Chang Nai-ch'i (1897-), banking official, economist, and politician, was one of the founders of the National Salvation Association nucleus in Shanghai in 1936 and of the Democratic National Construction Association in Chungking in 1945. From 1952 to 1957 he was minister of food at Peking; then he came under censure as a rightist and was stripped of his government and party posts. A native of Ch'ingt'ien hsien in Chekiang province, Chang Nai-ch'i was born into a merchant family of moderate means. After his basic education, he studied at the Chekiang Provincial Commercial School at Hangchow and was graduated in 1920. Chang then went to Shanghai and became a clerk in the Chekiang Industrial Bank, which was then partly owned by the Chekiang provincial government, and served as its financial agent in Shanghai. Chang was promoted to assistant manager in 1930. In 1 932 the bank was reorganized into a completely private enterprise, and Chang became its deputy general manager.

Chang Nai-ch'i's interest in politics was apparent as early as 1927, when he participated in the launching of a monthly political magazine, the Hsin p'ing-lun. For the most part, however, he devoted himself to economic and business affairs in Shanghai. In 1929 he founded a credit service bulletin, the first financial newsletter published in China. He also wrote on monetary and financial problems and gained a reputation as an economic theorist. His book about Chinese currency went through several editions and was translated into Japanese.

As Japanese aggression against China was intensified during the early 1930's, Chang Naich'i became increasingly outspoken in criticism of the one-party dictatorship of the Kuomintang and of its lack of a strong policy against Japan. His anti-Japanese views of that period often appeared in Ta-chung sheng-huo, edited by Tsou T'ao-fen (q.v.). Because of political pressure, Chang severed his connection with the Chekiang Industrial Bank and moved to Hong Kong. By December 1935, however, he had returned to Shanghai and had rented a house in the French concession. He earned his living as professor of economics at Kuang-hua University, where he was a colleague of Wang Tsao-shih. Two of his books, Chung-kuo ching-chi k'ung-huangyü ching-chi kai-tsao [economic panic and economic reform in China] and Chung-kuo huo-pi chin-jung wen-Vi [currency and financial problems of China] were published in 1935 and 1936, respectively. Chang Nai-ch'i was increasingly preoccupied with anti-Japanese political agitation. Together with Shen Chun-ju (q.v.), Tsou T'ao-fen, Wang Tsao-shih, and others, he organized the Shanghai nucleus of the National Salvation Association ; the organization was formally established on 30 May 1936. On 15 July 1936 several prominent members of the association, including Chang Nai-ch'i, issued a public document calling on the National Government to stop the civil war, to negotiate with the Chinese Communists, to release political prisoners, and to establish a united front for resistance against Japan. When the Chinese Communist party responded to this document in August 1936 by issuing an anti- Japanese declaration along similar lines, the leaders of the National Salvation Association were viewed with sharp suspicion by the government authorities at Nanking. Late in 1936, when strikes broke out in Japanese-owned factories in Shanghai, the National Salvation Association promptly organized a relief committee for the striking workers. The National Government was anxious to avoid such provocative activities. On the night of 22 November 1936, Chang Nai-ch'i, together with several other key figures in the National Salvation Association, was arrested by the Shanghai municipal police. The group was held at Shanghai and then was moved to Soochow in early December. Since patriotic sentiment was running high in China at that time, the group was honored as the ch'i chün-tzu [seven gentlemen], although one of its members, Shih Liang, was a woman. At the trial in April 1937, the government prosecutor accused them of having international backing in their so-called intrigue to endanger the Chinese republic. Chang Naich'i and the others attempted to use the trial as an opportunity to argue for resistance to Japan. In fact, that issue had already been resolved through the Sian Incident of December 1936, and the trial of the ch'i chün-tzu was anticlimactic and inconclusive. Eventually, after the Japanese attack in July 1937, the seven were released on bail. Bail for Chang Nai-ch'i reportedly was provided by the veteran revolutionary and politician Li Ken-yuan (q.v.), who then was living in retirement in Soochow. Having gained national prominence through his involvement in that incident, Chang Nai-ch'i attempted to convert notoriety into position. In 1938 he left Shanghai to accept the post of finance commissioner of Anhwei province, under Li Tsung-jen (q.v.). The course of the war forced Chang to leave Anhwei. In 1939 he went to Chungking. When the lower Yangtze valley was being evacuated, Chang reportedly had assisted the Shanghai Commercial and Savings Bank to transfer some of its assets away from the war zone. After arrival in Szechwan, therefore, Chang was able to request financial assistance from K. P. Ch'en, the general manager of the Shanghai bank. With that loan, Chang organized the Upper Szechwan Industrial Company, which began by operating an alcohol distillery and soon expanded into other fields. The enterprise, with Chang Nai-ch'i as chief stockholder, became heavily involved in the transport business, one of the most lucrative operations in west China. Chang, who had already been a banker, an economist, a professor, a journalist, a political martyr, and a government official, now became a successful entrepreneur and speculator. He also continued to serve as self-appointed adviser to the National Government on economic and fiscal policies. After the Japanese surrender, Chang Nai-ch'i joined a number of other men who were affiliated with business and industrial circles to organize the China Democratic National Construction Association. It was formally established at Chungking in December 1945, with Chang as a member of its central committee. On his return to Shanghai in 1946, Chang became head of the department of industrial management at the University of Shanghai. He was also appointed a member of the planning committee of the ministry of economic affairs. At Shanghai, Chang utilized a portion of the capital built up in his Upper Szechwan enterprise to found the K'un-lun Motion Picture Company, which successfully produced several politically progressive films in 1946 and 1947. He cherished ambitious plans for developing that undertaking into a large Sino-American cooperative enterprise, but the rapid deterioration of the situation in China made those plans impractical. The so-called democratic parties, including the Democratic National Construction Association, became increasingly hostile to the central government and aligned themselves with the Chinese Communist position. The National Government declared them illegal in October 1947. Forced to flee from Shanghai, Chang Nai-ch'i moved to the British colony of Hong Kong, where he promoted real estate development and financing. In October 1948 Chang Nai-ch'i left Hong Kong for Communist-controlled territory in north China. In September 1949 he attended the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference as a delegate of the Democratic National Construction Association. Addressing the conference on the third day of its meeting, Chang stated that his organization stood for the unity of the national businessmen and industrialists of China and that its members were particularly interested in the economic measures of the new government that was then being formed. When the Central People's Government was established at Peking on 1 October 1949, he was appointed a member of its Government Administration Council and a member of its economic-financial committee. He also became a member of the standing committee of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, and a member of the executive board of the Sino-Soviet Friendship Association. In 1950 he was named an adviser to the People's Bank of China. He also was named to the standing committee of the China Peace Committee and to the Chinese delegation to North Korea for the celebration of the fifth anniversary of the Communist regime there. At the time of the government expansion in 1952, Chang Nai-ch'i was named to head the new ministry of food. He was also appointed a member of the newly organized China Committee for the Promotion of International Trade. That year he was on the preparatory committee for the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce, and when that federation was inaugurated in 1953 he became one of its vice chairmen. In 1953 he also became vice chairman of the Democratic National Construction Association. And, as a leader in that association, he served on the administrative committee of the Kuang-ming jih-pao [bright daily news], the newspaper which served as the official organ for all the "democratic parties and groups." In 1954 Chang Nai-ch'i was elected to the First National People's Congress as a deputy from Szechwan province. At the congress he took the opportunity to report on the excellent work done by the ministry of food and to project a favorable food situation for the years ahead. In the government reorganization of that year, Chang was reaffirmed in his position as minister of food. He was also reelected to the standing committee of the Second National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference that same year. Reports in 1955 and 1956 confirmed his senior positions in the Democratic National Construction Association and in the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce.

In 1957, however, when the widespread criticism of Communist policies which followed Mao Tse-tung's call for the "blooming of a hundred flowers" led in turn to a drastic antirightist purge, Chang Nai-ch'i was one of the major targets of attack. Public criticism of him, which began in the early summer of 1957, met with his firm rebuttal, which was published in the Peking Ta Rung Pao on 9 June. His rebuttal was answered by a stern official editorial statement, "Chang Nai-ch'i's False Views and Erroneous Attitudes," which appeared in the Peking Jen-min jih-pao [people's daily] on 18 June 1957. The fourth session of the National People's Congress, which was convened in July 1957, provided a convenient platform from which to attack the rightists. Toward the close of the session, there was a so-called general surrender of the accused. Chang Nai-ch'i made his statement on the last day of the session, 1 7 July 1957. He admitted that he had shown ideological faults, but defended himself by saying that he had refused consistently to oppose Communism. Chang's colleagues in the National Construction Association refuted his statement and made detailed allegations to show that Chang had been a consistent opponent of Communism and of the people of China. He was charged with betraying the National Salvation Association, supporting the Kuomintang's plan to eliminate the Communist party, recommending to the Kuomintang authorities the use of "Hitlerite" methods to control the wartime currency inflation, and suggesting an international loan from the United States in betrayal of China's national interests.

In the first three months of 1958 Chang Naich'i was relieved of his substantive posts both in the government and in his own party. In 1960 he was criticized further for statements regarding the major economic policies of the government. In March 1963 he again was stigmatized as a rightist and was relieved of membership on the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, virtually his only remaining post.