Zhili clique official who abetted Cao Kun's bought election, acting premier of the 1923 regency cabinet
Born in Tianjin in 1870, he became a juren in 1894 and served under Zhang Zhidong in Hubei as head of the military academy and the mint, then as commissioner of education and provincial treasurer. After the Xinhai Revolution he grew close to Cao Kun and from 1921 held the ministries of finance, the interior and communications. After Li Yuanhong was driven out in June 1923 he became acting premier of the regency cabinet, exercised the presidency and helped make Cao Kun president by bribing members of parliament. He fled to Tianjin and Shanghai when the Beijing Coup imprisoned Cao in October 1924. From 1926 he lived in the Japanese concession in Tianjin and worked with the Japanese secret services, and in 1937 he became mayor of Tianjin and governor of Hebei in Wang Kemin's pro-Japanese Provisional Government. He died of a heart attack in Beijing in 1940.
Also known as: Kao Ling-wei
Activities and affiliations
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1906–1911
Qing dynasty state institutionsCommissioner of Education of Hubei
Education -
1921–1923
Beiyang government and warlordsMinister of Finance and of the Interior
Government and administration -
1923–1924
Beiyang government and warlordsActing PremierHeads of state, government and party of ChinaMain
Political and party leadership -
1937–1938
Republic of China state institutionsMayor of Tianjin and Governor of Hebei, Provisional Government
Government and administration
Career Timeline
- 1894Passed the provincial examination (juren)
- 1906Commissioner of Education of Hubei
- 1909Provincial Treasurer of Hubei
- 1917.08Senator for Zhili
- 1921.10–12Minister of Finance
- 1921.12–1922.06Minister of the Interior
- 1923.01–06Minister of the Interior
- 1923.06.14–1924.01.12Acting Premier; exercised the presidency as head of the regency cabinet
- 1924.01–10Director General of the Customs Administration
- 1935Member of the Hebei–Chahar Political Council
- 1937.12.17–1938.05Governor of Hebei and mayor of Tianjin under the pro-Japanese Provisional Government