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Documents for "Chinese and Taiwanese History: Biographies":
  • An Lu-shan d.757, Chinese general of the T'ang dynasty. Of mixed Sogdian and Turkish birth, he was appointed regional commander on the northeastern frontier. In 755 he led c.200,000 troops in revolt against...
  • Chang Chih-tung 1837-1909, Chinese Ch'ing dynasty statesman and educational reformer. He occupied the high post of governor-general for over two decades, first of Guangdong and Guangxi provs. (1884-89), and later...
  • Chang Hsüeh-liang or Zhang Xueliang , 1898-2001, Chinese warlord , son of Chang Tso-lin. On the death (1928) of his father, he succeeded as military governor of Manchuria. He was then known as Chang Hsiao-liang but later changed his name. Chang supported Chiang Kai-shek against a rebellious northern army in 1929-30 and was made vice commander in chief of all Chinese forces and a member of the central political council. Ousted (1931) by the Japanese from Manchuria,...
  • Chang Tso-lin 1873-1928, Chinese general. Chang was of humble birth. As the leader of a unit of Manchurian militia he assisted (1904-5) the Japanese in the Russo-Japanese War. He held various military posts...
  • Chao K'uang-yin Chinese emperor (960-79), founder of the Sung dynasty. A leading general during the short-lived Later Chou dynasty (951-60), he usurped the throne, and by the time of his death he had reunited most of China proper. Chao's reign followed the Five Dynasties period (907-60), an era of frequent political change. His greatest accomplishment, and the reason for the longevity of the Sung, was his replacement of the system of autonomous local military...
  • Chen Duxiu or Ch'en Tu-hsiu , 1879-1942, Chinese educator and Communist party leader. He was active in the republican revolution of 1911 and was forced to flee to Japan after taking part in the abortive "second revolution" of 1913 against Yüan Shih-kai. In 1915 he founded the journal New Youth in Shanghai. Articles by Ch'en, Li Dazhao , Hu Shih , and others encouraged Chinese youth to create a new culture free from Confucianism. He was dean of the school of arts and sciences of Beijing Univ. from Jan., 1917, until forced to resign under...
  • Chen Shui-bian 1951-, Taiwanese political leader, president of Taiwan (2000-). Born into poverty, he obtained his law degree from National Taiwan Univ. in 1975 and practiced as a maritime lawyer. During the 1980s...
  • Chen Yi 1901-72, Chinese Communist general and statesman. Chen was a political instructor (1925) in the Kuomintang Whampoa Military Academy. After the Kuomintang-Communist alliance collapsed (1927), he joined the Fourth Red Army (1928) and was an early supporter of Mao Zedong. One of the outstanding Communist military commanders, Chen became acting commander (1941) and then commander (1946) of the New Fourth Army. After 1949 he was mayor of Shanghai and a dominant...
  • Cheng Ho or Zheng He , 1371-c.1433, admiral, diplomat, and explorer during China's Ming dynasty. At 10 he was captured by Chinese troops in Yunnan, castrated, and sent into the army. He rose in the ranks, became an officer, and in 1404 was named Grand Eunuch by Emperor Yung-lo. The following year the emperor selected him to lead the first of seven epic expeditions (1405-33) that served to expand Chinese political influence and increase its tribute and trade. Sailing to...
  • Chiang Ching-kuo 1909-88, eldest son of Chiang Kai-shek , Chinese Nationalist leader, and president of Taiwan. Returning after 12 years in the Soviet Union (1937), he served in minor Chinese government posts until the Nationalist retreat to Taiwan...
  • Chiang Kai-shek 1887-1975, Chinese Nationalist leader. He was also called Chiang Chung-cheng.
  • Ch'ien-lung 1711-99, reign title of the fourth emperor (1735-96) of the Ch'ing dynasty, whose given name was Hung-li. Under his vigorous military policy, China attained its maximum territorial expanse; Xinjiang in the west was conquered, and Myanmar and Annam in the south were forced to recognize Chinese suzerainty. He restricted Western merchants to Guangzhou (Canton) in 1759, and he rejected British...
  • Chin dynasty of China (265-420): see Tsin.
  • Ch'in dynasty of China, which ruled from 221 BC to 206 BC The word China is derived from Ch'in, the first dynasty to unify the country by conquering the warring feudal states of the late Chou period. King Cheng took the title Shih Huang-ti or Shi Huangdi [ first august emperor ] in 221 BC and began to consolidate the new empire. In matters of state he was counseled by Li Ssu (d. 208 BC), a scholar of the Legalist school of philosophy, which emphasized the need for strict...
  • Ch'ing or Manchu , the last of the Imperial dynasties of China.
  • Chou dynasty of China, which ruled from c.1027 BC to 256 BC The pastoral Chou people migrated from the Wei valley NW of the Huang He c.1027 BC and overthrew the Shang dynasty. The Chou built their capital near modern Xi'an in 1027 BC and moved it to Luoyang in 770 BC Initially the Chou dominated the N China plain between Manchuria and the Chang valley. By 800...
  • Chu Hsi 1130-1200, Chinese philosopher of Neo-Confucianism. While borrowing heavily from Buddhism, his new metaphysics reinvigorated Confucianism. According to Chu Hsi, the normative principle of human...
  • Deng Xiaoping or Teng Hsiao-p'ing , 1904-97, Chinese revolutionary and government leader, b. Sichuan prov. Deng became a member of the Chinese Communist party while studying in France (1920-25). A veteran of the...
  • Feng Yü-hsiang 1882-1948, Chinese general. He held various military positions under the Ch'ing dynasty. Feng's conversion to Methodism in 1914 gained him the sobriquet the Christian General. From 1920 to 1926 he...
  • Han dynasty of China that ruled from 202 BC to AD 220. Liu Pang, the first Han emperor, had been a farmer, minor village official, and guerrilla fighter under the Ch'in dynasty. During the period of...
  • Ho-shen 1750-99, Manchu official noted for symbolizing the widespread corruption of the Ch'ing dynasty of China during its decline. As a favorite of emperor Ch'ien-lung , he rose, within two years, from bodyguard to grand councilor and minister of the imperial household. Later, while president of the boards of revenue and civil office, he amassed a great fortune...
  • Hsüan-tsung 685-762, Chinese emperor (712-56), 9th of the T'ang dynasty. Under his brilliant early rule the T'ang reached the height of its power. Improved administration and new grain-transport facilities...
  • Hsia semilegendary first dynasty of China, which ruled, according to traditional dates, from c.2205 BC to c.1766 BC or, according to some modern scholars, from c.1994 BC to c.1523 BC This dynasty is...
  • Hu Han-min 1879-1936, Chinese statesman. While studying law in Japan (1905) he was associated with Sun Yat-sen in revolutionary activities. After the revolution of 1911, Hu opposed Yüan Shih-k'ai and served...
  • Hu Jintao 1942-, Chinese political leader, b. Jixi, Anhui prov. A hydroelectric engineering graduate (1965) of Qinghua Univ., he joined the Chinese Communist party in 1964 and worked for the ministry of...
  • Hu Shih 1891-1962, Chinese philosopher and essayist, leading liberal intellectual in the May Fourth Movement (1917-23). He studied under John Dewey at Columbia Univ., becoming a lifelong advocate of pragmatic evolutionary change. While professor of philosophy at Beijing Univ., he wrote for the...
  • Hu Yaobang 1915-89, Chinese Communist political leader, b. Hunan prov. A protegé of Deng Xiaoping , Hu became general secretary of the Communist party in 1980 and party chairman in 1981, effectively replacing Hua Guofeng as leader of the Communist party. In the wake of student demonstrations for greater democracy, to which he was thought to be sympathetic, he was forced to resign as party secretary in 1987. In...
  • Hua Guofeng or Hua Kuo-feng , 1920-, Chinese Communist leader. He was minister of public security and deputy premier in 1975. As Mao Zedong 's designated heir, he became premier following Zhou Enlai 's death...
  • Hui-tsung 1082-1135, Chinese emperor of the Northern Sung dynasty, painter, and a great patron of art. Politically he was a rather ineffectual ruler, but he was said to have devoted all his spare time to...
  • Jenghiz Khan or Genghis Khan , Mandarin Che'ng-chi-ssu-han, 1167?-1227, Mongol conqueror, originally named Temujin. He succeeded his father, Yekusai, as chieftain of a Mongol tribe and then fought to become ruler of a Mongol confederacy. After subjugating...
  • Jiang Qing or Chiang Ch'ing , 1914-91, Chinese Communist political leader, wife of Mao Zedong. Born Li Yun-ho, she changed her name to Lan Ping in 1938 when beginning an acting career, joining the Communist party the same year. In 1939, she married Mao Zedong and thereafter remained in the...
  • Jiang Zemin 1926-, Chinese government official, general secretary of the Chinese Communist party (1989-2002) and president of China (1993-2003), b. Jiangsu prov. Trained as an electrical engineer, Jiang...
  • K'ang Yu-wei 1858-1927, Chinese philosopher and reform movement leader. He was a leading philosopher of the new text school of Confucianism, which regarded Confucius as a utopian political reformer. K'ang...
  • K'ang-hsi 1654-1722, 2d emperor of the Ch'ing dynasty of China (1661-1722). He extended Manchu control and promoted learning in the arts and sciences. K'ang-hsi conquered the feudatories of S China...
  • Koo, Vi Kuiyuin Wellington Mandarin Ku Wei-chün, 1887-1985, Chinese Nationalist diplomat, b. Shanghai. Koo was educated at Columbia (B.A., 1908; M.A., 1909; Ph.D., 1912), where he specialized in international law. In 1912, Wellington Koo was...
  • Koxinga Mandarin Kuo-hsing-yeh [lord of the imperial surname], 1624-62, Chinese general, whose original name was Chêng Ch'êng-kung. From 1646 to 1660 he led many unsuccessful campaigns of Ming dynasty loyalists against the...
  • Kuang-hsu or Kwang-hsü , 1871-1908, emperor of China (1875-1908). Although he was not in the direct line of succession, he was appointed to the throne by his aunt, the dowager empress and regent, Tz'u Hsi. He began his rule in 1889. In 1898, during the "hundred days of reform," he rebelled against her domination and issued many decrees modernizing the political and social structure of China. His aunt thereupon resumed the regency and kept him imprisoned for the remainder...
  • Kublai Khan 1215-94, Mongol emperor, founder of the Yüan dynasty of China. From 1251 to 1259 he led military campaigns in S China. He succeeded (1260) his brother Mongke (Mangu) as khan of the empire that...
  • K'ung Hsiang-hsi 1881-1967, Chinese banker and political leader, educated at Oberlin and at Yale. He deemed himself a direct descendant of Confucius in the 75th generation. Throughout his career he supported Sun...
  • Lee Teng-hui 1923-, Taiwanese agricultural economist and politician, president of Taiwan (1988-2000). Born in Taiwan when it was ruled by Japan, he was educated at Kyoto Imperial, Iowa State, and Cornell...
  • Li Dazhao 1888-1927, professor of history and librarian at Beijing Univ., cofounder of the Chinese Communist party with Chen Duxiu. He was the first important Chinese intellectual to support the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia. A leader in the May Fourth Movement (1919), he organized several Marxist study groups and helped found the Communist party in 1921. Although his populist, nationalistic view of the peasant role in the revolution was not favored by...
  • Li Hung-chang 1823-1901, Chinese statesman and general. His first success was as a commander of forces fighting the Taiping Rebellion. As viceroy of the capital province of Zhili (1870-95), he controlled...
  • Li Peng 1928-, Chinese Communist leader, premier of China (1988-98), b. Chengdu, Sichuan prov., China. Orphaned at age three when his father was executed by the Kuomintang , Li became the adopted son of Zhou Enlai. Educated at the Moscow Power Institute, he became deputy minister (1979) and then minister (1981) of the power industry. After becoming (1982) a member of the Communist Party Central Committee, he...
  • Li Tsung-jên 1890-1969, Chinese Nationalist general and political leader. For 25 years (1925-49) he was a leader of the military clique that ruled Guangxi prov. The Guangxi army was an important element in the Northern Expedition (1926-28) of the Kuomintang party, but the Guangxi clique was not close to power in the Nanjing government formed by Chiang Kai-shek. Li led Nationalist forces in central China against the Japanese invaders (1937-45). In 1948 he was elected vice president after defeating Sun Fo, the personal choice of Chiang. Although serving as...
  • Li Tzu-cheng 1605-45, Chinese rebel leader who contributed to the fall of the Ming dynasty. With the help of scholars he organized a government in S Shanxi prov., proclaimed a new dynasty, and sought popular support by giving famine relief and spreading songs and stories lauding...
  • Li Yüan-hung 1864-1928, president of China (1916-17, 1922-23). A brigade commander under the Ch'ing dynasty, Li was compelled by army rebels to become military governor of Hubei prov. in the republican...
  • Liang Ch'i-ch'ao 1873-1929, Chinese reform leader. Liang was a disciple of K'ang Yu-wei. Stunned by China's disastrous defeat by Japan (see Sino-Japanese War, First ), K'ang and Liang launched (1895) a movement for constitutional and educational reform. The movement received the backing of Emperor Kuang-hsu in 1898, but the "hundred days' reform" was aborted by the Empress Dowager Tz'u Hsi. Liang fled to Japan where he continued to promote gradualist reform and constitutional monarchy. Although his writings had a great influence on the constitutional movement within China, the large...
  • Lin Biao or Lin Piao , 1908-71, Chinese Communist general and political leader. Lin was trained at Whampoa Academy, and during the Northern Expedition he rose to company commander in the Kuomintang army. After the Kuomintang-Communist split in 1927, he became one of Zhu De 's leading military aides. His skill as a tactician earned him the command of a Red Army corps, and after the long march , he headed the Red Academy at Yan'an. In 1947-48 he commanded the Communist military offensive in the northeast against Chiang Kai-shek. Lin was appointed defense minister of the people's republic...
  • Lin Sen 1868-1943, president of China (1932-43). He was an anti-Manchu revolutionary, overseas organizer for the Kuomintang, and parliamentarian. For a time after the death of Sun Yat-sen, he was in...
  • Liu Chih-chi 661-721, Chinese T'ang dynasty historian. Drawing on experience gained while working on histories of the preceding dynasties, he wrote the first important Chinese work on historiography, the Understanding...
  • Liu Hsiu AD 6-AD 57, restorer of the Han dynasty. As first emperor (AD 25-AD 57) of the Later, or Eastern, Han (AD 25-AD 200), he curbed the power of the imperial princes and recreated the centralized state administration of the Former,...
  • Liu Pang Chinese emperor (206-195 BC), founder of the Han dynasty. Liu was of peasant origin and had been a minor official before joining the free-for-all struggle that attended the collapse of the Ch'in dynasty. Threatened by internal dissension and nomadic incursions, Liu slowly consolidated power, but it was several decades before Han rule recreated the imperial system of the Ch'in. Liu is also...
  • Liu Shaoqi or Liu Shao-ch'i , 1898?-1969, Chinese Communist political leader. Liu joined (1920) a Comintern organization in Shanghai, where he studied Russian. While in Moscow in 1921, he joined the Chinese Communist party. After he returned to China, his reputation as a labor organizer grew. He rose...
  • Mao Zedong or Mao Tse-tung , 1893-1976, founder of the People's Republic of China. Mao was one of the most prominent Communist theoreticians and his ideas on revolutionary struggle and guerrilla warfare have been extremely...
  • Ming dynasty of China that ruled from 1368 to 1644. The first Ming emperor, Chu Yüan-chang (ruled 1368-98), a former Buddhist monk, joined a rebellion in progress, gained control of it, overthrew the...
  • Nurhaci 1559-1626, Manchu national founder. He consolidated the Manchu tribes under his control and founded the administration that later ruled China as the Ch'ing dynasty (1644-1912). His greatest achievement was the creation of the banner system of military organization that welded the Manchu nation and its early Mongol and Chinese adherents into an efficient war machine. In 1618 he attacked the Ming forces and took part of Liaodong. Further victories followed, and in 1625 he moved the Manchu capital to Shenyang (Mukden). During this later period, Nurhaci developed a civil administration with...
  • Peng Dehuai or P'eng Teh-huai , 1898-1974, Communist Chinese general and political leader. He held various command positions in the Red Army, and in 1934-35 he joined with Mao Zedong and Zhu De in the long march. He became well known as the originator, with Mao, of the tactics of guerrilla warfare. In the Korean War Peng commanded the Chinese Communist troops. He was minister of defense from 1954 to 1959,...
  • Pu Yi or Henry Pu-yi, Manchu Aisin Gioro, 1906-67, last emperor (1908-12) of China, under the reign name Hsuan T'ung. After his abdication, the new republican government granted him a large government pension and permitted him to live in...
  • Ricci, Matteo 1552-1610, Italian missionary to China. He entered the Society of Jesus, and in Rome he studied under Clavius. Ricci was sent to the Indies (1578), and he worked at Goa and Cochin until 1582, when...
  • Shang or Yin, dynasty of China, which ruled, according to traditional dates, from c.1766 BC to c.1122 BC or, according to some modern scholars, from c.1523 BC to c.1027 BC It is the first historic dynasty of...
  • Soong Mandarin Song, Chinese family, prominent in public affairs. Soong Yao-ju or Charles Jones Soong, 1866-1918, graduated from Vanderbilt Univ. and, after returning to China (1886), was a Methodist missionary in Shanghai. He resigned from mission work in 1892 and thereafter was a successful...
  • Sui dynasty of China that ruled from 581 to 618. This short-lived dynasty reunified China in 589 after 400 years of division and laid the foundation for further consolidation under the T'ang dynasty...
  • Sun Yat-sen Mandarin Sun Wen, 1866-1925, Chinese revolutionary. He was born near Guangzhou into a farm-owning family. He attended (1879-82) an Anglican boys school in Honolulu, where he came under Western influence,...
  • Sung dynasty of China that ruled 960-1279. It was divided into two periods: Northern Sung (907-1126) with its capital at Kaifeng and Southern Sung (1127-1279) with its capital at Hangzhou. The first...
  • Sung Chiao-jen 1882-1913, Chinese revolutionary and political leader. He was a founding member (1905) and a leading activist in the Revolutionary Alliance (see Sun Yat-sen ), an organization dedicated to overthrowing the Manchu dynasty in favor of a republic. After the republican revolution of 1911, Sung guided the Revolutionary Alliance into a merger with several...
  • T'ang dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907. It was founded by Li Yuan and his son Li Shih-min, with the aid of Turkish allies. The early strength of the T'ang was built directly upon the...
  • Ts'ai Yüan-p'ei 1867-1940, Chinese educator and intellectual leader. He achieved distinction as a classical scholar but later joined (1904) the anti-Manchu revolutionary movement at Shanghai. Ts'ai studied...
  • Tse Hsi Chinese empress dowager: see Tz'u Hsi.
  • Tseng Kuo-fan 1811-72, Chinese general and statesman of the Ch'ing dynasty. He organized (1853) the Hunan army, the first of the great regional armies that were raised to suppress the Taiping Rebellion...