Tang Shaoyi (; 2 January 1862 – 30 September 1938), also spelled Tong Shao Yi,
courtesy name
A courtesy name (), also known as a style name, is a name bestowed upon one at adulthood in addition to one's given name. This practice is a tradition in the East Asian cultural sphere, including China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam.Ulrich Theobald ...
Shaochuan (), was a Chinese statesman who briefly served as the first 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 ...
in 1912. In 1938, he was assassinated by the staff of the
Bureau of Investigation and Statistics
The National Bureau of Investigation and Statistics (Military Commission), (NBIS or BIS) (), commonly known as Juntong (), was the military intelligence agency of the Republic of China before 1946. It was devoted to intelligence gathering and c ...
in
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 ...
.
Early life
Tang was a native of
Xiangshang County, Guangdong. Tang was educated in the United States, attending elementary school in Springfield,
, and high school in Hartford, Connecticut.
He later studied at
Queen's College, Hong Kong
Queen's College () is a sixth form college for boys with a secondary school and the first public secondary school founded in Hong Kong by the British colonial government. It was initially named The Government Central School () in 1862 and la ...
, and then
Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
in New York on the
Chinese Educational Mission
The Chinese Educational Mission (1872–1881) was the pioneering but frustrated attempt by reform-minded officials of the Qing dynasty to educate a group of 120 Chinese students in the United States.
In 1871, Yung Wing, himself the first Chine ...
. He was a member of
Columbia College's class of 1882 before being recalled back to China by the
Qing government
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-speaki ...
. Tong was a classmate and close friend of future Columbia president
Nicholas Murray Butler
Nicholas Murray Butler () was an American philosopher, diplomat, and educator. Butler was president of Columbia University, president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, and the deceased Ja ...
.
Career
![Tang Shaoyi9](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/10/Tang_Shaoyi9.jpg)
Tang was a friend of
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 ...
; and during the
Xinhai Revolution
The 1911 Revolution, also known as the Xinhai Revolution or Hsinhai Revolution, ended China's last imperial dynasty, the Manchu-led Qing dynasty, and led to the establishment of the Republic of China. The revolution was the culmination of a d ...
, negotiated on the latter's behalf in
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 ...
with the revolutionaries'
Wu Tingfang
Wu Ting-fang (; 30 July 184223 June 1922) was a diplomat and politician who served as Minister of Foreign Affairs and briefly as Acting Premier during the early years of the Republic of China. He was also known as Ng Choy or Ng Achoy ().
Ed ...
, ending up with the recognition of Yuan as
President of the Republic of China
The president of the Republic of China, now often referred to as the president of Taiwan, is the head of state of the Republic of China (ROC), as well as the commander-in-chief of the Republic of China Armed Forces. The position once had aut ...
. He had been a diplomat with
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 ...
's staff in Korea.
[ In 1900, he was appointed head of the Shandong Bureau of Foreign Affairs under governor Yuan Shikai.][
Widely respected, he became the Republic's first ]Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...
in 1912, but quickly grew disillusioned with Yuan's lack of respect for the rule of law
The rule of law is the political philosophy that all citizens and institutions within a country, state, or community are accountable to the same laws, including lawmakers and leaders. The rule of law is defined in the ''Encyclopedia Britannica ...
and resigned. He later took part in 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 ...
's government in Guangzhou
Guangzhou (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Canton () and alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of Guangdong province in southern China. Located on the Pearl River about north-northwest of Hong Kon ...
. Tang Shaoyi opposed, on constitutional grounds, Sun's taking of the "''Extraordinary Presidency''" in 1921; Tang resigned from his position. In 1924, he refused an offer to be foreign minister under warlord Duan Qirui
Duan Qirui (; ) (March 6, 1865 – November 2, 1936) was a Chinese warlord and politician, a commander of the Beiyang Army and the acting Chief Executive of the Republic of China (in Beijing) from 1924 to 1926. He was also the Premier of the R ...
's provisional government in Beijing
}
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 ...
.
Assassination
In 1937, Tang bought a house on Route Ferguson
Wukang Road (), originally Route Ferguson (福开森路), is a historic road in the Xuhui District of Shanghai, China, located in the western part of the former French Concession area of the city. In 2011 Wukang Road was recognized as one of the ...
in the Shanghai French Concession
The Shanghai French Concession; ; Shanghainese pronunciation: ''Zånhae Fah Tsuka'', group=lower-alpha was a foreign concession in Shanghai, China from 1849 until 1943, which progressively expanded in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Th ...
and retired there. The following year, the Japanese invaded
An invasion is a military offensive in which large numbers of combatants of one geopolitical entity aggressively enter territory owned by another such entity, generally with the objective of either: conquering; liberating or re-establishing con ...
and occupied Shanghai (though not yet the foreign concessions). Japanese general Kenji Doihara
was a Japanese army officer. As a general in the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II, he was instrumental in the Japanese invasion of Manchuria.
As a leading intelligence officer, he played a key role to the Japanese machinations that le ...
attempted to recruit Tang to become president of the new pro-Japanese puppet government, and Tang was willing to negotiate with the Japanese. The 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 Tai ...
's intelligence agency Juntong learned about the negotiation, and its chief Dai Li
Lieutenant General Dai Li (Tai Li; ; May 28, 1897 – March 17, 1946) was a Chinese spymaster. His courtesy name was Yunong (雨農). Born Dai Chunfeng (Tai Chun-feng; 戴春風) in Bao'an, Jiangshan, Zhejiang province, he studied at the Whamp ...
ordered his assassination. On 30 September 1938, Tang was killed in his living room by a Juntong squad who pretended to be antique sellers.
Family
Tang Shaoyi's daughter Tang Baoyue (English name May Tang) was married to the prominent diplomat V. K. Wellington Koo. She died in October 1918 during the 1918 flu pandemic
The 1918–1920 influenza pandemic, commonly known by the misnomer Spanish flu or as the Great Influenza epidemic, was an exceptionally deadly global influenza pandemic caused by the H1N1 influenza A virus. The earliest documented case was ...
, after falling ill for only a week. Another daughter Lora Tang was married to the well-known Singapore philanthropist Lee Seng Gee, former chairman of the Lee Foundation
Lee Foundation is Singapore's largest private charitable foundation. It was founded in 1952 by philanthropist and businessman Lee Kong Chian, and has since supported various educational causes, healthcare and medical endowments as well as disaster ...
.
Another daughter from his first wife, Isobel, was married to Henry K. Chang (Chang Chien), the Chinese Ambassador and Consul General at San Francisco (1929).
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tang, Shaoyi
1859 births
1938 deaths
Assassinated Chinese politicians
Politicians from Zhuhai
People of the 1911 Revolution
Columbia College (New York) alumni
Republic of China politicians from Guangdong
Premiers of the Republic of China
20th-century Chinese heads of government
Shandong University faculty
Unity Party (China) politicians
Chinese collaborators with Imperial Japan
Educators from Guangdong
Alumni of Queen's College, Hong Kong
Presidents of Shandong University