Liao Zhongkai (April 23, 1877 – August 20, 1925) was a Chinese-American

Kuomintang The Kuomintang (KMT), also referred to as the Guomindang (GMD), the Nationalist Party of China (NPC) or the Chinese Nationalist Party (CNP), is a major political party in the Republic of China, initially on the Chinese mainland and in Ta ...

leader and financier. He was the principal architect of the first Kuomintang–

Chinese Communist Party 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 Ci ...

(KMT–CCP)

United Front A united front is an alliance of groups against their common enemies, figuratively evoking unification of previously separate geographic fronts and/or unification of previously separate armies into a front. The name often refers to a political ...

in the 1920s. He was assassinated in

Canton Canton may refer to: Administrative division terminology * Canton (administrative division), territorial/administrative division in some countries, notably Switzerland * Township (Canada), known as ''canton'' in Canadian French Arts and ente ...

in August 1925.

Early life

Liao was born in 1877 in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17t ...

and received his early education in the United States. He was one of twenty-four children. His father Liao Zhubin, who had five wives, was sent to San Francisco by the

Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank HSBC Holdings plc is a British multinational universal bank and financial services holding company. It is the largest bank in Europe by total assets ahead of BNP Paribas, with US$2.953 trillion as of December 2021. In 2021, HSBC had $10.8 tril ...

. Returning to

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a List of cities in China, city and Special administrative regions of China, special ...

in 1893, at the age of sixteen he studied at Queen's College from 1896. He married

He Xiangning He Xiangning (; 27 June 1878 – 1 September 1972) was a Chinese revolutionary, feminist, politician, painter, and poet. Together with her husband Liao Zhongkai, she was one of the earliest members of Sun Yat-sen's revolutionary movement Tongm ...

in 1897. He then went to

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

in January 1903 to study political science at

Waseda University , mottoeng = Independence of scholarship , established = 21 October 1882 , type = Private , endowment = , president = Aiji Tanaka , city = Shinjuku , state = Tokyo , country = Japan , students = 47,959 , undergrad = 39,382 , postgrad ...

. In 1907 he went to

Chuo University , commonly referred to as or , is a private flagship research university in Tokyo, Japan. Founded in 1885 as Igirisu Hōritsu Gakkō (the English Law School), Chuo is one of the oldest and most prestigious institutions in the country. The univer ...

to study political and economic science.

In politics

Liao joined the Chinese

Revolutionary Alliance The Tongmenghui of China (or T'ung-meng Hui, variously translated as Chinese United League, United League, Chinese Revolutionary Alliance, Chinese Alliance, United Allegiance Society, ) was a secret society and underground resistance movement ...

in 1905 upon its founding and became the director of the financial bureau of

Kwangtung Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020 ...

after the founding of the

Republic of China Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northeas ...

. In the early struggles of the party, Liao Zhongkai was arrested by Kwangtung strongman

Chen Jiongming Chen Jiongming, (; 18 January 187822 September 1933), courtesy name Jingcun (竞存/競存), nickname Ayan (阿烟/阿煙), was a Hailufeng Hokkien revolutionary figure in the early period of the Republic of China. Early life Chen Jiongming wa ...

in June 1922. After Chen's defeat Liao became Civil governor of Guangdong from May 1923 to February 1924, and then again from June to September 1924. During the first Kuomintang–

cooperation period, he was appointed to the Kuomintang Executive Committee. When the KMT was reformed in 1924, he was named the head of the Department of Workers, and then Department of Peasants. Later he became Minister of Finance of the southern government, seated in

Guangdong Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020 ...

. When

Sun Yat-sen Sun Yat-sen (; also known by several other names; 12 November 1866 – 12 March 1925)Singtao daily. Saturday edition. 23 October 2010. section A18. Sun Yat-sen Xinhai revolution 100th anniversary edition . was a Chinese politician who serve ...

died in Beijing in March, 1925, and Liao was one of the three most powerful figures in the Kuomintang Executive Committee, the other two were

Wang Jingwei Wang Jingwei (4 May 1883 – 10 November 1944), born as Wang Zhaoming and widely known by his pen name Jingwei, was a Chinese politician. He was initially a member of the left wing of the Kuomintang, leading a government in Wuhan in oppositi ...

and

Hu Hanmin Hu Hanmin (; born in Panyu, Guangdong, Qing dynasty, China, 9 December 1879 – Kwangtung, Republic of China, 12 May 1936) was a Chinese philosopher and politician who was one of the early conservative right factional leaders in the Kuomintang ...

. Liao continued his belief in Sun's policy after Sun died, including one of the key policies of maintaining close relations with the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

as well as the Chinese Communist Party, which was strongly opposed by the KMT right wing. Liao was assassinated before a Kuomintang Executive Committee meeting on August 20, 1925 in

Guangzhou Guangzhou (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Canton () and Chinese postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Guangdong Provinces of China, province in South China, sou ...

, when five gunmen riddled him with bullets from

Mauser C96 The Mauser C96 (''Construktion 96'') is a semi-automatic pistol that was originally produced by German arms manufacturer Mauser from 1896 to 1937. Unlicensed copies of the gun were also manufactured in Spain and China in the first half of the 2 ...

s as he stepped out of his limousine. Suspicion for the act fell upon

, who was then arrested. This left only Wang Jingwei and the rising

Chiang Kai-shek Chiang Kai-shek (31 October 1887 – 5 April 1975), also known as Chiang Chung-cheng and Jiang Jieshi, was a Chinese Nationalist politician, revolutionary, and military leader who served as the leader of the Republic of China (ROC) from 1928 ...

as rivals for control of the Kuomintang. Liao and He Xiangning had a daughter,

Liao Mengxing Liao Mengxing (1904 – January 7, 1988), also known as Liao Xianlin and Liao Shaofen, was a Chinese political activist. She was the secretary of Soong Ching-ling and was later a member of the All-China Women's Federation. She was the daughter ...

, and a son,

Liao Chengzhi Liao Chengzhi (; 25 September 1908 – 10 June 1983) was a Chinese politician. He joined the Communist Party of China in 1928, and rose to the position of director of the Xinhua News Agency; after 1949, he worked in various positions related to ...

. The latter had four sons, Liao Hui being the eldest.

Anna Chennault Anna Chennault, born Chan Sheng Mai, later spelled Chen Xiangmei (, actual birth year 1923, but reported as June 23, 1925 – March 30, 2018), also known as Anna Chan Chennault or Anna Chen Chennault, was a war correspondent and prominent Republ ...

is his niece.

References

External links

Rulers; Index Li-Ll, Liao Zhongkai
biography

biography with photo {{DEFAULTSORT:Liao, Zhongkai 1877 births American people of Chinese descent 1925 deaths Assassinated Chinese politicians Hakka people People from Huiyang Politicians from San Francisco People murdered in China Economic Affairs Ministers of the Republic of China Members of the Kuomintang Tongmenghui members Chinese expatriates in Japan Waseda University alumni Chuo University alumni Burials in Nanjing Alumni of Queen's College, Hong Kong

Early life

In politics

References

Further reading

External links