Xu Shunshou (; 21 August 1917 – 6 January 1968) was a Chinese aircraft designer and a founder of the aircraft manufacturing industry in the People's Republic of China. He was the founding director of the PRC's first aircraft design organization (later the

Shenyang Aircraft Design Institute Shenyang Aircraft Design Institute (; or 601 Institute) is a Chinese aircraft design institute of the Shenyang Aircraft Corporation, specializing in the design of military aircraft.Shenyang JJ-1, the first jet aircraft designed in China. He trained many of the country's top aircraft designers and also participated in the design of the

Nanchang CJ-6 The Nanchang CJ-6 () is a Chinese basic trainer aircraft designed and built by the Nanchang Aircraft Factory (now Hongdu Aviation) for use by the People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF). Development The CJ-6 (Chu Jiao 初教 = Chuji Jiaoli ...

trainer, the

Nanchang Q-5 The Nanchang Q-5 (; NATO reporting name: Fantan), also known as the A-5 in its export versions, is a Chinese-built single-seat, twin jet engine ground-attack aircraft based on the Shenyang J-6. The aircraft is primarily used for close air suppo ...

jet

attack aircraft An attack aircraft, strike aircraft, or attack bomber is a tactical military aircraft that has a primary role of carrying out airstrikes with greater precision than bombers, and is prepared to encounter strong low-level air defenses while pre ...

, and the

Xian H-6 The Xian H-6 () is a twin-engine jet bomber of the Chinese People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF). The H-6 is a license-built version of the Soviet Tupolev Tu-16 and remains the primary bomber aircraft of the People's Republic of China. Del ...

bomber. He was severely persecuted during 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 goal ...

and died at the age of 50.

Republic of China

Xu Shunshou was born on 21 August 1917 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 ...

, Republic of China, the youngest child of Xu Yibing, an educator and a member of

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 revolutionary group

Tongmenghui 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 ...

. When he was three, his family returned to their hometown Nanxun, in

Huzhou Huzhou (, ; Huzhounese: ''ghou² cieu¹'') is a prefecture-level city in northern Zhejiang province (Hangzhou–Jiaxing–Huzhou Plain, China). Lying south of the Lake Tai, it borders Jiaxing to the east, Hangzhou to the south, and the provinc ...

Zhejiang 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 Jiang ...

Province. He lost his father at a young age. In 1930, Xu attended secondary school in

Nanjing Nanjing (; , Mandarin pronunciation: ), alternately romanized as Nanking, is the capital of Jiangsu province of the People's Republic of China. It is a sub-provincial city, a megacity, and the second largest city in the East China region. T ...

, then China's capital. Two years later, the January 28 incident broke out and the Japanese army attacked Shanghai and threatened Nanjing. For safety, Xu transferred to the missionary Kashing High School (now Xiuzhou High School) in

Jiaxing Jiaxing (), alternately romanized as Kashing, is a prefecture-level city in northern Zhejiang province, China. Lying on the Grand Canal of China, Jiaxing borders Hangzhou to the southwest, Huzhou to the west, Shanghai to the northeast, and the ...

, near his hometown. Xu entered the Department of Mechanical Engineering of

Tsinghua University Tsinghua University (; abbreviation, abbr. THU) is a National university, national Public university, public research university in Beijing, China. The university is funded by the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China, Minis ...

in 1933. Upon graduation four years later with a bachelor's degree in

aerospace engineering Aerospace engineering is the primary field of engineering concerned with the development of aircraft and spacecraft. It has two major and overlapping branches: aeronautical engineering and astronautical engineering. Avionics engineering is si ...

, he briefly worked at the

Central Aircraft Manufacturing Company The Central Aircraft Manufacturing Company (CAMCO; ), also known as the Loiwing Factory (雷允飛機製造廠) after they moved to Yunnan, was a Chinese aircraft manufacturer established by American entrepreneur William D. Pawley in the 1930s. ...

in Jianqiao, Hangzhou, before entering the special aviation mechanics program of the

National Central University National Central University (NCU, ; Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: ''Kwet-li̍p Chung-yong Thài-ho̍k'', Wade–Giles: ''Kuo2 Li4 Chung Yang Ta4 Hsüeh2'' or ''中大'', ''Chung-ta'') is a public research university with long-standing traditions based in Taiwa ...

in Nanjing. The

Second Sino-Japanese War The Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) or War of Resistance (Chinese term) was a military conflict that was primarily waged between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. The war made up the Chinese theater of the wider Pacific Th ...

soon broke out in July 1937 and Nanjing fell to Japanese occupation. The National Central University relocated to

Chongqing Chongqing ( or ; ; Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), Postal Romanization, alternately romanized as Chungking (), is a Direct-administered municipalities of China, municipality in Southwes ...

, China's wartime capital. Upon graduation in March 1939, Xu joined the

Republic of China Air Force The Republic of China Air Force, retroactively known by its historical name the Chinese Air Force and unofficially referred to as the Taiwanese Air Force, is the military aviation branch of the Republic of China Armed Forces, currently based i ...

and served at the technical research office of the air force's aviation committee in

Chengdu Chengdu (, ; Simplified Chinese characters, simplified Chinese: 成都; pinyin: ''Chéngdū''; Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: ), Chinese postal romanization, alternatively Romanization of Chi ...

. In 1942, Xu was sent by 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 ...

government to work and train at the

McDonnell Aircraft Corporation The McDonnell Aircraft Corporation was an American aerospace manufacturer based in St. Louis, Missouri. The company was founded on July 6, 1939, by James Smith McDonnell, and was best known for its military fighters, including the F-4 Phantom II ...

in the United States, where he participated in the design of jet

interceptors An interceptor aircraft, or simply interceptor, is a type of fighter aircraft designed specifically for the defensive interception role against an attacking enemy aircraft, particularly bombers and reconnaissance aircraft. Aircraft that are c ...

. After the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, Xu returned to China and worked at the No. 2 Aircraft Manufacturing Factory in Chongqing (later moved back to

Nanchang Nanchang (, ; ) is the capital of Jiangxi Province, People's Republic of China. Located in the north-central part of the province and in the hinterland of Poyang Lake Plain, it is bounded on the west by the Jiuling Mountains, and on the east ...

after the war).

People's Republic of China

When the

Communist Party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. A ...

defeated the Kuomintang in the

Chinese Civil War The Chinese Civil War was fought between the Kuomintang-led government of the Republic of China and forces of the Chinese Communist Party, continuing intermittently since 1 August 1927 until 7 December 1949 with a Communist victory on m ...

and established 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 and ...

in 1949, Xu stayed in mainland China and worked for the Aviation Industry Bureau of the Ministry of Heavy Industry. As the PRC was receiving technical assistance from 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 national ...

, Xu taught himself Russian and translated several Russian books on aircraft engineering into Chinese. In 1954, he oversaw the manufacture of the Nanchang CJ-5 trainer aircraft, which was based on the Soviet

Yakovlev Yak-18 The Yakovlev Yak-18 (russian: Яковлев Як-18; NATO reporting name Max) is a tandem two-seat military primary trainer aircraft manufactured in the Soviet Union. Originally powered by one 119 kW (160 hp) Shvetsov M-11FR-1 radial p ...

. In August 1956, the Aviation Industry Bureau established the PRC's first airplane design office at

Shenyang Aircraft Corporation Shenyang Aircraft Corporation (SAC) or Shenyang Aerospace Corporation is a Chinese civilian and military aircraft manufacturer located in Shenyang, Liaoning, a subsidiary of the state-owned aircraft manufacturer AVIC. Founded in 1951 as the cl ...

, with Xu Shunshou as its director designer,

Huang Zhiqian Huang Zhiqian (; 24 January 1914 – 20 May 1965) was a Chinese aircraft designer. He served as Chief Designer of the Shenyang Aircraft Design Institute and was in charge of designing the Shenyang J-8, China's first high-speed, high-altitude in ...

and Ye Zhengda as deputy directors. Xu led a team of 108 people, whose average age was only 22. Most team members were recent university graduates, and only three people: Xu, Huang, and

Lu Xiaopeng Lu Xiaopeng (; 19 August 1920 – 16 October 2000) was a Chinese aircraft designer who spent most of his career at Hongdu Aviation (formerly Nanchang Aircraft). He was the chief designer of the Nanchang Q-5 supersonic attack aircraft, one of the ...

, had any aircraft design experience.

The team's first task was to design a subsonic jet trainer, the Shenyang JJ-1. It was chosen because the

PLA Air Force The People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF; ), also known as the Chinese Air Force (中国空军) or the People's Air Force (人民空军), is an aerial service branch of the People's Liberation Army, the regular armed forces of the Peo ...

needed to train jet fighter pilots, and Shenyang Aircraft needed a relatively easy project to train its inexperienced designers. The project started in October 1956, and the plane took its maiden flight less than two years later, on 26 July 1958. According to

GlobalSecurity.org GlobalSecurity.org is an American nonpartisan, independent, nonprofit organization that serves as a think tank, and research and consultancy group. Focus The site is focused on national and international security issues; military analysis, syste ...

, the development cycle was less than half that of similar planes designed in Japan and

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

and the performance was superior. The development of the JJ-1 marked a new era of China's aircraft manufacturing industry, and a number of Xu's team members, including

Gu Songfen Gu Songfen (; born 4 February 1930) is a Chinese aircraft designer. He participated in the design of the Shenyang JJ-1, China's first jet trainer, and was the chief designer of the Shenyang J-8 and J-8II, China's first high-speed, high-altitude ...

Guan De Guan De (; 12 July 1932 – 9 January 2018) was a Chinese aeroelasticity engineer and aircraft designer. He participated in the design and development of the Shenyang JJ-1 jet trainer and the Shenyang J-8 and J8-II interceptors. He served as Chief ...

Tu Jida Tu Jida (; 11 December 1927 – 16 February 2011) was a Chinese aircraft designer who led the development of five models of aircraft and was hailed as the "father of the Chengdu J-7" family of jet fighters. In the 1950s, he participated in the d ...

, , and Feng Zhongyue (冯钟越), later became China's top aircraft designers. After the JJ-1, Xu participated in the design of the

trainer, the

jet

, and the

bomber. He also designed

wind tunnel Wind tunnels are large tubes with air blowing through them which are used to replicate the interaction between air and an object flying through the air or moving along the ground. Researchers use wind tunnels to learn more about how an aircraft ...

s used for aircraft development. In May 1964, Xu was abruptly transferred from Shenyang to the 603 Design Institute of the Xi'an Aircraft Company in Yanliang,

Shaanxi Shaanxi (alternatively Shensi, see #Name, § Name) is a landlocked Provinces of China, province of China. Officially part of Northwest China, it borders the province-level divisions of Shanxi (NE, E), Henan (E), Hubei (SE), Chongqing (S), Sichu ...

. At the time, the 603 Institute had few technical experts and no well defined development goal. He designed an air conditioning system for the

Ilyushin Il-28 The Ilyushin Il-28 (russian: Илью́шин Ил-28; NATO reporting name: Beagle) is a jet aircraft, jet bomber of the immediate postwar period that was originally manufactured for the Soviet Air Forces. It was the Soviet Union's first such ai ...

bomber and its Chinese version, the

Harbin H-5 Harbin (; mnc, , v=Halbin; ) is a sub-provincial city and the provincial capital and the largest city of Heilongjiang province, People's Republic of China, as well as the second largest city by urban population after Shenyang and largest ...

, but mainly focused on training engineers and translating and writing technical literature.

Death and legacy

When the

began in 1966, Xu was summoned back to Shenyang Aircraft in June, where he was denounced as a "capitalist academic authority". He was subject to almost a year of struggle sessions, although he still had time to read and translate technical documents. In April 1967, Xu received permission to return to the 603 Institute, and thought his ordeal was over. On the contrary, as the country descended into deeper chaos, he was labelled a "capitalist reactionary authority", "

capitalist roader In anti-capitalist Mao Zedong thought, a capitalist roader (; also ) is a person or group who demonstrates a marked tendency to bow to pressure from bourgeois forces and subsequently attempts to pull the Revolution in a capitalist direction. If a ...

", and "anti-Communist spy". Soon after returning to Yanliang, he was imprisoned and repeatedly tortured. On 6 January 1968, after undergoing a final round of torture, he died at age 50. Xu was politically rehabilitated after the end of the Cultural Revolution in 1976. The No. 1 Aircraft Research Institute (the former 603 Institute) erected a bronze statue of him on its campus in Yanliang, and established the "Xu Shunshou Science and Technology Progress Award" in his memory. On 19 May 2005, the first anniversary of the establishment of Tsinghua University School of Aerospace Engineering, a life-size marble statue of Xu was dedicated in the main building of the school. In 2008, the China Aviation Industry Press published Xu's biography, written by Shi Yuanguang and Xu's former trainee, academician

Family

Xu was the youngest of five siblings. His brother, Xu Chi, was a famous writer known for his popular biographies of

Chen Jingrun Chen Jingrun (; 22 May 1933 – 19 March 1996), also known as Jing-Run Chen, was a Chinese mathematician who made significant contributions to number theory, including Chen's theorem and the Chen prime. Life and career Chen was the third son in ...

and Li Siguang. His third sister, Xu He (徐和), was the wife of

Wu Xiuquan Wu Xiuquan (; March 1908 – 9 November 1997) was a Chinese Communist revolutionary, military officer, and diplomat. He studied in the Soviet Union, enlisted in the Chinese Red Army, and participated in the Long March. After the founding of the ...

, who served as Vice Foreign Minister of China. Xu married Song Shubi (宋蜀碧) in 1946, whom he had met four years before while working in Chengdu. She was a writer and translator known for her Chinese translation of

Aylmer Maude Aylmer Maude (28 March 1858 – 25 August 1938) and Louise Maude (1855–1939) were English translators of Leo Tolstoy's works, and Aylmer Maude also wrote his friend Tolstoy's biography, ''The Life of Tolstoy''. After living many years in Russi ...

's ''The Life of Tolstoy''. The couple had three children. Their daughter, Xu Fan (徐汎), was an official of the

World Tourism Organization The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) is the United Nations specialized agency entrusted with the promotion of responsible, sustainable and universally accessible tourism. Its headquarters are in Madrid, Spain. UNWTO is the leading internati ...

of the

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

. Their elder son, Xu Wen (徐汶), was still in middle school when Xu Shunshou died. He worked in a brick factory for eight years, and entered college after the Cultural Revolution and became an aerospace engineer. Their youngest son, Xu Yuan (徐源), became a tenured professor of mathematics at an American university.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Xu, Shunshou 1917 births 1968 deaths Chinese aircraft designers Chinese colonels Chinese expatriates in the United States Engineers from Shanghai Engineers from Zhejiang National Central University alumni Republic of China Air Force personnel Russian–Chinese translators People from Huzhou People persecuted to death during the Cultural Revolution People's Liberation Army Air Force personnel People's Republic of China translators Tsinghua University alumni 20th-century Chinese translators