Chengting T. Wang

Chengting Thomas Wang
Chengting Thomas Wang
王正廷
Acting Premier of the Republic of China
	In office; 11 December 1922 – 4 January 1923
President	Li Yuanhong
Preceded by	Wang Daxie (acting)
Succeeded by	Zhang Shaozeng
Personal details
Born	7 September 1882; Fenghua, Zhejiang
Died	May 21, 1961 (aged 78); British Hong Kong
Nationality	Republic of China
Alma mater	Peiyang University; University of Michigan; Yale University

Chengting Thomas Wang or C. T. Wang (Chinese: 王正廷; pinyin: Wáng Zhèngtíng; Wade–Giles: Wang² Cheng⁴-t'ing², 7 September 1882 – 21 May 1961), also known under the Pinyin spelling Wang Zhengting, was Foreign Minister, Minister of Finance, Minister of Justice and acting Premier in governments of the Republic of China in the 1920s.

"Chengting T. Wang" was the preferred form of his name in English.^[1]

Early life

Wang was born in Fenghua, Zhejiang, and his father was an Anglican minister just outside Shanghai, where Wang attended mission schools before entering the preparatory school for Peiyang University. After teaching in the Provincial High School in Changsha, Hunan. Wang studied in Tokyo, where he was secretary of the Chinese YMCA, then in 1907, went to the United States to study law at the University of Michigan.^[2] He soon transferred to Yale University, graduating in 1910 and being elected to Phi Beta Kappa.

Life in government

Wang returned to Shanghai in June, 1911, and took another position with the YMCA before being recruited to join the new Republican government in Beijing, then in Sun Yat-sen's opposition government in Canton.^[3]^: 362–3

He represented the interim Canton government in China's delegation, headed by Lu Zhengxiang, at the Paris Peace Conference, 1919 after World War I.^[4] He and Wellington Koo, another US-educated lawyer, played prominent roles in presenting the case for returning Shandong to China and in the decision not to sign the Treaty of Versailles because it stipulated the transfer of German rights in Shandong to Japan.^[5]^: 113 Notwithstanding their competitive positions domestically, Wang and Koo joined forces in staunchly promoting the formation of the League of Nations, jointly authoring a pamphlet on the subject.^[6]^: 244

Wang served as foreign minister, minister of finance, minister of justice and acting premier for various short periods of time from 1924–1928, before serving as foreign minister until 1931. He also founded a Shanghai brokerage house; was chairman or board member of mining, cotton milling, and railroad companies; and was Chairman of the Far Eastern Olympics. As foreign minister, Wang negotiated a settlement with Japan over the Jinan Incident of 1928; with Soviet Russia over the Chinese Eastern Railway in Manchuria; treaties restoring Chinese territory in British Weihaiwei and French Tonkin; and tariff autonomy or commercial agreements with more than a dozen countries, including Japan.^[3]^: 363

Sports

Wang was a keen athlete who fervently believed in sports as a vehicle for national development. He represented China at the Far Eastern Championship Games in 1913^[7]^: 210 and was later to be the first Chinese member of the International Olympic Committee.^[2]

Later life

In spite of his successes in nationalist diplomacy, after the Mukden Incident of 1931 in which Japan seized control of China's Northeast provinces, student protestors targeted Wang for China's ineffective response. Wang was attacked and hospitalized, and withdrew from public office for a time. Wang was Ambassador to the United States from 1936 to 1938. He served in various minor government and party capacities during the war, but in 1949 stayed in Hong Kong rather than go to Taiwan with Chiang Kai-shek's government.^[3]^: 364

References

^ China Yearbook. China Publishing Company. 1951. p. 541. Wang, Cheng-ting (prefers Chengting T. Wang) Retired government official, native of Chekiang, born in 1882; B.A., Yale, 1910;[...]
^ ^a ^b "U-M Chinese Alumni". College of Literature, Science and the Arts, University of Michigan. Archived from the original on 18 June 2021. Retrieved 22 December 2018.
^ ^a ^b ^c Howard Boorman, ed. (1970). Biographical Dictionary of Republican China. Vol. III. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 9780231089579. Archived from the original on 2021-06-10. Retrieved 2016-04-18.
^ Xu, Guoqi (2005). China and the Great War: China's Pursuit of a New National Identity and Internationalization. Cambridge University Press. p. 255.
^ Manela, Erez (2007). The Wilsonian Moment: Self-Determination and the International Origins of Anticolonial Nationalism. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195176155.
^ Matten, Marc Andre (2016). Imagining a Postnational World: Hegemony and Space in Modern China. BRILL. ISBN 9789004327153.
^ Kowner, Rotem; Demel, Walter (2015). Race and Racism in Modern East Asia: Interactions, Nationalism, Gender and Lineage. BRILL. ISBN 9789004292932.

Political offices
Preceded by Wang Daxie	Premier of the Republic of China 1922–1923	Succeeded by Zhang Shaozeng

[1] China Yearbook. China Publishing Company. 1951. p. 541. Wang, Cheng-ting (prefers Chengting T. Wang) Retired government official, native of Chekiang, born in 1882; B.A., Yale, 1910;[...]

[UMich-2] "U-M Chinese Alumni". College of Literature, Science and the Arts, University of Michigan. Archived from the original on 18 June 2021. Retrieved 22 December 2018.

[Boorman-3] Howard Boorman, ed. (1970). Biographical Dictionary of Republican China. Vol. III. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 9780231089579. Archived from the original on 2021-06-10. Retrieved 2016-04-18.

[4] Xu, Guoqi (2005). China and the Great War: China's Pursuit of a New National Identity and Internationalization. Cambridge University Press. p. 255.

[5] Manela, Erez (2007). The Wilsonian Moment: Self-Determination and the International Origins of Anticolonial Nationalism. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195176155.

[6] Matten, Marc Andre (2016). Imagining a Postnational World: Hegemony and Space in Modern China. BRILL. ISBN 9789004327153.

[7] Kowner, Rotem; Demel, Walter (2015). Race and Racism in Modern East Asia: Interactions, Nationalism, Gender and Lineage. BRILL. ISBN 9789004292932.

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v t e Heads of government of the Republic of China
Premiers of Cabinet	Tang Shaoyi Lu Zhengxiang Zhao Bingjun Duan Qirui* Xiong Xiling Sun Baoqi*
Secretaries of State	Xu Shichang Lu Zhengxiang*
Premiers of State Council	Duan Qirui Wu Tingfang* Li Jingxi
Premiers of State Council	Duan Qirui Wang Daxie* Wang Shizhen* Qian Nengxun* Gong Xinzhan* Jin Yunpeng Sa Zhenbing Yan Huiqing* Liang Shiyi Zhou Ziqi* Wang Chonghui* Wang Zhengting* Zhang Shaozeng Gao Lingwei Sun Baoqi Vi Kyuin Wellington Koo* Huang Fu* Xu Shiying Jia Deyao* Hu Weide* Du Xigui* Pan Fu
Presidents of Executive Yuan (Mainland China)	Tan Yankai T. V. Soong Chiang Kai-shek Chen Mingshu Sun Fo Wang Jingwei H. H. Kung Zhang Qun Weng Wenhao He Yingqin
Presidents of Executive Yuan (Taiwan)	Yan Xishan Chen Cheng Yu Hung-chun Yen Chia-kan Chiang Ching-kuo Sun Yun-suan Yu Kuo-hwa Lee Huan Hau Pei-tsun Lien Chan Vincent Siew Tang Fei Chang Chun-hsiung Yu Shyi-kun Frank Hsieh Su Tseng-chang Liu Chao-shiuan Wu Den-yih Sean Chen Jiang Yi-huah Mao Chi-kuo Chang San-cheng Lin Chuan Lai Ching-te Su Tseng-chang Chen Chien-jen Cho Jung-tai
*acting

v t e Chinese ambassadors to the United States
Qing minister 1875–1912	Chen Lanbin 1875–81 Cheng Tsao-Ju 1881–85 Zhang Yinhuan 1885–89 Tsui Kwo Yin 1889–93 Yang Yü 1893–96 Wu Tingfang 1896–1902 Liang Cheng 1902–07 Wu Tingfang 1907–09 Zhang Yintang 1909–11 Alfred Sao-ke Sze 1911–12
Republic of China Envoy 1912–35	Zhang Yintang 1912–13 Xia Xiefu 1913–15 V. K. Wellington Koo 1915–20 Alfred Sao-ke Sze 1920–29 Wu Chaoshu 1929–31 Yan Huiqing 1931–33 Alfred Sao-ke Sze 1933–35
Republic of China Ambassador 1935–79	Alfred Sao-ke Sze 1935–36 Chengting T. Wang 1936–38 Hu Shih 1938–42 Wei Tao-ming 1942–46 Wellington Koo 1946–56 Hollington Tong 1956–58 George Yeh 1958–61 Tsiang Tingfu 1961–65 Zhou Shukai 1965–71 James Shen 1971–79
People's Republic of China Liaison Office Chief 1973–79	Huang Zhen 1973–77 Chai Zemin 1978–79
People's Republic of China Ambassador 1979–present	Chai Zemin 1979–82 Zhang Wenjin 1983–85 Han Xu 1985–89 Zhu Qizhen 1989–93 Li Daoyu 1993–98 Li Zhaoxing 1998–2001 Yang Jiechi 2001–05 Zhou Wenzhong 2005–10 Zhang Yesui 2010–13 Cui Tiankai 2013–21 Qin Gang 2021–23 Xie Feng 2023-present

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