei, and Sun Hung-i to Shanghai to make arrangements for the peaceful unification of China. The mission failed, and in the summer of 1923 Hsü returned to Canton and accepted an invitation to teach Chinese literature at Lingnan University. In 1924 Hsu went to Shanghai and founded a newspaper, the P'ing-i jih-pao [deliberation daily]. He also established the Fa-cheng ta-hsueh [school of law and government]. In September, the conflict between Wu P'ei-fu and Chang Tso-lin known as the second Chihli-Fengtien war broke out in north China. At a critical moment, Wu's subordinate general Feng Yü-hsiang renounced his allegiance to Wu, removed his troops from the front, and occupied Peking on 23-24 October. After that coup, Feng invited Hsü Ch'ien to Peking as his adviser. Some observers stated that Hsü had encouraged Feng to undertake the coup. Hsü's official post at Peking was that of principal of the Russian Language School of Law and Government. In Peking, Hsü Ch'ien, who actively supported Sun Yat-sen's alliance with the Communists, helped to maintain friendly relations between the Kuomintang and the Communists, both Russian and Chinese. In the period from October 1924 to April 1926 when Peking was controlled by Feng Yü-hsiang, Kuomintang and Communist activities were permitted to increase rapidly. After the May Thirtieth Incident of 1925, when Chinese students were killed by British police at Shanghai, a wave of antiimperialist sentiment swept China. Hsü Ch'ien seized the opportunity to organize a political section in the Peking headquarters of the Kuominchün to disseminate Kuomintang propaganda among Feng's officers. In July 1925 Hsü was named chairman of the Peking branch council of the Kuomintang and was elected to the 16-man Government Council of the National Government at Canton. The Peking government appointed him chancellor of Sino- Russian University, which incorporated the Russian Language School of Law and Government, and named him chairman of the commission in charge of the Russian Boxer Indemnity Fund remission. In January 1926 the Second National Congress oflhe Kuomintang, meeting at Canton, elected Hsü to membership on the Central Executive Committee. He received 224 of a possible 256 votes.

After the incident at the Taku harbor on 8 March and the demonstration at Peking on 18 March in which more than 40 people were killed (for details, see Feng Yü-hsiang), Tuan Ch'i-jui (q.v.) ordered the arrest of four prominent Kuomintang leaders—Hsü Ch'ien, Li Shih-tseng, Ku Meng-yü, and Yi P'ei-chi—and the Communist leader Li Ta-chao. These men were charged with instigating the 18 March demonstration and with disseminating Communist propaganda. Hsü was protected from arrest by Lu Chung-lin, the Kuominchün commander of the Peking garrison. According to Chang I-lin (q.v.), Hsü left Peking just before Chang Tso-lin's forces entered the capital and went to Kalgan. He then received an invitation from Feng Yü-hsiang to go to Urga (Ulan Bator) in Outer Mongolia, where Feng had been since late March. Other sources state that Hsü left Peking earlier with Eugene Ch'en, Ku Meng-yü, the Soviet adviser Borodin, and others, and arrived at Urga by way of Kalgan on 3 April. In any event, Hsü remained in Urga with Feng when the Borodin party left for Madivostok and Canton. According to his own account, Feng decided to join the Kuomintang after talking at some length with Hsü about the matter. Feng and Hsü traveled to Moscow and met many Russian leaders. Hsü left Moscow on 1 5 July 1 926 after receiving news of the launching of the Northern Expedition. He went to Canton and formally assumed his responsibilities as a member of the Central Executive Committee and as minister of justice. Feng Yü-hsiang left Moscow in mid-August and, after his arrival in Suiyuan, announced his intention to join the Northern Expedition. Hsü acted as Feng's intermediary in obtaining National Government funds for the Kuominchün.

The Nationalist forces took Wuchang in October 1926 and Nanchang in November. Chiang Kai-shek, then commander in chief of the National Revolutionary Army, suggested moving the National Government from Canton to the Yangtze valley, and Hsü Ch'ien, Soong Ch'ing-ling, and Borodin left Canton x)n 28 November 1926 to confer with Chiang at Nanchang about this matter. Hsü Ch'ien was an outspoken member of the Kuomintang left wing, which was still allied with the Communists. After the Nanchang meeting with Chiang Kai-shek, Hsü and his party went to Hankow, where, on 13 December 1926, they held a meeting attended by left-wing members of the Kuomintang. Hsü Ch'ien was elected chairman of the provisional joint session of the Kuomintang Central Executive Committee and the National Government Council, which was to act as the supreme party and government authority until a central government was established at Wuhan. The creation of the joint session widened the split between the left and right wings of the Kuomintang. After a prolonged tug-of-war between the Wuhan and Nanchang factions, the third plenum of the second Central Executive Committee of the Kuomintang was held at Hankow from 10 to 17 March 1927. Hsü Ch'ien, Wang Ching-wei {in absentia), T'an , Yen-k'ai, Sun Fo, and T. V. Soong were elected members of the standing committee of the 28man Government Council. Hsü was also elected to the nine-man standing committee of the Kuomintang Political Council and to the presidium of the 15-man Military Council. At the end of the meeting, the headquarters of the Kuomintang and of the National Government were formally established at Wuhan. Hsü was now at the peak of his power. However, the Wuhan regime was unable to dominate the entire Nationalist movement. It was weaker than Chiang Kai-shek's faction both militarily and financially. Also, the Communist elements at Wuhan were a divisive factor in internal operations there. Wang Ching-wei returned from Europe at the beginning of April and issued a joint declaration at Shanghai with Ch'en Tu-hsiu (q.v.) reiterating the alliance between the Kuomintang and the Chinese Communist party. Wang then went to Hankow. On 12 April 1927 Chiang Kai-shek began a purge of Communists in the areas under his control. Hsü Ch'ien and other members of the Wuhan regime were put on the "wanted" list of Communists and fellow-travelers. Hsü Ch'ien's position at Wuhan derived in part from his close friendship with Feng Yühsiang, who then held the balance of power between the rival Kuomintang factions. Feng's troops controlled northern Honan. From 10 to 13 June 1927 a Wuhan delegation which included Hsü Ch'ien, other Kuomintang military and political leaders, and Russian military adviser Bluecher (Galen), conferred with Feng at Chengchow. In return for Feng's support, the Wuhan leaders withdrew their troops from Honan province and appointed Feng chairman of the Honan provincial government. Hsü Ch'ien did not return to Wuhan with the rest of the delegation. His ostensible reason for remaining in Honan was his membership in the Kaifeng branch of the Political Council, but apparently he was dissatisfied with the situation at Wuhan and complained to Feng Yü-hsiang about the deterioration of public order there. Hsü may have influenced Feng's decision to give his support to Chiang Kai-shek. On 8 July 1927 Feng began a purge of Communists in areas under his control and dismissed all political workers who had been sent to him from Wuhan. A week later, Wang Ching-wei and the Wuhan regime also broke with the Communists, providing the necessary precondition to the reconciliation of the Kuomintang factions. Hsü Ch'ien had antagonized both factions of the Kuomintang and the Communists as well. Each group accused him of betraying its trust. He went to Shanghai in September 1927 and publicly declared on 17 November that he was retiring from public life. After living in Shanghai for some time, Hsü moved to Hong Kong and settled in Kowloon.

In 1933 Ch'en Ming-shu (q.v.) and other Nationalist leaders opposed to Chiang Kai-shek persuaded Hsü Ch'ien to participate in their plan to form a rival government in Fukien. On 10 November 1933 Hsü attended a meeting at Foochow at which the authority of the National Government was repudiated and a so-called people's government was established. He was elected a member of its government council. Chiang Kai-shek, in a telegram issued from Nanchang on 23 November, named Hsü Ch'ien and Huang Ch'i-hsiang as leaders of this movement. The Fukien government collapsed in January 1934, and Hsü Ch'ien returned to Hong Kong. After the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese war in July 1937, Hsü went to Nanking, where he was given a sinecure post on the National Defense Council. In October 1939 he flew to Hong Kong for surgery. On 26 September 1940 he died in Hong Kong.

Hsü Ch'ien's publications included Shih-tz'uhsueh [studies of shih and tz'u], Hsing-fa tsungpien [a collection of penal laws], Tsung-chiao wen-hsueh [religious literature], Pi-fa Van-wei [a glimpse into calligraphy] , and Lao-tzu ho-i [unity of capital and labor]. A collection of his poems, the Hsü Chi-lung hsien-sheng i-shih, was printed privately by his widow in 1943. Hsü was also known as a good calligrapher and a diligent correspondent.

Hsü Ch'ien married twice. His first wife, nee Vu, a native of Shantung, died in 1920. His second wife, Shen I-pin, was from Shaohsing, Chekiang. Hsü had two sons and three daughters.