Ku Cheng-kang

This is a Chinese name; the family name is Gu.
Ku Cheng-kang
谷正綱
Born 30 April 1902
Anshun, Guizhou Province, Qing Empire
Died 11 December 1993
Taipei, Taiwan Province, Republic of China
Other names Gu Zhenggang
谷正綱
Political party Kuomintang

Ku Cheng-kang or Gu Zhenggang (zh: 谷正綱, pinyin: Gǔ Zhènggāng) (30 April 1902 – 11 December 1993) was a Chinese politician, scholar and ranking member of the Kuomintang in service to the Republic of China.

Biography

Ku Cheng-kang was born in Anshun, Guizhou Province during the late Qing Empire. His brother was Ku Cheng-ting (zh: 谷正鼎).

Ku attended school in Germany where many of the Kuomintang's elite were also educated. He obtained his bachelor's degree from Humboldt University of Berlin. In 1924, whilst still a student, Ku and his brother joined the Kuomintang.

In 1925, the two brothers traveled to the Soviet Union to continue their studies at Moscow Sun Yat-sen University, a comintern school.[1][2][3]

The brothers returned to China in 1926. In 1928, they fell in with Chen Gongbo and Ku Meng-yu to form the Reorganization Clique (zh: 国民党改組同志会, 改組派), one of many Kuomintang factions.

In 1931, Ku caught the eye of Chiang Kai-shek who ordered him to Beijing and Tianjin to participate in party organization activity. Later in the year with the Mukden Incident, Chiang began consolidating the party factions and in December, Ku was elected to the Central Executive Committee of the Kuomintang.

In December 1934, Ku was appointed as the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Industry and in 1935, he secured a promotion to serve as Vice Minister of the Kuomintang Central Executive Committee.

In 1937, with the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War, he was appointed Deputy Minister of the 5th National Government Military Commission. In June 1938, he served as interim secretary for the Society of the Three People's Principles Youth League and was also made the group's Central Executive Officer. In addition, he served as KMT Chairman and party boss for Zhejiang Province.[1][2][3][4]

Minister of Social Affairs

In November 1939, Ku was appointed as the Minister of Social Affairs and was placed in charge of all wartime social welfare projects. In 1940, the ministry was reorganized into the National Social Department where Ku continued to serve as Minister of National Government Social Affairs, a position he held until March 1949.

In 1941, Ku was in charge of casualty processing during the Japanese bombing of Chongking and in 1994, he was in charge of Chinese military and civilian casualties on the Guangxi, Guizhou warfronts.

In 1945, Ku was elected to the Chinese Kuomintang Central Executive Committee and the 6th Standing Committee. He also served as Chairman of the Chinese Kuomintang Central Committee of agricultural workers.

In 1947, he began involvement with Chen Lifu, Fang Chih and the CC Clique and became active in the Shanghai political scene.

Ku retreated with the nationalists to Taiwan in 1949.

Anti-communist activities in Taiwan

In January 1950, Ku was appointed Minister of the Interior. He served as Director of the Mainland Disaster Relief Organization together with Fang Chih. Together with Fang, Ku set up the Free China Relief Agency, and the Sino-Laotian Friendship Society and the ROC branch of the Asian People's Anti Communist League. The pair were active in South Korea, Vietnam, Burma, Laos, Camboadia and Thailand on various KMT special projects.[1][2][3]

In 1951, he was appointed as a presidential adviser and in 1952, he was elected to the 7th Standing Committee.

Ku died on 11 December 1993 in Taipei at the age of 91.

Marriage and descendants

Ku married and had five children:

Literary works

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 東亜問題調査会 (1941). 最新支那要人伝. 朝日新聞社.
  2. 1 2 3 徐友春主編 (2007). 民国人物大辞典 増訂版. 河北人民出版社. ISBN 978-7-202-03014-1.
  3. 1 2 3 劉国銘主編 (2005). 中国国民党百年人物全書. 团結出版社. ISBN 7-80214-039-0.
  4. ↑ 劉寿林等編 (1995). 民国職官年表. 中華書局. ISBN 7-101-01320-1.
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