Liao Chengzhi

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Liao Chengzhi
Liao in the late 1940s[1]
Director of the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office
Personal details
Born(1908-09-25)25 September 1908
Okubo, Tokyo, Japan
Died10 June 1983(1983-06-10) (aged 74)
Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Beijing, China
RelationsLiao Zhongkai (father)
He Xiangning (mother)
Liao Mengxing (sister)
ChildrenLiao Hui
In this Chinese name, the family name is Liao.

Liao Chengzhi (

Office of Overseas Chinese Affairs.[3]

Early life

Liao Chengzhi in 1909, held by his mother He Xiangning
Liao Chengzhi, He Xiangning, and Liao Mengxing at Liao Zhongkai's side after his death

Liao was born in the

Hakka: 肥仔). His parents became members of the Kuomintang very early on; Sun Yat-sen was a frequent visitor to their household, sparking the young Liao's interest in politics.[2] He and his sister Liao Mengxing also studied wushu with one of Sun's bodyguards.[5] His family moved frequently; the young Liao attended school in Tokyo, Shanghai, and Guangzhou.[6]

Liao returned to his parents' home of Guangdong in 1923, where he entered the middle school attached to

Shaji Incident; Liao himself had his hat shot off, and barely escaped with his life. His father was assassinated two months later by a member of a rival faction in the Kuomintang.[2] In 1927, fearing for her family's lives, his mother took Liao and his siblings back into exile in Tokyo. The following year, he not only entered Waseda University, but also joined the Tokyo branch of the Chinese Communist Party, which provoked the university to expel him. His political activities also attracted unfavourable attention from the Japanese government, which deported him in the summer of that year; he then proceeded to Shanghai.[6]

In November 1928, Liao went to

Mukden Incident, to join the anti-Japanese resistance movement.[2] Around the same time, Liao was arrested by German police and deported again; he followed his mother to Shanghai in 1932. He then became secretary of the Communist Party Group of the National Seamen's Union. His political activities again brought him trouble, leading to his arrest in March 1933; however, he was released due to the efforts of Soong Ching-ling.[6] Back in Shanghai, Liao struck up a relationship with Jing Puchun (经普椿); her father Jing Hengyi [zh], a painter, was Liao's mother's friend, former classmate in Japan, and neighbour. Jing Puchun had come from Zhejiang to Shanghai with her elder brother to visit him. She was just 16 at the time. Her elder brother objected strenuously to their relationship, due to Liao's CPC membership; he feared his sister would get mixed up in political conflicts. In mid-July, her elder brother took her back to Zhejiang. The two kept in touch by letters; in August 1933, when Liao received CPC orders sending him to the Sichuan–Shaanxi area, he asked Jing in a letter to "wait for me for two years, if you truly love me".[7]

Fighting the Nationalists and Japan

In August 1933, Liao bid farewell to his mother and, under the orders of the Party, proceeded to the Sichuan-Shaanxi area carrying Kuomintang codes which would allow the Communists to decrypt their telegraph messages. After his arrival there, he became Secretary of the Politburo of the Chinese Red Army's Fourth Front Army. However, he offended his superior Zhang Guotao by pointing out some of his ideological errors; Zhang Guotao criticised Liao as a "member of a Kuomintang family" and had him arrested. He spent two more years in a CPC prison, and thus ended the Long March as a criminal, but was restored to good standing in the Party in late 1936 while in northern Shaanxi by Mao Zedong and his old friend Zhou Enlai. He then began his work with the Red China News Agency, Xinhua's forerunner, where he put his international experience to good use, translating news into English, French, German, and Japanese.[6]

In December 1937, as the Second Sino-Japanese War intensified, he was sent to Hong Kong, where he ran the Eighth Route Army's office.[7] Among other matters, he was responsible for arms purchases for the CPC's Southern Bureau.[8] His work there formed the foundation of what would become the CPC's united front strategy in the territory, aimed at using Hong Kong's economic resources and connections to overseas Chinese communities to fund CPC aims; indeed, while in Hong Kong, Liao cultivated relations and alliances with the territory's "big capitalists".[9] His mother arranged for Jing Puchun to be sent there as well, as a surprise for her son; the two had a joyous reunion at the docks as Liao stepped off his ship, and married soon after, on 11 January 1938. Liao left Hong Kong in January 1941, but after the Imperial Japanese Army invaded and occupied the city, he was chosen for his fluency in Japanese along with Lian Guan to sneak back in and establish contact with fellow revolutionaries who had been trapped there; by May, he had helped over 500 people escape from Hong Kong, including his mother, Soong Ching-ling, Mao Dun, Xia Yan, Liang Shuming, Cai Chusheng, Liu Yazi, Hu Feng, Hu Sheng, and Zou Taofen (邹韬奋).[2]

However, Liao's work was interrupted on 30 May 1942, when he was arrested in

7th National Congress in Yan'an in April 1945.[2]

In January 1946, Chiang Kai-shek sent a telegram to the prison camp in Ganzhou where the young Liao was being held, directing that he be flown to the KMT's seat of government, then still located in Chongqing. Liao's treatment improved markedly upon his arrival; he was given a new suit of clothes and better food to eat. Chiang tried to pressure Liao into renouncing his affiliation with the CPC, but Liao refused. Soon after, on 22 January, in accordance with the terms of the Double Tenth Agreement between the KMT and the CPC, Liao was released and returned to Yan'an, where his wife was waiting for him. Upon his return, he was named head of the Xinhua News Agency. However, again his reunion with his wife was brief; the CPC soon dispatched Liao to the Taihang Mountains on Xinhua-related work.[2]

After 1949

In the 1960s, Liao led Chinese delegations in a number of negotiations with Japanese counterparts, including in discussions which led to the Sino-Japanese Journalist Exchange Agreements.[10]

In 1960, Liao warned that Communist China "shall not hesitate to take positive action to have Hong Kong, Kowloon and New Territories liberated" should the status quo (i.e. colonial administration) be changed. The warning killed any

democratic development in Hong Kong for the next three decades.[11]

Even as he turned 70, Liao remained active and busy in politics, in 1978 heading up the newly established

the reunification of the mainland and Taiwan.[5]

Liao died of a heart attack at 5:22 AM on 10 June 1983 in Beijing.[2] His death came at an untimely juncture for China, as he was nominated for the position of Vice President of the People's Republic of China only four days earlier.[13] Chinese President Li Xiannian gave memorial speech at his funeral.[14]

Awards

References

  1. ^ 曾任新华社社长的廖承志. Xinhua News (in Chinese (China)). 2006-11-02. Archived from the original on February 9, 2007. Retrieved 2014-01-10.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Yu, Xuzeng (2006). 廖承志的传奇人生. Dangshi Bocai (in Chinese (China)) (10). Archived from the original on 2011-08-09. Retrieved 2008-01-08.
  3. ^ "Curriculum Vitae of Mr. Liao Chengzhi". Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China. 2005. Retrieved 2008-01-08.
  4. ISBN 9787801997258. Based on the excerpt reprinted in 何香凝的留学生涯. Wenhui Bao (in Chinese (China)). 2007-11-13. Archived from the original
    on 2007-11-14. Retrieved 2008-01-08.
  5. ^ a b c Sam, Yung (2005-12-23). 廖承志戴手銬走完長征. Wen Wei Po (in Chinese (China)). Retrieved 2008-01-09.
  6. ^
    ISBN 7-5033-1591-1
    .
  7. ^ a b c d An, Yihui (2007-12-07). 白頭相偕願已足：廖承志、經普椿的愛情故事 [The love story of Liao Chengzhi and Jing Puchun]. People's Daily (in Chinese). Retrieved 2008-01-09.
  8. ^
    S2CID 214650325
    .
  9. ^ Chu, Cindy Yik-yi (July 2011), "The long history of United Front activity in Hong Kong", Hong Kong Journal, vol. 6, no. 22, retrieved 2011-07-06
  10. ^ 日本外交主要文書・年表, Japan: Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 1965, pp. 498–500
  11. ^ Jacobs, Andrew (27 Oct 2014). "Hong Kong Democracy Standoff, Circa 1960" Archived 29 December 2016 at the Wayback Machine. The New York Times
  12. ISBN 978-981-270-041-4
    .
  13. ^ "Liao Chengzhi, 75, A Chinese Leader". The New York Times. 1983-06-11. Retrieved 2008-01-08.
  14. ^ Ceremony honours Liao Chengzhi | chinadaily.com.cn

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