K. C. Wu

K. C. Wu (

Wu was born in Central China and grew up in Beijing, where his father served in the military. He studied at both Tianjin Nankai High School, where Zhou Enlai was a classmate, and at Tsinghua University. In 1923, he earned a master's degree in economics from Grinnell College and, in 1926, a doctoral degree in political science from Princeton University.

Early career

After returning to China in 1926, Wu began a career in government service, first as a tax collector in

With the fall of Hankou to Japanese forces in October 1938 during the Second Sino-Japanese War, Wu and his family fled to Chongqing. In 1939, Chiang Kai-shek appointed him as mayor of Chongqing, a position he held until 1942. He served as vice minister of Foreign Affairs from 1943 to 1945, interacting with Zhou Enlai as part of the united front against the Japanese. After the end of World War II in 1945, K.C. Wu became mayor of Shanghai, serving in that role until the Chinese Communists conquered the city in 1949.^[2] While mayor of Shanghai, Wu met Robert R. McCormick of the Chicago Tribune, and his wife Maryland. As the situation in Shanghai became less stable, Wu sent his two daughters to live with the McCormicks in Illinois.^[3]

Activities after leaving mainland China

Following the relocation of the Nationalist government to

Wu's conflict with the younger Chiang worsened. Wu submitted his resignation to the elder Chiang but it was rejected. In April 1952, an alleged assassination targeting Wu was suspected. In April 1953, he resigned from his position as governor, and on 24 May he hastily left Taiwan on a "lecture tour". Wu's family left for the United States, except one son who was not permitted to leave by the Chiangs. In 1954, a wave of accusations appeared in Taiwan alleging Wu's corruption. At the same time, the Chiangs moved to dismiss Wu's associates from government. They also formally expelled Wu from the Kuomintang.[4] Following his son's departure from Taiwan, Wu began to speak out against what he saw were serious problems with the Kuomintang (KMT) government. That same year, Wu wrote an article in Look magazine entitled "Your Money is Building a Police State in Taiwan".^[5] The war of words between Wu and Chiang's regime escalated further, including a resolution against him by the ROC's National Assembly. Later in 1954, a war of words also erupted between Wu and Hu Shih, who was also in the United States at the time.^[why?]

At that time, the United States was attempting to forge an alliance with the government on Taiwan. Thus, the idea of fighting the police state was low on the United States agenda. Following a lack of American response to his writings, K.C. Wu lived in the United States where he served as professor of Chinese history at

Further reading

• https://web.archive.org/web/20060901195933/http://www.faculty.armstrong.edu/FDawardR.htm
• http://www.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,1101500807,00.html Archived 2012-09-20 at the Wayback Machine
• The Chinese Heritage by K. C. Wu; 1988, Random House Value Publishing,
  ISBN 0-517-54475-X
  .
• "Your Money is Building a Police State in Taiwan" by K. C. Wu; Look, June 29, 1954.
• The Voice of Asia by
  ISBN 0-394-45077-9
  .
• Mechanics and Methods of Communism lecture by K. C. Wu, 17 March 1955, Waelderhaus, Kohler, Wisconsin; The Sheboygan Press, March 17, 1955, p 13
• Fires of the Dragon by David E. Kaplan; 2002, Scribner,
  ISBN 0-7432-4538-5
  .

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Political offices
Preceded by He Guoguang	Mayor of Chongqing 1939–1942	Succeeded by He Yaozu
Preceded by Zhou Fohai	Mayor of Shanghai 1945-1949	Succeeded by Chen Yi
Preceded by Chen Cheng	Governor of Taiwan 1949–1953	Succeeded by Yu Horng-jiun