Banker and Soong-family in-law who long ran Nationalist finances and introduced the fabi currency
Born in 1880 into a prosperous banking family in Taigu, Shanxi, a 75th-generation descendant of Confucius, he studied at Oberlin College and Yale. He helped Yan Xishan in the Xinhai Revolution and in 1914 married Soong Ai-ling, becoming related by marriage to Sun Yat-sen and Chiang Kai-shek. Starting as minister of industry in the Wuhan Nationalist government in 1927, he was minister of finance from 1933 to 1944 and governor of the Central Bank of China from 1933 to 1945. In 1935 he introduced the fabi currency in place of the silver standard, but its later inflation and collapse ruined his reputation as finance minister. He met Hitler in Germany in 1937 and was premier from January 1938 to November 1939. Corruption allegations removed him from his key posts in 1944–1945, and after 1949 he moved to the United States, dying in New York State in 1967.
Also known as: Kong Xiangxi
Activities and affiliations
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1931–
Political and party leadership
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1933–1945
Republic of China state institutionsMinister of Finance and Governor of the Central Bank of China
Economy, finance and planning -
1938–1939
Republic of China state institutionsPresident of the Executive YuanHeads of state, government and party of ChinaMain
Political and party leadership
Career Timeline
- 1906Graduated from Oberlin College
- 1907Master's degree from Yale; founded the Ming Hsien school in Taigu
- 1911Supported Yan Xishan in the Xinhai Revolution
- 1914Married Soong Ai-ling
- 1927–1928Minister of Industry in the Wuhan Nationalist Government
- 1928–1931Minister of Industry and Commerce
- 1931Member of the KMT Central Executive Committee
- 1933–1944Minister of Finance
- 1933–1945Governor of the Central Bank of China
- 1935Introduced the fabi currency
- 1935–1945Vice-President of the Executive Yuan
- 1938.01.01–1939.11.25President of the Executive Yuan
- 1944Chief Chinese delegate at the Bretton Woods Conference