Li Ken-yuan (6 June 1879-6 July 1965), Yunnanese T'ung-meng-hui and Kuomintang leader who participated in the so-called second revolution in 1913 and who commanded the Yunnan Army in Kwangtung from February 1918 to October 1920. After serving as minister of agriculture in the Peking government from November 1921 to June 1923, he retired from political […]

Li Ta-chao 李大釗 T. Shou-ch'ang 守常 Li Ta-chao (1889-28 April 1927), founding member of the Chinese Communist party who, as librarian and professor at Peking University, strongly influenced the youth of China at the time of the May Fourth Movement. He was the principal director of Communist organizational and propaganda activities in north China until […]

K'ang Yu-wei (19 March 1858-31 March 1927), leader of the reform movement that culminated in the ill-fated Hundred Days Reform of 1898 and prominent scholar of the chin-wen [new text] school of the Confucian classics. The elder son of an expectant district magistrate, K'ang Yu-%vei was born in a village in Nanhai (Namhoi), a district […]

Chiang Meng-lin (1886-18 June 1964), known as Chiang Monlin, educator. He served as dean (1919) and acting chancellor (1923-27) of Peking University and as minister of education in the National Government (1928-30). He then returned to Peking as chancellor of the university (1931-45). From 1948 to 1964 he was chairman of the Joint Commission on […]

Chiang Fang-chen (13 October 1882-4 October 1938), trained in military science in Japan and Germany, did much to revolutionize military training in republican China and was powerful as adviser to many military commanders, notably Wu P'ei-fu, Sun Ch'uan-fang, and Chiang Kai-shek. He also introduced to China knowledge of Western culture, constitutional ideas, and military practices. […]

Huang Fu (8 March 1880-6 December 1936), government official, was a friend and adviser of Chiang Kai-shek and Feng Yü-hsiang. In the early 1920's he held such posts in Peking as acting foreign minister and minister of education. From 3 to 24 November 1924 he functioned as premier, president, and minister of interior. He served […]

Feng Tzu-yu (1881-6 April 1958), an early associate of Sun Yat-sen who was prominent in the Hsing-Chung-hui and the T'ung-meng-hui. After the 1924 Kuomintang reorganization, his active political career ended. He later wrote a number of historical works about the revolutionary movement. A native of Nanhai (Namhoi), Kwangtung, Feng Tzu-yu was born in Japan, where […]

Feng Kuo-chang (7 January 1859-28 December 1919), one of the most powerful officers of Yuan Shih-k'ai's Feiyang military clique, was military governor of Chihh (1912-13) and Kiangsu (1913-17). After Yuan died, he became vice president (1916-17) and acting president (191718) of the Peking government. He was the leader of the Chihli clique, which opposed the […]

Fan Yuan-lien (1875-23 December 1927), a pioneer in the modernization of Chinese education, held such offices as minister of education (1912; 1916-17; 1920-21), president of Peking Normal University (1923-24), and director of the China Foundation for the Promotion of Education and Culture. A native of Hsiangyin, Hunan, Fan Yuan-lien was orphaned at an early age. […]

Tuan Ch'i-jui 段祺瑞 T. Chih-ch'üan 芝泉 H. Cheng-tao lao-jen 正道老人 Tuan Ch'i-jui (6 March 1865-2 November 1936), Peiyang military leader and head of the Anhwei clique. He served at Peking as minister of war (1912-14), premier (April-June 1916; June 1916-May 1917; July-November 1917; March-October 1918), and as provisional chief executive at Peking from November 1924 […]