Hsü Shu-cheng (4 November 1880-30 December 1925), held many important offices in Peking as the most powerful deputy of Tuan Ch'i-jui (q.v.) in the period from 1912 to 1920 and co-founder of the Anfu Club. His actions in extending Chinese authority in Outer Mongolia after 1918 turned the Mongols against China and were a chief […]

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 […]

Hsü Shih-ch'ang 徐世昌 T. Chü-jen 菊人 H. Tung-hai 東海 Hsü Shih-ch'ang (23 October 1855-6 June 1939), protege of Yuan Shih-k'ai who in 1918 became the only man of civilian background to hold the presidency at Peking. After his retirement in June 1922, he devoted himself to literary and cultural pursuits. Little is known of Hsü […]

Wu Hsien-tzu (1881-7 October 1959), Confucian scholar who studied under K'ang Yu-wei and Chien Ch'ao-liang. He was long associated with Li Ta-ming in publishing the Chinese World in San Francisco, and he became head of the Constitutionalist party and chief bearer of the political heritage of K'ang Yu-wei. A native of Shun-te (Shuntak), the richest […]

Wu T'ing-fang (9 July 1842-23 June 1922), English-educated lawyer who gained international prominence as the Ch'ing government's diplomatic representative in the United States in 1897-1901 and in 1907-9. He also served as co-chairman of the fa-lü pien-tsuan-kuan [bureau for the compilation of the law]. Wu was chief delegate for the revolutionaries in the peace negotiations […]

Wu Ch'ao-shu (23 May 1887-2 January 1934), known as C. C. Wu, Western-educated official at Peking who went to Canton in 1917 with his father, Wu T'ing-fang, to join the Canton regime of Sun Yat-sen. He later served as minister of foreign affairs at Canton and Nanking. In 1928-30 he was minister to the United […]

Wang Shih-chen (1861-1 July 1930), one of Yuan Shih-k'ai's three chief assistants (with Tuan Ch'i-jui and Feng Kuo-chang) in organizing and training the Peiyang Army. In 1917 he served as premier and minister of war at Peking, and in 1922 he became president of the college of marshals. Chengting, Chihli (Hopei), was the birthplace of […]

T'an Chen (1885-18 April 1947), founding member of the conservative Western Hills faction of the Kuomintang. He served the National Government as vice president of the Judicial Yuan (1932-42) and as a member of the Government Council (1943-46). Born into a farming family in T'aoyuan, Hunan, T'an Chen showed such intellectual promise as a boy […]

Sung Che-yuan T. Ming-hsüan 5fc tf 7C Sung Che-yuan (30 October 1885-4 April 1940), subordinate of Feng Yü-hsiang. In 1930 he received command of the Twenty-ninth Army. As chairman of the Hopei-Chahar Political Council, he was deeply involved before 1937 in Sino-Japanese confrontations in north China. Loling, Shantung, was the birthplace of Sung Che-yuan. Although […]

P'u-yi (1906-17 October 1967), the last Manchu emperor. Born in Peking, P'u-yi was the son of Tsaifeng, the second Prince Ch'un and the nephew of the Kuang-hsü emperor. As the emperor neared death in 1908, some members of the Manchu hierarchy pressed the claims of P'u-lun and P'u-wei, older great-grandsons of the Taokuang Emperor in […]