Sun Baoqi (; 26 April 1867 – 3 February 1931) was a government official, foreign minister, and premier 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 northeast ...
. His courtesy name was Mu-han (慕韓)
Biography
Sun was born in
Hangzhou
Hangzhou ( or , ; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), also romanized as Hangchow, is the capital and most populous city of Zhejiang, China. It is located in the northwestern part of the province, sitting at the head of Hangzhou Bay, whi ...
,
Zhejiang Province
Zhejiang ( or , ; , also romanized as Chekiang) is an eastern, coastal province of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Hangzhou, and other notable cities include Ningbo and Wenzhou. Zhejiang is bordered by Jiangs ...
in 1867, the eldest son of Sun Yijing, assistant Imperial tutor to the
Xianfeng Emperor
The Xianfeng Emperor (17 July 1831 – 22 August 1861), or by temple name Emperor Wenzong of Qing (), given name Yizhu (), was the eighth Emperor of the Qing dynasty, and the seventh Qing emperor to rule over China proper, reigned from 1850 t ...
of the
Qing Dynasty
The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...
. He received a classical Chinese education and was awarded the title of second grade yinsheng. He then married a relative of Yikuang, the future Prince Qing. In 1886, Sun became a junior secretary of the Board of Punishments, a post he held until 1895. He was listed for assignment to a foreign post in 1898, but his appointment was delayed because of the
Boxer Rebellion
The Boxer Rebellion, also known as the Boxer Uprising, the Boxer Insurrection, or the Yihetuan Movement, was an anti-foreign, anti-colonial, and anti-Christian uprising in China between 1899 and 1901, towards the end of the Qing dynasty, by ...
. In 1902, he briefly served as secretary of legation in Vienna, Berlin,
and Paris, was then appointed Minister to
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
. Sun returned to China in 1906 and became chief secretary of the Grand Council, which was tasked with reorganizing the country's administrative system. In 1907, he became Minister to
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
. In January 1909, Sun was appointed assistant director of the
Tianjin
Tianjin (; ; Mandarin: ), alternately romanized as Tientsin (), is a municipality and a coastal metropolis in Northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It is one of the nine national central cities in Mainland China, with a total popul ...
-
Pukou
Pukou District (), is one of 11 districts of Nanjing, the capital of Jiangsu province, China, lying northwest across the Yangtze River from downtown Nanjing.
The district was formerly the southern terminus of the Tianjin-Pukou Railway; railcars ...
railroad, and in June of that year he was appointed governor of
Shandong Province
Shandong ( , ; ; alternately romanized as Shantung) is a coastal province of the People's Republic of China and is part of the East China region.
Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history since the beginning of Chinese civilizatio ...
. Sun was a supporter of constitutional government for China. In 1910, he urged the imperial authorities that a cabinet system be established, and in 1911 he recognized the independence of Shandong from
Manchu
The Manchus (; ) are a Tungusic East Asian ethnic group native to Manchuria in Northeast Asia. They are an officially recognized ethnic minority in China and the people from whom Manchuria derives its name. The Later Jin (1616–1636) and ...
rule. However, after
Yuan Shikai
Yuan Shikai (; 16 September 1859 – 6 June 1916) was a Chinese military and government official who rose to power during the late Qing dynasty and eventually ended the Qing dynasty rule of China in 1912, later becoming the Emperor of China. H ...
secured power, Sun was forced to retract this declaration and resign.
![Sun Baoqi4](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f6/Sun_Baoqi4.jpg)
After the end of the Qing Dynasty in 1912, Sun briefly entered a private business enterprise with Prince Qing, but was quickly drawn back into government as co-director general and later acting director general of the Customs Administration. On September 11, 1913, he was appointed to Premier
Xiong Xiling
Xiong Xiling, or Hsiung Hsi-ling (); 1870–1937) was a Chinese philanthropist and politician, who served as premier of the Republic of China from July 1913 to February 1914.
Biography
Born in Fenghuang, Xiangxi prefecture of Hunan, China, Xio ...
's cabinet, and negotiated an agreement with Russia by which Russia recognized China's suzerainty over
Outer Mongolia
Outer Mongolia was the name of a territory in the Manchu-led Qing dynasty of China from 1691 to 1911. It corresponds to the modern-day independent state of Mongolia and the Russian republic of Tuva. The historical region gained ''de facto' ...
and China recognized Outer Mongolia's autonomy. When Xiong resigned in mid-February 1914, Sun became acting Premier until
Xu Shichang
Xu Shichang (Hsu Shih-chang; ; courtesy name: Juren (Chu-jen; 菊人); October 20, 1855 – June 5, 1939) was the President of the Republic of China, in Beijing, from 10 October 1918 to 2 June 1922. The only permanent president of the Beiyang ...
assumed office in May. Sun served as minister of foreign affairs until January 1915, until he resigned in protest of
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 north ...
's
Twenty-One Demands
The Twenty-One Demands ( ja, 対華21ヶ条要求, Taika Nijūikkajō Yōkyū; ) was a set of demands made during the First World War by the Empire of Japan under Prime Minister Ōkuma Shigenobu to the government of the Republic of China on 18 ...
.
From this point on, Sun occupied primarily economic posts, as opposed to his previous foreign policy work. In January 1916, Sun became director of the bureau of audit, and in April minister of finance. In 1917 he was appointed director general of the Customs Administration and in 1920 became director of the economic administration bureau. He then became chairman and later director general of the famine relief bureau, as well as vice-chairman of the
Yangtze River
The Yangtze or Yangzi ( or ; ) is the longest list of rivers of Asia, river in Asia, the list of rivers by length, third-longest in the world, and the longest in the world to flow entirely within one country. It rises at Jari Hill in th ...
commission. In January 1924, Sun briefly became premier a second time, but resigned in July after friction with finance minister Wang Komin. After stepping down, Sun became chairman of the foreign affairs committee and refused several other postings before becoming president of the
Hanyeping iron and steel complex and the China Merchants' Steam Navigation Company. In 1926, he was appointed general director of Sino-French University, and in 1928 he retired to
Dairen
Dalian () is a major sub-provincial port city in Liaoning province, People's Republic of China, and is Liaoning's second largest city (after the provincial capital Shenyang) and the third-most populous city of Northeast China. Located on the ...
when the
Northern Expedition
The Northern Expedition was a military campaign launched by the National Revolutionary Army (NRA) of the Kuomintang (KMT), also known as the "Chinese Nationalist Party", against the Beiyang government and other regional warlords in 1926. The ...
reached
Peking
}
Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...
in 1928. In 1929, Sun traveled 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 city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...
for treatment for a chronic intestinal disorder, and traveled to
Shanghai
Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...
and Hangzhou in 1930. His illness worsened soon after and he died on February 3, 1931.
See also
* Who's who in China, Biographies of Chinese 中國名人錄,published by The China Weekly Review, 4th edition, 1931
* Who's who in modern China, Published in Hong Kong, 1954
References
External links
* Erich Gütinge
Die Geschichte der Chinesen in Deutschland: ein Überblick über die erstenSun Pao-chi (Sun Baoqi) 孫寶琦from ''Biographies of Prominent Chinese'' c.1925.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sun Baoqi
1867 births
1931 deaths
Republic of China politicians from Zhejiang
Politicians from Hangzhou
Foreign Ministers of the Republic of China
Finance Ministers of the Republic of China