Biography in English

Hsü Shih-ying T. Ching-jen 11^ tit ^ Hsü Shih-ying (1872-13 October 1964), official in the Ch'ing, Peiyang, and National governments whose most important posts were those of premier (December 1925-March 1926) and Chinese ambassador to Japan (February 1936- January 1938). He was also known for his famine-relief activities.

Chiupu (Chihteh), Anhwei, was the birthplace of Hsü Shih-)-ing. He received his primary education at a local school established by his clan, where he was the youngest of ten students. When he was 12, his father sent him to study under a tutor, T'ung Wen-ch'ü, in Wangchiang hsien. Hsti studied under T'ung for 12 years and established himself as a classical scholar by passing the examinations for the chü-jen and pakung degrees. In 1897 he was appointed to the Board of Punishments at Peking, with the rank of seventh grade junior metropolitan official.

Hsü reported for duty in Peking in May 1898, shortly before the beginning of the Hundred Days Reform {see K'ang Yu-wei). He became assistant departmental keeper of drafts in the Chekiang division of the Board of Punishments, working under Liu Kuang-ti. Hsü and Liu soon became friends. Liu, however, was among the reformers who were executed in 1898 after the Hundred Days Reform ended with the empress dow-ager's coup against the Kuang-hsu emperor. Hsü developed a distaste for the work of the Board of Punishments, and although he was promoted to departmental keeper of drafts in the Chihli division, he left Peking in the spring of 1900 and went to Szechwan, where his father's friend Chou Fu was provincial treasurer. Hsü hoped to obtain a post as a hsien magistrate. He nearly drowned when the junk on which he was traveling sank in the Yangtze rapids, and he arrived in Chengtu in June only to be advised that, although he could be a hsien magistrate if he chose, the rapid spread of the Boxer Uprising would create better opportunities for him in Peking. He accepted this advice and began the long journey back to Peking.

When he reaclred Hankow^, Hsü learned that the Eight-Power international expedition was nearing Peking and that the empress dowager and the Kuang-hsu emperor had fled the capital. He then went to his home in Anhwei. About a month later he received a telegram informing him that the Board of Punishments needed personnel and asking him to proceed promptly to Sian. Hsü arrived at Sian in October. In addition to his job as departmental keeper of drafts in the Chihli division, he received the equivalent post for Szechwan, where some 4,0C0 cases w^ere outstanding. He won a reputation as an able official by clearing up all of these cases before the imperial government returned to Peking in 1902. He was promoted to the rank of sixth grade assistant in 1902.

Because Hsü failed to pass the 1903 special examinations for the chin-shih degree, he continued to work in the Board of Punishments. In October 1 905 the Bureau of Police Affairs was organized, and Hsü became senior assistant in the bureau's administrative section. He also continued to handle special cases for the Board of Punishments. By the end of 1906 he had become a fourth grade official.

When Hsü Shih-ch'ang (q.v.) became viceroy of the newly established Three Eastern Provinces of Manchuria in April 1907, he requested the services of Hsü Shih-ying in setting up the needed legal organs in the Northeast. Hsü Shih-ying was named to the high court at Mukden and was assigned to formulate proposals for judicial organization. In the autumn of 1908 he became associate chief justice of that court. At Mukden, Hsü came to know the Japanese consul, Hirota Koki, and the vice consul, Arita Hachiro. Their friendship with Hsü was to become important in Sino-Japanese relations.

In 1910 Hsü accompanied Hsü Ch'ien (q.v.) on a mission to Europe and the United States to study judicial structures and prison conditions. He attended the Eighth International Congress on Prison Reform, held at Washington, D.C. The mission returned to China in the spring of 191 1. That November, Hsü Shih-ying was appointed judicial commissioner of Shansi, then under the governorship of Chang Hsi-luan. A few months later, he became provincial treasurer. Hsü joined Chang in urging the Manchu court to give way to the early establishment of the republic. In 1912, after the republic had been established, Chang was appointed tutuh [military governor] of Chihli i^Hopei; province. On his recommendation, Hsü was made chief justice of the Supreme Court at Peking in Alay. In July, Hsü became minister ofjustice in the cabinet of Lu Cheng-hsiang, and Chang Tsung-hsiang (q.v.) succeeded him as chief justice.

Hsü Shih-ying, Hsü Ch'ien, Ch'en Lu, and Ch'en Chin-t'ao had organized the Kuo-min kung-chin hui, one of the many small political parties that had sprung up after the Wuchang revolt of October 1911. In August 1912 the Kuo-min kung-chin hui and two other parties were merged with the T'ung-meng-hui to become the Kuomintang. However, when Kuomintang leader Sung Chiao-jen (q.v.) was assassinated in March 1913 by adherents of Yuan Shih-k'ai, Hsü Shih-ying refused to permit the Kuomintang at Shanghai to establish a special court to try the case, insisting that the local court had jurisdiction. The case became a political rather than a judicial cause, and one of the alleged killers, Ving Kuei-hsing, was assassinated in January 1914 after escaping from jail.

In September 1913 Hsü was replaced as minister of justice by Liang Ch'i-ch'ao (q.v.), a member of the Progressive party, which was supporting Yuan against the Kuomintang in the so-called second revolution. Hsü was appointed civil governor of Fengtien in November, and on 4 January 1914 Yuan Shih-k'ai named him to the newly established Political Council, which had been formed to replace the Parliament (dissolved on 10 January). After Hsü helped draft a new constitution, he became civil governor of Fukien on 3 May. After the death of Yuan Shih-k'ai in 1916, Tuan Ch'i-jui fq.v.y formed a cabinet on 30 June in which Hsü was minister of interior. However, on 12 July Hsü was replaced by Sung Heng-i and was named minister of communications. In 1917 he was forced to resign after being implicated in a bribery case which concerned the purchase of rolling-stock for the Tientsin- Pukow railway. He was brought before a Peking court, but was acquitted of the charges. In 1918 he became managing director of the Hua Yi Bank, a Sino-Italian enterprise. Hsü returned to public office in September 1921 as civil governor and director general of famine relief for Anhwei. However, he was forced to resign because of public opposition. In November 1922 he was named minister of justice in Wang Ta-hsieh's cabinet, but the cabinet was dissolved before Hsü reached Peking. He became director of the bureau of aeronautics in February 1923, but was relieved of that post when Ts'ao K'un became president in November. Hsü spent much of the next year representing Tuan Ch'i-jui in negotiations between Sun Yat-sen and the northern factions of Tuan and Chang Tso-lin (q.v.) for the formation of a tripartite alliance against Ts'ao K'un and Wu P'ei-fu in Peking. Hsü Shu-cheng (q.v.) also represented Tuan at these meetings. Hsü Shihying met with Sun Yat-sen at Shaokuan on 4 October 1 924 and reached a tentative agreement. Shortly after Hsü returned to Tientsin, Feng Yü-hsiang (q.v.) staged a coup against AVu P'ei-fu, occupying Peking and forcing Ts'ao K'un from the presidency, and Tuan Ch'i-jui emerged from retirement at Tientsin to assume leadership of the new provisional government. On 2 November, Sun Yat-sen announced that he had accepted an invitation to go to Peking and participate in negotiations for a new government. On 24 November, Hsü Shih-ying, now Tuan Ch'i-jui's confidential political strategist, received the post of secretary general in Tuan's government. By the time Sun Yat-sen arrived at Tientsin on 4 December, Tuan's cabinet had forniulated principles to govern the oi'ganization of the projected Rehabilitation Conference which he could not accept, and he had announced a "minimum program" for the Kuomintang which Tuan could not accept. On 4 December, Hsü, as secretary general of the conference's preparatory committee, and Yeh Kung-cho went to Tientsin to confer with Sun, but no agreement was reached. Sun left Tientsin for Peking on 31 December. The conference, with Hsü serving as its secretary general, convened on 1 February 1925, but Sun Yat-sen and the Kuomintang refused to participate in it. Sun died in Peking on 12 March.

On 26 December 1925 Tuan Ch'i-jui appointed Hsü Shih-ying premier. Hsü's Kuomintang-oriented cabinet included Kuomintang member Yü Yu-jen (q.v.) as minister of interior, C. T. W'ang (W^ang Cheng-t'ing) as minister of foreign affairs, Ch'en Chin-t'ao as minister of finance, and Chia Te-yao as minister of war. Hsü, to enlist Kuomintang support for Tuan, drafted a telegram for Tuan's signature in which he was to announce the handing over of his authority to Yü Yu-jen as of 16 January 1926. The telegram was not issued. Some of Tuan's supporters rose against Hsü, and he was forced to flee to the Legation Quarter for safety. Yü Yu-jen refused to take up the post of minister of interior.

By this time, Feng Yü-hsiang was in retreat before the forces of Chang Tso-lin, and Tuan's hold on power at Peking was becoming shaky. Hsü Shih-ying returned to office, but he submitted his resignation on 15 February 1926. Tuan granted him a leave of absence and appointed Chia Te-yao acting premier. On 4 March he accepted the resignations of Hsü and his cabinet, and about a month later his regime fell.

Hsü soon went to Shanghai and helped organize the Kiangsu-Chekiang-Anhwei Joint Society to oppose Sun Ch'uan-fang (q.v.) and to support local autonomy. For security reasons, the society's headquarters was established in the International Settlement. In early January 1927 Sun issued orders for the arrest of Hsü and his group and requested the foreign authorities to halt his activities. Hsü went to Hong Kong for safety, but returned to Shanghai in March, after Sun's forces had been defeated.

In the spring of 1928 the National Government gave Hsü a modest appointment as chairman of a relief committee for Chihli and Shantung. He became chairman of the National Famine Relief Commission in January 1930, and he also served as chairman of the National Government's financial affairs commission. Relief matters, notably in connection with the Yangtze flood of 1931, kept him busy and necessitated frequent travel during the next five years. In 1932 he formed the Shanghai War Zone Refugee Relief Association to give relief to persons afflicted by the fighting between Japanese and Chinese forces in January. In February 1936, when the National Government was making a new attempt to settle the problem of north China, Hsü Shih-ying was sent to Tokyo as ambassador. Arita Hachiro became Japan's foreign minister in April 1936, and Hirota Koki, his predecessor in that post, became premier. Hsü had only a secondary role to play in the Sino-Japanese negotiations. He renewed the friendship that he had established with Arita and Hirota at Mukden some 30 years earlier. After the signing in November of the Anti-Comintern -agreement between Japan and Germany, Arita spoke to Hsü and implied that China's participation in the pact would be welcomed. Hsü, on instructions from Nanking, gave China's refusal. After the Sian Incident [see Chiang Kai-shek j in December, the National Government's Japan policy became rigid and resistant. In March 1937 Hsü was called to Nanking for consultation with Wang Ch'ung-hui (q.v.), who had become foreign minister. Hsü was still consulting with Wang about ways to improve Sino-Japanese relations when the Lukouchiao Incident of 7 July began the Sino-Japanese war. Hsü hurriedly returned to Tokyo and called on Hirota in an attempt to ensure the preservation of Chinese rights in the settlement of the north China "incident." Hirota responded by requesting non-interference by the National Government, and Japanese aggression continued. When China signed a non-aggression pact with the Soviet Union in August, Hsü undertook to explain this "purely pacific instrument" to Hirota, informing him that China was "ready to conclude a similar treaty with Japan if Japan wishes." War was not declared, but peace was not forthcoming. The intervention of the League of Nations, the attempted mediation of German Ambassador to China Oskar Trautmann, and the efforts of Hsü Shih-ying at Tokyo were equally fruitless. Hsü was recalled from Japan in January 1938. After arriving in Wuhan, he predicted that China would win the war. In June, he was appointed to the People's Political Council, created by the National Government to rally support for the struggle against the Japanese. He also became acting chairman of the National Famine Relief Commission and chairman of the Air-Raid Salvage Committee. He was confirmed as chairman of the Famine Relief Commission in December 1944. Hsü, who had tried to refuse the Tokyo ambassadorship on the grounds of advancing years, neither sought nor received major political appointments. In February 1945 he was given the title of senior adviser to the National Government. From April 1947 to March 1949 Hsu served the National Government as member of the State Council and as chairman of the IVJongolian and Tibetan Affairs Commission. In the summer of 1950 he went to Taiwan, where he was named high adviser in the presidential office. After the alleged discovery in August 1955 of espionage activities among the subordinates of Sun Li-jen, Hsü was appointed to the commission charged with investigating the matter. He lived quietly in Taiwan and died in Taipei, at the age of 91, on 13 October 1964.

Hsü and his wife, Shen Yi-jen, had three sons and two daughters.

Biography in Chinese

许世英
字:隽人
许世英(1872—1964.10.13),清朝政府、北洋政府、国民党政府的官员,其最主要职务是1925年12月至1926年8月任内阁总理,1936年2月至1938年1月任驻日大使。他在赈灾工作中也很知名。
许世英出生在安徽至德,他在本族子弟的书塾读书,是十名幼童中年龄最小的一人。十二岁时,他父亲送他去望江县从丁文绪(音)受业,受教十二年,成为精通旧学的学者,中举人、拔贡。1897年他以七品小京官在刑部任职。
1898年许世英到北京任职时,恰在百日维新前几天,他在刘光第手下管理刑部浙江司案卷,二人建立了友谊。百日维新运动以慈禧对光绪发动政变而告结束,刘光第乃维新派中的六君子之一被处死刑。许世英虽然被提升掌管直隶司案卷,但他不愿在刑部任事。1900年他离北京去四川,四川布政使周馥是他父亲的朋友,许世英希望能在四川做一个县官。他所乘的帆船在长江急流中沉没,险遭灭顶,7月才到达成都。他知道虽然他可以在四川当上一名县官,但义和团运动正在蓬勃展开,去北京会有更好的机遇。他听从别人劝告,又长途跋涉回到北京。
他到汉口时,得悉八国联军已逼近北京,慈禧、光绪已逃出北京,乃回安徽原籍。一个月后,他收到电报说刑部急需人才,催他即去西安,10月,他到达西安。他除原经管的直隶案卷外,又增管了四川的案卷,约有四千宗未结积案。在1902年清廷回京之前,许世英清理积案的能力已为人所称道,1902年升为六品官。
1903年,许世英应进士试未中,仍在刑部任职。1905年10月警务处成立,许世英任该处行政部门高级助理,同时仍负责刑部重大案卷。1906年底升为四品官。
1907年4月,徐世昌任东三省总督,聘许世英去东北筹建司法机构,任奉天高等审判厅厅丞,负责制订司法机构计划。1908年秋,任厅长。他在沈阳和日本领事广田弘毅、副领事有田八郎结认。他们与许之间的友谊对中日间的关系很为重要。
1910年,许世英随同徐谦去欧美考察司法及监狱,参加了在华盛顿召开的监狱改革的第八届国际会议。代表团于1911年春回国,11月,许世英任山西提法使,这时山西巡抚是张锡銮。几个月后,又改任布政使。许世英与张锡銮联名吁请清廷退位建立民国。1912年民国成立,张锡銮任直隶都督,经张推荐,5月任许世英为大理院院长,7月,陆征祥内阁时任司法总长,章宗祥接任大理院长。
许世英、徐谦、陈篆、陈锦涛组织了一个“国民共进会”,这是武昌起义后出现的许多小政党之一。1912年8月,“国民共进会”和其他两个小党与同盟会合并而组成国民党。1913年3月,宋教仁被袁世凯的党徒刺杀,许世英拒绝国民党在上海设立特别法庭审判的要求,认为当地法院有权审理。宋案是一件政治事件而不是一个司法案件。一名被指控的凶手应桂馨越狱后于1914年1月被暗杀。
1913年9月,进步党梁启超继许世英为司法总长,进步党在二次革命时是支持袁世凯反对国民党的。许世英任奉天省民政长,1914年1月4日,命许世英在新成立的“政事堂”任职,这是代替1月10日被解散的国会的。许世英协助草拟新宪法后,5月8日出任福建省巡按史。
1916年袁世凯死后,段祺瑞于6月30日组阁,任许世英为内务总长,7月12日,又由孙洪伊接任,许世英改任交通总长。1917年因津浦路采购车辆受贿案而被迫辞职,曾由法院提审,宣告无罪。1918年任华意银行经理。
1921年9月,许世英又任公职,为安徽省长及赈灾督办等职,因群起反对而辞职。1922年11月,任汪大燮内阁的司法总长,许世英到京之前,汪内阁即已倒台。1923年3月任航空署督办,11月曹锟当选为总统时被免职。翌年的大部分时间里,他代表段祺瑞与孙逸仙商谈孙和北方的段祺瑞、张作霖各派组织三角联盟共同反对在北京的曹锟、吴佩孚。1924年10月4日,他和孙逸仙在韶关会面取得了一个临时协定。许世英回天津不久,冯玉祥发动反对吴佩孚的政变,占领北京,逐走总统曹锟。段祺瑞由天津出山,领导新成立的临时政府。11月2日,孙逸仙宣布应邀去北京参加有关新政府事宜的谈判。11月24日,已成为段祺瑞机要策士的许世英任段政府的秘书长。12月4日,孙逸仙到天津时,段内阁制订了准备召开善后会议的工作原则,这是孙所不能接受的,孙也宣布了一个段所不能接受的国民党的“最低纲领”。12月4日,善后会议筹备委员会秘书长许世英和叶恭绰到天津和孙逸仙会商,但未能达成协议。12月31日,孙逸仙离津到北京。善后会议于1925年2月1日召开,许世英任秘书长,但孙逸仙和国民党人拒绝参加。3月12日,孙逸仙在北京逝世。
1925年12月26日,段祺瑞任许世英为内阁总理。许世英的倾向国民党以国民党人于右任为内务总长,王正廷为外交总长,陈锦涛为财政总长,贾德耀为陆军总长。许世英罗致国民党支持段祺瑞,草拟一电文请段签字,电文声明他将于1926年1月16日将职权交给于右任。此电未发出,段祺瑞的一些支持人起而反对许世英,许世英逃往使馆区躲避,于右任也未就内务总长之职了。
当时,冯玉祥在张作霖的强大兵力下后退,段在北京的权位亦动摇了。许又复职,但又于1926年2月15日提出辞呈,段准其请假并以贾德耀为代总理。3月4日,段准许世英及其内阁辞职,一个月后,段政权也垮台了。
许世英不久去上海,组织苏浙皖联合会反对孙传芳,主张地方自治。为了安全起见,该会总部设在上海公共租界内。1927年1月初,孙传芳下令通缉许世英等人,并请租界当局对他们的活动加以制止。许世英逃往香港,8月,孙传芳失败后许又回上海。
1928年春,国民政府任许世英为直鲁赈灾委员会委员长这样一个不太高的职位,1930年任全国赈灾委员会委员长兼全国财政委员会主席。赈灾事务,尤其是1931年的长江水灾,使许世英在此后五年中忙忙碌碌,各地奔走。1932年,他组织了一个上海战区难民救济会,救济“一·二八”中日冲突中受灾的难民。
1936年2月,国民政府试图解决华北问题,任许世英为驻日大使。1936年4月有田八郎继广田弘毅为日本外务大臣,广田成为总理大臣。在中日谈判中,许世英只不过起了次要作用。他与有田、广田重叙三十年前在沈阳的旧交。11月,德、日签订反共协定,有田对许世英表示欢迎中国参加。许世英受南京之命加以谢绝。12月西安事变后,南京的对日政策改为强硬抵抗。1937年3月,外交部长王宠惠召许世英回国会商。芦沟桥事变引起了中日战争时,许世英还在和王宠惠商量改善中日关系。许世英立刻去东京访问广田,希望保全中国利权解决华北事件。广田要求国民政府不要介入,日本的侵略并未停止。8月,中国与苏联签订互不侵犯条约,许世英对广田说明此举“纯系和平措施”,并表明“日方尚能同意,亦可签订同样性质的条约”。
虽未宣战,但亦无和平希望。国联的干预,德国大使陶德曼的调停,许世英在东京的活动,全属无效。1938年1月,许世英被召回。他到武汉后,预言中国必能获胜。6月,许世英参加国民参政会,国民政府成立此会是为了号召援助抗日斗争。许世英任全国赈灾委员会代委员长,空袭救护委员会主席,1944年12月,正式任全国赈灾委员会委员长。许世英,由于年事渐高,要求免去驻日大使一职,他既未要求也未被任要职。1945年2月,许被授以国民政府高等顾问的头衔。
1947年4月到1949年8月,许世英任国民政府委员,蒙藏事务委员会委员长。1950年夏去台湾,任总统府高等顾问。1955年8月孙立人所部发生所谓间谍活动,许世英被派参加该案调查委员会。他在台湾过着平静生活,1969年10月13日死在台北,年九十一岁。
许世英的妻子是沈懿青(音)有三个儿子、两个女儿。

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