Died 1970 | ||
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Books China in revolt, The inner history of the Chinese revolution, The New Social Order in China | ||
T'ang Leang-Li or Tang Liangli (traditional Chinese: 湯良禮; simplified Chinese: 汤良礼; pinyin: Tāng Liánglǐ) (1901–1970) was a journalist and politician in the Republic of China. He was an important politician during the Wang Jingwei regime (Republic of China-Nanjing). He was an overseas Chinese who was born in Java, Indonesia, and whose family place of origin was Fujian. His Indonesian name was Tubagus Pranata Tirtawidjaya.
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Journalist
T'ang Leang-Li spoke English better than Chinese. He studied at London University and Vienna University. In 1925 he acquired a B.Sc (Economics), from London University, and was recommended as a member of the Royal Economic Society.
In 1929, T'ang was appointed chief of the Communications Office to Europe, Central Executive Committee, Kuomintang (中國國民黨中央執行委員會駐歐通訊主任). The next year, he returned to China and became Wang Jingwei's private secretary and a reporter for several foreign presses, including The New York Times, The Daily News (London), The Batavia Newspaper, and the news agency of the Social Democratic Party of Germany. He was also appointed president of Lianhua Shubao (聯華書報) and general editor of People's Tribune.
In 1931, Zhou Enlai who managed the central leading authority of the Communist Party of China in Shanghai, was pressured heavily by the Kuomintang. At that time, T'ang hid Zhou from the Kuomintang authorities, and with the assistance of a Western friend, enabled Zhou's escape from Shanghai.
In 1933, T'ang was appointed as an adviser to the Foreign Ministry, National Government, with minister extraordinary and plenipotentiary status. After that he became a general editor of The China Today Series and the English Encyclopedia of Modern China. During that time, he wrote extensively in English, with many of his works becoming influential both inside and outside China. Among these are, The New Currency System in China (1937), which was referred to by Milton Friedman.
In the Wang Jingwei regime
In March 1940, when the Wang Jingwei regime was established, T'ang assumed formal office in the regime. In August of the same year, he was appointed director of the International Publicity Bureau (國際宣傳局局長), remaining at this post until the collapse of the regime following Japan's surrender in 1945. From May to August 1941 he also held the post of Policy Affairs Vice-Minister for the Foreign Affairs Ministry.
After the Wang Jingwei regime had collapsed, T'ang was arrested by Chiang Kai-shek's National Government; however, for unknown reasons, he was soon released. In 1949, he returned to Indonesia and lived in Jakarta. He participated in editing The Indonesian Review of International Affairs, and was interviewed by Japanese political scientist Tatsuo Yamada (who specialized in Chinese politics) on December 17, 1969.
T'ang Leang-Li died in 1970.