Chiang Ching-kuo Early Life Political Career Presidency

The only son of Chiang Kai-shek and his first wife Mao Fumei, Chiang Ching-kuo was born in Fenghua, Chekiang and had the nickname of Jinfeng (建豐). He had an adopted brother, Chiang Wei-kuo.

In 1925 he went to Moscow to study communismThis article is about communism as a form of society, as an ideology advocating that form of society, and as a popular movement. For issues regarding the organization of the communist movement, see the Communist party article. For issues regarding one-par, which he embraced avidly, and became classmates with Deng XiaopingDeng Xioping ( Traditional Chinese; Simplified Chinese; Teng Hsiao-p'ing; pronounced "Dung Shyao-ping") ( August 22, 1904 February 19, 1997) was a revolutionary elder in the Communist Party of China (CPC) who served as the " de facto" ruler of the People'. After his father took anti-Communist approaches within the Nationalist party ( KuomintangThe Kuomintang (KMT; Traditional Chinese: Hanyu Pinyin: Zhongguo Guomindng; Wade-Giles: Chung-kuo Kuo-min-tang; Tongyong Pinyin: Jhongguo Guomindang; literally the National People's Party of China , also known as the Nationalist Party is a political party), the Soviet governmentThe Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR ( Russian: ; tr. Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik (SSSR) also called the Soviet Union ( ; tr. Sovetsky Soyuz , was a state in much of the northern region of Eurasia that existed from 1922 until 1 sent Chiang to virtual exile in return and later to work in a steelSteel is a metal alloy whose major component is iron, with carbon being the primary alloying material. Carbon acts as a binding agent, locking the otherwise easily-moved iron atoms into a rigid lattice. Varying the amount of carbon and its distribution in factory in SiberiaSiberia ( Russian: , common English transliterations: Sibir Sibir' is a vast region of Russia and northern Kazakhstan, constituting all of northern Asia, and extending eastward from the Ural Mountains to the Pacific Ocean, and southward from the Arctic Oc where he met and in March 1935, married Fenna Epatcheva Vahaleva, a native Russian later became known as Chiang Fang-liangChiang Fang-liang (born May 15, 1916) is the widow of Chiang Ching-kuo and was the First Lady of the Republic of China on Taiwan from 1978 to 1988. Born Faina Epatcheva Vahaleva in Sverdlovsk (now Ekaterinburg, Russia), she was orphaned at a young age and. December of that year, a son, Hsiao-wen (孝文) was born. A daughter, Hsiao-chang (孝章), was born the next year.

The Chiangs were finally allowed to return to China by Stalin in April 1937 after living in Russia for 12 years. A tutor was hired to teach Chiang Fang-liang Chinese. Chiang Fang-liang later moved to Taiwan, where she received little publicity and hence much mystery, and rarely travelled abroad. The Chiangs later had two more sons: Hsiao-wu (孝武) and Hsiao-yung (孝勇).

Out of his affair with Chang Ya-juo (章亞若), Chiang also had two twin sons: Chang Hsiao-tz'u and Chang Hsiao-yen. (Note the identical generation name of Hsiao between all sons, legitimate or not.)

2 Political career

In 1949 he followed his father to Taiwan after the Communist victory in the Chinese Civil War and became the director of secret police (or "blue shirts") in 1950 and served until 1965. One of the highest profile victims of Chiang's blue shirts was General Sun Li-Jen, a VMI trained military man who fought along side American General Joseph Stilwell. Sun's popularity and loyalty with his troops made him a rival to Chiang Kai-shek and was placed in house arrest until the end of martial law. Chiang Ching-kuo's activities as director of the secret police have been widely criticized as heralding an era of human rights abuses and disappearances of both incriminating documents and people.

From 1955-1960 he worked on building a cross-island highway. He was Defense Minister from 1965 until 1969 when he became vice-premier. In 1972 he was appointed Premier of the Republic of China, which he served until 1978.

3 Presidency

His father died in April 1975, and he succeeded him to power, becoming president after Yen Chia-kan's term ended in 1978. He was reelected by the National Assembly to another term in 1984. At that time, the National Assembly consisted mostly of "thousand year" legislators who had been elected in 1947/8 before the fall of the Mainland.

In 1987 Chiang ended martial law and allowed family visits to the Mainland China. His administration saw a gradual loosening of political controls, with opposition political parties, namely the Democratic Progressive Party, being unofficially permitted as the Tangwai movement and press restrictions laxed. Chiang launched the "Fourteen Major Construction Projects" and "Ten Major Construction Projects and the Twelve New Development Projects" contributing to the "Taiwan miracle." Many of the projects associated with Chiang were extensions of Japanese infrastructure projects from the 1930s. Among his accomplishments were accelerating the process of modernization to give Taiwan a 13% growth rate, $4600 per capita income, and the world's second largest exchange reserves.

4 Death and legacy

Chiang died of heart failure and hemorrhage in Taipei at the age of 78. Like his father, he was interred "temporarily" in Tahsi Township, Taoyuan County, but in a separate mausoleum. The hope was to have both buried at their birthplace in Fenghua once the mainland was recovered. In January 2004, Chiang Fang-liang asked that both father and son be buried at Wu Chih-shan Military Cemetery in Sijhih, Taipei County. The state funeral ceremony is planned for Spring 2005. Chiang Fang-liang and Soong May-ling had agreed in 1997 that the former leaders be first buried but still be moved to mainland China in the event of reunification.

In contrast to his father Chiang Kai-shek, Chiang Ching-kuo built himself a folksy reputation and remains a generally popular figure among the Taiwanese electorate, particularly those who support Chinese reunification. His memory and image is frequently invoked by the Kuomintang, which is unable to base their electoral campaign on Chiang's successor as President and KMT Chairman Lee Teng-hui because of Lee's stand in support of Taiwan independence. Especially after the 2000 presidential election, the Pan-Blue Coalition has elevated Chiang's status to the point which some critics see as excessive.

Among the Tangwai and later the Pan-Green Coalition, opinions toward Chiang Ching-kuo are more reserved. While long-time supporters of political liberalization do give Chiang Ching-kuo some credit for relaxing authoritarian rule, they point out that Taiwan, particularly in the early years of his rule, was still quite authoritarian, and tend to emphasize the democraticization of Taiwan under Chiang Ching-kuo as a result of general internal and external forces rather than his personal actions or characteristics. In particular, critics have argued that Chiang's support of democratization was a direct result of the fall of Ferdinand Marcos.

Under President Chen Shui-bian, pictures of Chiang Ching-kuo and his father have gradually disappeared from public buildings.

All of his legitimate children studied abroad and two of his children married in the United States. Only two children remain living: John Chang is a prominent KMT politician and Chiang Hsiao-chang and her children and grandchildren reside in the U.S.

The AIDC, Taiwan's air defence company, has named its Indigenous Defence Fighter the ' Ching Kuo' in his memory.

5 See also

6 External links

Preceded by:
Yen Chia-kan

President of the Republic of China

Succeeded by:
Lee Teng-hui

Chiang Chiang Chiang ROC politicians minnan:Chiú Keng-kok

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1 Early life