Protégé of Xu Shichang whose Beiyang cabinet fell during the May Fourth Movement
Born in Jiashan, Zhejiang, he became a jinshi in 1898 and served under Xu Shichang in the Ministry of Police and in Fengtian, becoming his protégé. As governor of Shaanxi from 1910 he hunted down Tongmenghui revolutionaries; when the 1911 Revolution triumphed he attempted suicide and was released after treatment by the revolutionary army. Under the Republic he rose from vice-minister to minister of the interior in Wang Shizhen’s cabinet in December 1917, standing in as premier when Wang took leave. When Xu Shichang became president in October 1918 he took over the premier’s duties and was formally appointed that December. His cabinet was hamstrung by the rivalry between the Anhui and Zhili cliques, further weakened by the May Fourth Movement, and resigned in June 1919. He co-founded the Red Swastika Society in 1922 and died of illness in Beijing in 1924.
Also known as: Ch'ien Neng-hsün · Chien Neng-hsun
Activities and affiliations
-
1910–1911
Qing dynasty state institutionsGovernor of Shaanxi
Government and administration -
1917–1919
Beiyang government and warlordsMinister of the Interior
Government and administration -
1918–1919
Beiyang government and warlordsPremierHeads of state, government and party of ChinaMain
Political and party leadership
Career Timeline
- 1898Passed the metropolitan examination (jinshi)
- 1907Right counsellor of Fengtian Province
- 1910Treasurer and Governor of Shaanxi
- 1913.10Vice-Minister of the Interior
- 1917.12Minister of the Interior
- 1918.10.10–1919.06.13Premier
- 1922Co-founded the Red Swastika Society