Tang Shaoyi
Prime Minister of the Republic of China
In office 13 March 1912 – 27 June 1912
Preceded by	Yuan Shikai
Succeeded by	Lou Tseng-Tsiang
In office 5 August 1922 – 19 September 1922
Preceded by	Wang Ch'ung-hui
Succeeded by	Wang Ch'ung-hui
Personal details
Born	)2 January 1862 Xiangshan County, Guangdong, Qing Empire
Died	30 September 1938) (aged 76) Shanghai, Republic of China
Alma mater	Queen's College, Hong Kong Columbia University

Táng Shàoyí (simplified Chinese: 唐绍仪; traditional Chinese: 唐紹儀; pinyin: Táng Shàoyí; Wade–Giles: T'ang Shao-i; Yale: Tong4 Siu6 Yee4; changed to 唐绍怡 to avoid taboo of Puyi's name, later restored; Courtesy Shaochuan 少川) (January 2, 1862 — September 30, 1938), was a Chinese diplomat, politician. He was the father-in-law of Wellington Koo and Lee Seng Gee.

Biography

Career

He was a native of Xiangshan, Guangdong, studied in the United States on the Chinese Educational Mission, educated at Queen's College, Hong Kong and studied at Columbia University in New York. He was the first president of Shandong University, one of the oldest and most prestigious universities in China. Tang was a friend of Yuan Shikai; and, during the Xinhai Revolution, negotiated on the latter's behalf in Shanghai with the revolutionaries' Wu Tingfang, ending up with the recognition of Yuan as President of the Republic of China.

Widely respected, he became the Republic's first Prime Minister in 1912, but quickly grew disillusioned with Yuan's lack of respect for the rule of law and resigned.^[1] He later took part in Sun Yatsen's government in Guangzhou. Tang Shaoyi opposed, on constitutional grounds, Sun's taking of the "Extraordinary Presidency" in 1921; and Shaoyi resigned his position.

Retirement and death

In 1924, he refused an offer to be foreign minister under Duan Qirui's provisional government in Beijing, and was later in charge of Zhongshan county where he opposed Chen Jitang. He moved to Shanghai and quit politics.

When that city was occupied by the Japanese during the Second Sino-Japanese War, Tang was approached by General Iwane Matsui to form a new anti-Chiang regime. Although Tang appeared interested - at one point boasting that he was capable of attracting a number of important people to join such a venture - he set a condition the Japanese were unwilling to meet, namely, that China be granted its territorial unity. Nevertheless, he was assassinated by Kuomintang clandestine forces, who feared he could eventually be compromised.

References