Lin Sen

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Lin Sen
林森
H.H. Kung
Military chiefChiang Kai-shek
Preceded byChiang Kai-shek
Succeeded byChiang Kai-shek (acting)
President of the Legislative Yuan
In office
2 March 1931 – 1 January 1932
Vice PresidentShao Yuanchong
Preceded byHu Hanmin
Succeeded byShao Yuanchong (acting)
Zhang Ji
Vice President of the Legislative Yuan
In office
8 October 1928 – 2 March 1931
PresidentHu Hanmin
Preceded byPosition established
Succeeded byShao Yuanchong
Personal details
Born16 March 1868
Minhou, Fujian, China
Died1 August 1943(1943-08-01) (aged 75)
Chongqing, China
Political partyKuomintang (Western Hills faction)
AwardsOrder of Brilliant Jade

Lin Sen (

Republic of China
from 1931 until his death.

Early life

Former villa of Lin Sen in Nanjing.

Born to a middle-class family in Shanggan Township (尚幹鄉),

guerrilla activities against the Japanese occupiers. He returned to the mainland and worked in the Shanghai customs office in 1902. He later lived in Hawaii and San Francisco
.

There he was recruited by the

Chinese Revolutionary Party. He was sent to the United States to raise funds from the party's local branches. In 1917, he followed Sun to Guangzhou where he continued to lead its "extraordinary session" during the Constitutional Protection Movement. When the assembly defected to the Beiyang government
, he remained with Sun and later served as governor of Fujian.

Lin was a member of the right-wing

Communists and to declare social revolution as incompatible with the KMT's national revolution. The party pre-empted this faction and the ensuing congress expelled Western Hills' leaders and suspended the membership of the followers. They supported Chiang Kai-shek's purge of the communists
in 1927. Lin rose to become the leader of the Western Hills faction and undertook a world tour after the demise of the Beiyang government.

As head of state

In 1931, Chairman Chiang's arrest of

Battle of Shanghai (1932)
as party grandees realized his necessity.

Shortly after acceding to the chairmanship, Lin Sen embarked on an extended trip that took him to the Philippines, Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany and France. He visited the Chinese diaspora and the Kuomintang party organisations in those countries. This was the first overseas visit by a serving head of state of China.

In 1934 TIME magazine called him "puppet President Lin", and when there was a talk by Military chief Chiang Kai-shek at a "Secret conference of government leaders" of granting the President of China actual powers, insinuating that Chiang was entertaining the thought of taking the Presidency himself, since Chiang held the actual power while Lin's position was described as "figurehead class".[1]

Though he had little influence on public policy, Lin was highly respected by the public as an august elder statesman who was above politics. His lack of political ambition, corruption, and nepotism was an exceedingly rare trait. He lent dignity and stability to an office while other state institutions were in chaos.

A widower, Lin used his position to promote monogamy and combat concubinage which became a punishable felony in 1935. He also called for a peaceful resolution when Chiang was kidnapped during the Xi'an Incident. National unity was something he stressed as relations with Japan deteriorated further.

When the

Japanese puppet government
.

Death

On 10 March 1943, his car was involved in an accident. Two days later, he had a stroke while meeting the Canadian delegation. As he was in hospice, he urged the recovery of Taiwan be included in the post-war settlement; it became part of the Cairo Declaration months later. He died on August 1 at the age of 76 and a month of mourning was declared. He was the longest serving head of state in the ROC while it still held mainland China. The central executive committee elected Chiang as chairman of government a few hours after Lin's death. All of the powers that were denied to the chairmanship were restored for Chiang.

Lin visited Qingzhi ("Green Plant") Mountain in

Fuzhou, Fujian and was fascinated by it, which encouraged him to style himself "Old Man Green Plant" (青芝老人 Qingzhi Laoren) in his old age. His monument, built beside Qingzhi Mountain in 1926 before his death, was damaged in the Cultural Revolution
, and was restored in 1979.

Family

Lin had adopted his nephew Lin Jing (known in English as K.M. James Lin), as his son. While studying as a postgraduate student in

five-and-ten-cent store clerk, although he was reported already to have two wives in China. Lin Sen objected to the marriage and the couple eventually divorced. James Lin returned to China and died in action during the Japanese invasion.[2]

Legacy

Lin Sen Memorial Hall at Taipei.

There are roads named after Lin Sen in

Tainan, and other towns and cities in Taiwan due to his role in fighting the Japanese invasion of Taiwan
and as ROC president.

In the

People's Republic of China, Lin was denounced for his anti-communism and roads and places named after Lin Sen were renamed, but he has since been rehabilitated
after the Cultural Revolution.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Courtesy name Zi Chao (Chinese: 子超; Wade–Giles: Tze-chao), sobriquet Zhang Ren (長仁; Chang-jen)

References

  1. ^ "CHINA: Chiang on Lid". TIME. Aug 20, 1934. Archived from the original on November 25, 2010. Retrieved May 22, 2011.
  2. ^ "Son of China's President Reported Killed in Action". New York Times. March 24, 1938. p. 14.
Political offices
Preceded by Chairman of the National Government
1931–1943 		Succeeded by
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