President Chiang Kai-shek Premier H. H. Kung Party Kuomintang President Lin Sen | Preceded by Chiang Kai-shek Name Zhang Qun Preceded by H. H. Kung Succeeded by Weng Wenhao | |
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Died December 14, 1990, Taipei, Taiwan | ||
Vice Premier Wang Yunwu
Ku Meng-yu Education Baoding Military Academy | ||
Zhang Qun or Chang Chun (Chinese: 張群; May 9, 1889 – December 14, 1990) also known as Zhang Yuejun (張岳軍), was premier of the Republic of China and a prominent member of the Kuomintang. He served as secretary general to the President of the Republic from 1954 to 1972 and senior advisor to Presidents Chiang Kai-shek, Yen Chia-kan, Chiang Ching-kuo, and Lee Teng-hui. Under the influence of his wife, Ma Yu-ying, he became a Christian in the 1930s.
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Education and early career
Born in the Huayang County (now part of Shuangliu County), Sichuan province, Chang was admitted in 1906 to the Baoding Military Academy, just southwest of Beijing. The next year, he was selected to go to Japan to study at the Tokyo Shimbu Gakko, a preparatory military school, where he specialized in artillery. Together with his classmate, Chiang Kai-shek, he joined the T'ung-meng-hui the same year. After completing their preparatory studies, they both served in the Takada regiment of the Imperial Japanese Army’s 13th Field Artillery Bridage, stationed in Niigata Prefecture before returning to China to serve under Sun Yat-sen in the Xinhai Revolution which would overthrow the Qing monarchy in 1911. During this period, a lifelong friendship between the two men and Huang Fu was formed and the three became sworn, or blood, brothers. Chang married Ma Yu-ying (馬育英) in 1913; because their first child was born in 1917, he later claimed to have practiced family planning long before it became popular.
When Yuan Shikai attempted to restore the monarchy, Chang fled to Japan, finished his military training at the Imperial Japanese Army Academy in 1915, and then went to the Netherlands East Indies, where he taught in an overseas Chinese school. Returning to China to participate in Yuan's overthrow, he served as adjutant-general to Cen Chunxuan, president of the southern provinces, which repudiated Yuan's regime. With the restoration of the Republic, Chang held several posts. Becoming a major general of the National Revolutionary Army at age 28, he later became a member of the Kuomintang's Central Executive Committee, mayor of Shanghai and president of Tongji University, governor of Hubei province and foreign minister. In the KMT, he led the Political Science Clique (政學系), which included military men such as Huang Fu and Xiong Shihui (熊式輝), intellectuals, such as Yang Yongtai (楊永泰) and Wang Ch'ung-hui, and bankers and industrialists, including Wu Dingchang (吳鼎昌) and Chang Kia-ngau. During World War II, he served as secretary general of the National Security Council and governor of Sichuan province.
Post-war career
In 1946, Chang, representing the national government, was a member of the Committee of Three (also known as the Marshall Mission) along with General George C. Marshall, then head of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Chinese Communist Party representative Zhou Enlai, which had been established in Nanjing in January, 1946 to effect a Kuomintang-Chinese Communist Party truce and head off civil war. The Marshall Mission helped to bring about a temporary cease-fire and but its plans for a political-military settlement did not succeed.
In 1947, Chang headed the first coalition government as president of the Executive Yuan, a position also known as premier of the Republic of China.
His platform was to prepare China for constitutional government, land reform and price control. Despite his long ties with Chiang Kai-shek, he could not bring about the political reforms he favored. After the transfer of the capital from Nanjing to Taipei, he became chief of staff and secretary general to the president in 1954. Among his duties were planning the government's foreign policy and representing the president in Japan, Africa and Europe, including the Second Vatican Council in 1965.
In 1972, he played a large role in the difficult negotiations regarding Japan's switch of diplomatic recognition to the People's Republic of China. His last official position was chairman of the Presidium of the Kuomintang's Central Advisory Committee.
Personal life
A member of the board of the National Palace Museum, Chang was a renowned calligrapher, keen art collector, friend of great artists such as Chang Dai-chien, Huang Jun-bi and Lan Yin-ting, and recipient of honorary doctorates from several universities, including the University of Illinois, Seoul National University, St. John's University (New York), Sungkyunkwan University and Soochow University (Taiwan). He died at the age of 101 years, 219 days, of heart and kidney failure, at Veterans General Hospital in Taipei, on December 14, 1990.
Chang's wife, Ma Yu-ying (馬育英; pinyin: Ma Yuying), died in 1974. His daughter, Mrs. Yalan Chang Lew (劉張亞蘭; pinyin: Liu Zhang Yalan), widow of Ambassador Yu-Tang Daniel Lew (劉毓棠; pinyin: Liu Yutang), died on July 14, 2014 at age 97 in Seattle, WA, as did his son, Dr. Philip Chi-cheng Chang (張繼正; pinyin: Zhang Jizheng), who died on October 24, 2015 at age 96 in Taipei. He was former communications minister 1969-72, chairman of the Council for Economic Planning and Development 1973-76, finance minister 1978-81 and governor of the Central Bank of China 1984-89. Chang is survived by his second son, Dr. Theodore Chi-chong Chang (張繼忠; pinyin: Zhang Jizhong), vice president of the Truth Theological Seminary and pastor emeritus of the Mandarin Baptist Church of Pasadena, California.