Huang Hua (; ; January 25, 1913 – November 24, 2010) was a senior Communist Chinese revolutionary, politician, and diplomat. He served as Foreign Minister of China from 1976 to 1982, and concurrently as Vice Premier from 1980 to 1982. He was instrumental in establishing diplomatic links of the People's Republic of China with the United States and Japan, and was intensely involved in the negotiations with the United Kingdom over the status of Hong Kong.

Biography

Huang Hua was born Wang Rumei in

Ci County Ci County or Cixian () is a county of Hebei, China. It is under the administration of Handan City. Administrative Divisions Towns: * Cizhou (), Xiguanglu (), Gaoyu (), Yuecheng (), Guantai (), Lintan (), Huangsha (), Baitu (), Jiangwucheng ...

Hebei Hebei or , (; alternately Hopeh) is a northern province of China. Hebei is China's sixth most populous province, with over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. The province is 96% Han Chinese, 3% Manchu, 0.8% Hui, an ...

Province in 1913. He was one of the early students at

Yenching University Yenching University (), was a university in Beijing, China, that was formed out of the merger of four Christian colleges between the years 1915 and 1920. The term "Yenching" comes from an alternative name for old Beijing, derived from its status ...

in Beijing, where he learned excellent English and developed a close relationship with John Leighton Stuart, the American missionary who founded Yenching. In 1936, he joined the

Communist Party of China The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victorious in the Chinese Civil ...

at Yenching, and assumed the name Huang Hua. Later that year, he accompanied American journalist

Edgar Snow Edgar Parks Snow (19 July 1905 – 15 February 1972) was an American journalist known for his books and articles on Communism in China and the Chinese Communist revolution. He was the first Western journalist to give an account of the history of ...

to the Communist base in

Yan'an Yan'an (; ), alternatively spelled as Yenan is a prefecture-level city in the Shaanbei region of Shaanxi province, China, bordering Shanxi to the east and Gansu to the west. It administers several counties, including Zhidan (formerly Ba ...

, acting as the interpreter between Snow and the Communist leaders including

Mao Zedong Mao Zedong pronounced ; also romanised traditionally as Mao Tse-tung. (26 December 1893 – 9 September 1976), also known as Chairman Mao, was a Chinese communist revolutionary who was the founder of the People's Republic of China (P ...

. Snow wrote the book ''

Red Star Over China ''Red Star Over China'' is a 1937 book by Edgar Snow. It is an account of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) that was written when it was a guerrilla army and still obscure to Westerners. Along with Pearl S. Buck's '' The Good Earth'' (1931) ...

'', which introduced the Chinese Communists to the world. Huang Hua remained in Yan'an after Snow left, and worked as an assistant to Marshal

Zhu De Zhu De (; ; also Chu Teh; 1 December 1886 – 6 July 1976) was a Chinese general, military strategist, politician and revolutionary in the Chinese Communist Party. Born into poverty in 1886 in Sichuan, he was adopted by a wealthy uncle ...

and later as secretary of Marshal

Ye Jianying Ye Jianying (; 28 April 1897 – 22 October 1986) was a Chinese Communist revolutionary leader and politician, one of the founding Ten Marshals of the People's Republic of China. He was the top military leader in the 1976 coup that overthr ...

. He married He Liliang in Yan'an. After the establishment of the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones an ...

, Huang's English skills ensured him a position in the newly established Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In the early 1950s, he gained prominence as an effective diplomat. He was involved in the

Korean War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Korean War , partof = the Cold War and the Korean conflict , image = Korean War Montage 2.png , image_size = 300px , caption = Clockwise from top:{ ...

armistice talks (1953), initial contacts with the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is official ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

(1958), and China's joining of the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmonizi ...

(1971). During the 1960s, Huang spent much of his time abroad serving as ambassador to

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and ...

and then

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medite ...

. When he returned home during the height of the

Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a sociopolitical movement in the People's Republic of China (PRC) launched by Mao Zedong in 1966, and lasting until his death in 1976. Its stated goa ...

, he was arrested along with his wife and banished to labor reform in the countryside. His exile did not last long however, as he was rehabilitated in 1971 and appointed the PRC's first ambassador to the United Nations. Beginning in 1971, Huang was the first Permanent Representative to the UN from the People's Republic of China after the UN seat was transferred to the mainland Chinese government. Huang also signed the Sino-Japanese Peace and Friendship Treaty with Japanese Foreign Minister Sonoda on August 12, 1978. After Mao Zedong's death in 1976, Foreign Minister

Qiao Guanhua Qiao Guanhua (; March 28, 1913 – September 22, 1983
." ''

Gang of Four The Gang of Four () was a Maoist political faction composed of four Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials. They came to prominence during the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976) and were later charged with a series of treasonous crimes. The gang ...

, was dismissed from his post and Huang appointed as his replacement. In this capacity, he served as Foreign Minister for the next six years and presided over the official establishment of diplomatic relations with the US. When Soviet leader

Leonid Brezhnev Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev; uk, links= no, Леонід Ілліч Брежнєв, . (19 December 1906– 10 November 1982) was a Soviet politician who served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union between 1964 and 198 ...

died in November 1982, a Chinese delegation headed by Huang Hua as Foreign Minister attended the funeral, where Huang praised the late Soviet leader as "an outstanding champion of world peace," and expressed his hope for normalized relations with Moscow. This was during the

Sino-Soviet split The Sino-Soviet split was the breaking of political relations between the People's Republic of China and the Soviet Union caused by doctrinal divergences that arose from their different interpretations and practical applications of Marxism–Len ...

, when PRC and the USSR competed for influence in the world. However, Huang's overly hasty actions led to his dismissal from office as soon as he returned home.

Personal life

In 1944, Huang married He Liliang (born July 1926). They had two sons and one daughter. Huang died on 24 November 2010 at the age of 97.

References

External links

Huang Hua
on Chinese Foreign Ministry {{DEFAULTSORT:Huang, Hua 1913 births 2010 deaths 20th-century Chinese politicians Ambassadors of China to Ghana Ambassadors of China to Egypt Foreign Ministers of the People's Republic of China Permanent Representatives of the People's Republic of China to the United Nations Politicians from Handan State councillors of China Vice Chairpersons of the National People's Congress Yenching University alumni Burials at Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery