Zhang Qun


Zhang Qun or Chang Ch'ün also known as Zhang Yuejun, was premier of the Republic of China and a prominent member of the Kuomintang. He served as secretary general to the President of the Republic from 1954 to 1972 and senior advisor to Presidents Chiang Kai-shek, Yen Chia-kan, Chiang Ching-kuo, and Lee Teng-hui. Under the influence of his wife, Ma Yu-ying, he became a Christian in the 1930s.

Education and early career

Born in the Huayang County, Sichuan province, Chang was admitted in 1906 to the Baoding Military Academy, just southwest of Beijing. The next year, he was selected to go to Japan to study at the Tokyo Shimbu Gakko, a preparatory military school, where he specialized in artillery. Together with his classmate, Chiang Kai-shek, he joined the T'ung-meng-hui the same year. After completing their preparatory studies, they both served in the Takada regiment of the Imperial Japanese Army’s 13th Field Artillery Brigade, stationed in Niigata Prefecture before returning to China to serve under Sun Yat-sen in the Xinhai Revolution which would overthrow the Qing monarchy in 1911. During this period, a lifelong friendship between the two men and Huang Fu was formed and the three became sworn, or blood, brothers. Chang married Ma Yu-ying in 1913; because their first child was born in 1917, he later joked to have practiced family planning long before it became popular.
When Yuan Shikai attempted to restore the monarchy, Chang fled to Japan, finished his military training at the Imperial Japanese Army Academy in 1915, and then went to the Netherlands East Indies, where he taught in an overseas Chinese school. Returning to China to participate in Yuan's overthrow in the National Protection War, he served as adjutant-general to Cen Chunxuan, president of the southern provinces, which repudiated Yuan's regime. With the restoration of the Republic, Chang held several posts. Becoming a major general of the National Revolutionary Army at age 28, he later became a member of the Kuomintang's Central Executive Committee, mayor of Shanghai and president of Tongji University, governor of Hubei province and foreign minister. In the KMT, he led the Political Science Clique, which included military men such as Huang Fu and Xiong Shihui, intellectuals, such as Yang Yongtai and Wang Ch'ung-hui, and bankers and industrialists, including Wu Dingchang and Chang Kia-ngau. During World War II, he served as secretary general of the National Security Council and governor of Sichuan province.

Post-war career

In 1946, Chang, representing the national government, was a member of the Committee of Three along with General George C. Marshall, then head of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Chinese Communist Party representative Zhou Enlai, which had been established in Nanjing in January, 1946 to effect a Kuomintang-Chinese Communist Party truce and head off civil war. The Marshall Mission helped to bring about a temporary cease-fire and but its plans for a political-military settlement did not succeed.
In 1947, Chang headed the first coalition government as president of the Executive Yuan, a position also known as premier of the Republic of China. in Tokyo, 1957His platform was to prepare China for constitutional government, land reform and price control. Despite his long ties with Chiang Kai-shek, he could not bring about the political reforms he favored. After the transfer of the capital from Nanjing to Taipei, he became chief of staff and secretary general to the president in 1954. Among his duties were planning the government's foreign policy and representing the president in Japan, Africa and Europe, including the Second Vatican Council in 1965. receives Special Envoy Chang in 1965 In 1972, he played a large role in the difficult negotiations regarding Japan's switch of diplomatic recognition to the People's Republic of China. His last official position was chairman of the Presidium of the Kuomintang's Central Advisory Committee.

Personal life

A member of the board of the National Palace Museum, Chang was a renowned calligrapher, keen art collector, friend of great artists such as Chang Dai-chien, and Lan Yin-ting, and recipient of honorary doctorates from several universities, including the University of Illinois, Seoul National University, St. John's University, Sungkyunkwan University and Soochow University. He died at the age of, of heart and kidney failure, at Veterans General Hospital in Taipei, on December 14, 1990. From 20 January 1990, when former Japanese Prime Minister Prince Naruhiko Higashikuni died until his own death, Chang was the world's oldest living former head of government.
and Mrs. Yalan Lew in 1976
Chang's wife, Ma Yu-ying, died in 1974. His daughter, Yalan Chang Lew, died on July 14, 2014 at age 97 in Seattle, USA; she was the widow of Ambassador Yu-tang Daniel Lew, who had died in 2005 at age 92 in Taipei. His son, Dr. Philip Chi-cheng Chang, who died on October 24, 2015 at age 96 in Taipei, was former communications minister 1969-72, chairman of the Council for Economic Planning and Development 1973-76, finance minister 1978-81 and governor of the Central Bank of China 1984-89. Chang is survived by his second son, Dr. Theodore Chi-chong Chang, vice president of the Truth Theological Seminary and pastor emeritus of the Mandarin Baptist Church of Pasadena, California.

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