He Siyuan | |
---|---|
何思源 | |
Mayor of Beijing | |
In office November 1946 – June 1948 | |
Preceded by | Xiong Bin |
Succeeded by | Liu Yaozhang |
Governor of Shandong | |
In office December 1944 – November 1946 | |
Succeeded by | Wang Yaowu |
Personal details | |
Born | 1896 Heze, Shandong, China |
Died | 28 April 1982 Beijing, China | (aged 85–86)
Political party | Kuomintang |
Spouse |
He Yiwen (m. 1928) |
Children | Daughters He Luli and Lumei, two sons |
Alma mater | Peking University, University of Chicago, University of Paris |
Profession | Educator, politician, translator |
He Siyuan (Chinese: 何思源; Wade–Giles: Ho Ssu-yüan; 1896 – April 1982), also spelled Ho Shih-yuan, was a Chinese educator, politician and guerrilla leader. Educated in China, the United States, and France, he was an economics professor at Sun Yat-sen University and education minister of Shandong Province. When Japan invaded China in 1937, he organized a guerrilla force to fight the resistance war in Shandong, and was the wartime governor of the province. He later became Mayor of Beijing until he negotiated to surrender to communist forces when KMT was losing. He survived Chiang's two attempts to assassinate him, but lost his youngest daughter in the second attack. In 1949 he negotiated the peaceful surrender of Beijing to the Communist forces, ensuring the safety of its millions of residents. Fluent in four European languages, after 1949 he mainly worked on translating foreign publications into Chinese. His elder daughter, He Luli, grew up to become Vice-Mayor of Beijing and Chairwoman of the Revolutionary Committee of the Chinese Kuomintang.