Elder who went from the Wuchang Uprising to the founding congress and the proclamation of 1949; Vice President of China
From a landlord family at Huanggang in Hubei, he joined the Tongmenghui in 1911 and took part in the Wuchang Uprising, studied law in Japan, joined Sun Yat-sen’s Chinese Revolutionary Party and spent six months in prison for resisting Yuan Shikai. Introduced to Marxism in Shanghai in 1919–20 through Li Hanjun’s circle, he set up a communist organisation in Hubei and attended the First Congress in 1921 as a Wuhan delegate with Chen Tanqiu. Through the early 1920s he belonged to both the Kuomintang and the Communist Party. He headed the party school in the Jiangxi Soviet, made the Long March and in 1945 attended the founding conference of the United Nations as the Communist representative. After 1949 he was President of the Supreme People’s Court and Vice President of China, one of only two men present at both the founding congress and the proclamation of 1949.
Also known as: Tung Pi-wu
Activities and affiliations
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1911–1912
Tongmenghui (Chinese United League)
Social movements and organizing -
1920–1975
Political and party leadership
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–1927
Political and party leadership
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1954–1959
People’s Republic of China state institutionsPresident of the Supreme People’s Court
Law and justice -
1959–1975
People’s Republic of China state institutionsVice President of China
Government and administration
Career Timeline
- 1911Joined the Tongmenghui; took part in the Wuchang Uprising
- 1913Studied law at Nihon University; joined the Chinese Revolutionary Party
- 1921Wuhan delegate to the First Congress
- 1928–1931International Lenin School and Sun Yat-sen University, Moscow
- 1932Political director of the Red Army Academy and head of the party school, Jiangxi Soviet
- 1945Delegation to the UN founding conference, San Francisco
- 1948Chairman of the North China People’s Government
- 1954–1959President of the Supreme People’s Court
- 1959–1975Vice President of China
- 1972–1975Acting Chairman of the PRC
Related historical events
- 1915–1921May Fourth and the founding of the Chinese Communist PartyWuhan delegate to the First CongressFounded the Wuhan communist organisation and attended the First Congress with Chen Tanqiu; one of the two delegates also present in 1949.
- 1949Establishment of the People’s Republic of ChinaVice-premier of the Government Administration CouncilHe was appointed vice-premier just after the founding.
- 1958–1962The Great Leap Forward and the Great FamineControl Commission secretary who sent investigators to XinyangHe sent investigators to Xinyang, who reported more than 700,000 confirmed starvation deaths.