Chen Jiongming

Chen Jiongming

Chen Jiongming ( Chinese  陳炯明  /  陈炯明 , Pinyin Chén Jiǒngmíng , W.-G. Ch'en2 Chiung3-ming2 ; born January 13, 1878 in Haifeng ( Guangdong ), † September 22, 1933 in Hong Kong ) was governor of the Chinese province of Guangdong of 1920 to 1922, military governor of Guangdong from 1911 to 1912, 1913 and 1920 to 1923, and military governor of Guangxi from 1921 to 1922, military supporter of Sun Yat-sen and advocate of the idea of ​​a federal Chinese state.

Chen received both classical Confucian and modern training. He passed the civil service exam at the level of Xiucai , in 1905 he finished his studies at the Teacher Training Institute of Haifeng and in 1908 the Institute for Law and Politics of Guangdong, the level of training of administrators and judges of the Qing Dynasty had been established . In Chen's youth, China was in deep crisis: the Qing dynasty, led by the Manchu , was weak. China was humiliated by the British in the Opium Wars , it had to cede concessions to foreign powers and suffer a military defeat against its former tribute payer Japan. The Hundred-Day Reform initiated in response to these events was stifled by the imperial family. The Boxer Rebellion led to even greater concessions abroad. A revolution prepared by Sun Yat-sen failed. Therefore, Chen did not enter the service of the imperial family, but organized movements for social and political reform, for example a campaign that led to the ousting of the hated prefect of Huizhou . When the Qing Dynasty allowed parliaments in the provinces, Chen was elected to the Guangdong provincial assembly. There, too, he campaigned for social, economic and legal reforms and was involved in the passing of laws on the education system, railway construction, the fight against corruption and local self-government. Resistance from the Qing dynasty to modernization efforts moved him to join the Tongmenghui in November 1909. In 1910 and 1911 he was involved in two uprisings in Guangdong.

After the successful Wuchang Uprising in October 1911 and the beginning of the Xinhai Revolution , Chen took the lead of troops that captured Huizhou and a large area east of Guangdong. He was appointed Deputy Military Governor of Guangdong for this purpose and, along with Hu Hanmin , Liao Zhongkai and Zhu Zhixin, was one of those who took power in Guangdong and promoted reforms in the social and economic area.

When interim president Yuan Shikai tried to reestablish the empire , Chen was among those who rebelled against Yuan. This so-called Second Revolution was suppressed and Chen fled abroad. He returned in March 1916 and campaigned for China as a federal republic. After Yuan's death in the same year, he supported the Sun Yat-sen constitutional preservation movement in 1917. In December 1917, Sun appointed him commander in chief of the Guangdong Army, the only troops that Sun could trust; Among the officers under him at that time was Chiang Kai-shek . Chen established himself with these troops in Zhangzhou , where he again began to implement reforms. In 1920 he and his troops returned to Guangzhou to support the revolutionary government proclaimed by Sun Yat-sen. Sun's plan was to begin a northern campaign , militarily defeat the warlords, and unite China. Chen, on the other hand, wanted an autonomous Guangdong to implement his idea of ​​federalism and make Guangdong a role model for all other provinces. He wanted to unite China in a peaceful way. The two broke up, and Sun resigned Chen as governor and commander in chief of the Guangdong Army. Chen's troops attacked Sun's government property on June 16, 1922, forcing Sun to flee to the ship Yong Feng and later to Shanghai. Chen was able to rule Guangdong for a year, again trying to implement his ideas: He promoted the idea of ​​free education and at the same time demanded that the rich open schools. He brought in communist Chen Duxiu as the education director for Guangdong. Opium and gambling were banned by his government. In December 1923, however, he was expelled from Guangzhou and in 1925 - after Chiang Kai-shek's successful campaign in the east - from Guangdong.

Chen then fled to Hong Kong, from where he continued to try to publicize his ideas of a federal China. Chen founded the China Zhi Gong Party in San Francisco and became its chairman, but the party remained meaningless.

Web links

Commons : Chen Jiongming  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Yee-Cheung Lau: Chen Jiongming . In: Leung, Pak-Wah (Ed.): Political leaders of modern China: a biographical dictionary . 1st edition. Greenwood Press, Westport, Conn. 2002, ISBN 0-313-30216-2 , pp. 19-20 .
2. ↑ ^{a b c d} James Z. Gao: Historical dictionary of modern China (1800-1949) . Scarecrow Press, Lanham 2009, ISBN 978-0-8108-4930-3 , pp. 49-50 .
3. ↑ Jay Taylor: The Generalissimo: Chiang Kai-shek and the Struggle for Modern China . 1st edition. Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass. 2009, ISBN 978-0-674-03338-2 , pp. 32 .
4. ↑ Jay Taylor: The Generalissimo: Chiang Kai-shek and the Struggle for Modern China . 1st edition. Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass. 2009, ISBN 978-0-674-03338-2 , pp. 41 .

Note: This article places the family name before the person's first name. This is the usual order in Chinese. Chen is the family name here, Jiongming is the first name.