Ye Gongchuo | |||||||||
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 Ye in the 1920s | |||||||||
| Personal details | |||||||||
| Born | 24 November 1881 Panyu County, Guangdong, China | ||||||||
| Died | 6 August 1968 (aged 86) Beijing | ||||||||
| Alma mater | Imperial University of Peking | ||||||||
| Chinese name | |||||||||
| Chinese | 叶恭绰 | ||||||||
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Ye Gongchuo (simplified Chinese: 叶恭绰; traditional Chinese: 葉恭綽; pinyin: Yè Gōng Chuò, 24 November 1881 – 6 August 1968) was a Chinese politician, calligrapher, poet, and art patron. Born in Panyu County, Guangdong, to the family of a Qing dynasty official, Ye passed the imperial examination and joined the Ministry of Posts and Communications. He rose through the ministry rapidly, then allied himself with Sun Yat-sen's anti-Qing movement in the 1911 Revolution. During the first decades of the Republic of China, Ye occupied several ministerial positions as a member of the Communications Clique, at times working with the Beiyang government and other times siding with the Kuomintang.
Withdrawing from politics in 1928, Ye focused on art collection and preservation, organizing several exhibitions and establishing multiple schools and organizations. After the Second World War, he occupied several cultural positions, including vice-president of the Central Research Institute of Culture and History. Works collected by Ye are found in the collections of numerous museums, and he has been recognized for his calligraphy and his ci.