Chang Chih-hsiang

1915

China

From 1949 to 1954 he served as deputy director of the Political Department of the North China Military Region, which included the provinces of Hopeh and Shansi (and, before they were abolished, Chahar, Pingyuan, and Suiyuan), spending these years in Peking, the headquarters of the Military Region. In July 1949 he attended the inaugural congress of the mass organization for culture, literature, and art, the All-China Federation of Literary and Art Circles. Representation at the congress, attended by over 800 delegates, was by geographic area, except for a military delegation, which was led by Chang. He served on the congress presidium (steering committee) as well as on a special committee that considered proposals to be placed before the congress. At the close of the congress he was elected to the Standing Committee of the All-China Federation of Literary and Art Circles (AC- FLAC), a position he held until the second congress in September-October 1953. At the same time that the ACFLAC was established, several subordinate organizations were formed. One of them was the All-China Association of Literary Workers, chaired by the well-known author Mao Tun. Chang was named to membership on the National Committee of this association, also retaining it until the fall of 1953. Another organization that Chang helped to establish was the All-China Athletic Federation. When the Preparatory Committee was formed in October 1949 he was named to it as a representative of the North China Military Region, serving on the committee until the Federation was formally inaugurated in June 1952. Other activities of the early 1950’s include membership on the Standing Committee of the Peking branch of the China Peace Committee, a position he may still hold. He also served on the presidium for the first All-Army Sports Meet held in August 1952 to mark the 25th anniversary of the founding of the PLA. But Chang’s major impact on the Chinese Communist movement did not begin until 1954 when he retired from active army duties and was switched to the cultural field. In October 1954 he was appointed as a vice-minister of the Ministry of Culture, then headed by Mao Tun, with whom Chang had earlier been associated, he retained this post for three and a half years. In the following May he made his first trip abroad, leading a 74-member classical theater group on a nine-nation tour which lasted for eight months (May 1955-January 1956). This was one of the first important cultural forays into the non-Communist world. The group was well received by audiences in France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Switzerland, Italy, England, Yugoslavia, and Hungary. While in Italy (October 1955) Chang attended the Congress of Mayors of World Capitals, representing Peking Mayor P’eng Chen. While abroad Chang was identified as a Standing Committee member of the Chinese People’s Association for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries, an important mass organization whose name describes its purpose, established in May 1954. It was not until 1957, however, that he was officially carried on the roster of this association; then, in April 1959, he was elevated to a vice-chairmanship, a post he continues to hold. In March 1958 Chang was removed as a vice-minister in the Ministry of Culture but at the same time was made a vice-chairman of the Commission for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries, the governmental counterpart of the mass organization of the same name described above. The government Commission was created in February 1958 and has been headed since that time by non-Communist Chang Hsi-jo. A former Commission employee who worked in the organization in 1964 stated that it was common knowledge that Chang Chih-hsiang, in fact, was actually in charge of the work of the Commission. This assertion seems to be borne out by the fact that for brief periods in 1959, 1960, and 1961 he served as acting chairman. (However, his authority was probably lessened late in 1964 when Li Ch’ang, outranking Chang by virtue of his post as an alternate member of the Party Central Committee, was named as an additional vice-chairman.) In the interim, Chang had traveled abroad again when, in March 1957, he led a cultural delegation to Mongolia and while there signed a cultural cooperation plan for 1957. (Such annual “executive plans” are part of the Chinese Communist pattern of cultural exchanges; broad cultural agreements are normally signed first and are then followed by the signing of more detailed annual executive plans. In this instance Chang signed a plan in pursuance of an economic and cultural agreement signed in 1952.) Apart from his 1955-1956 tour of Europe and this trip to Mongolia, Chang has been abroad on nine other occasions in the period from 1958 to 1964, trips that have taken him to eight different countries: Sweden (July 1958 and March 1959); Bulgaria (November-December 1959); Greece (May- June 1960); Burma (December 1960-January 1961); Mongolia (July 1961); North Korea (April-May 1962); North Vietnam (December 1962); and, Cuba (December 1963-January 1964). The trips to Sweden were for meetings held by the Communist-backed World Peace Council; that to Mongolia was for the 40th anniversary of the Mongolian People’s Republic; and the one to Cuba for the fifth anniversary of the Castro government. But each of the other journeys was as leader of cultural delegations. Chang’s visit to Greece is of interest because exceedingly few Chinese Communists have visited that country (which maintains diplomatic ties with Nationalist China). Between 1957 and 1964, Chang signed no less than 13 annual cultural plans and one major cultural agreement. Aside from the one already mentioned in Mongolia (March 1957), he signed three more abroad; Bulgaria (December 1959); North Vietnam (December 1962), Cuba (January 1964). In Peking he signed another nine plans or agreements: Hungary (January 1959); Poland (February 1960) ; North Vietnam (February 1960); Mongolia (February 1960); the U.S.S.R. (February 1961); Ghana (August 1961); Mongolia (January 1962); the U.S.S.R. (May 1963); Cuba (July 1963). It should be noted that all these, excepting only that with Ghana, were negotiated with Communist countries. Chang’s involvement in foreign relations is illustrated in various other ways, including his participation in “friendship associations.” From 1958 to 1962 he was named to posts within six different associations: China-Mongolia FA (Chairman, September 1958); China-Latin America FA (Standing Committee member, March 1960); China-Africa People’s FA (Stand¬ing Committee member, April 1960); Sino- Soviet FA (acting secretary-general, by October 1960); China-Ceylon FA (Council member, September 1962); and, China-Cuba FA (vice-chairman, December 1962). Except for the Sino-Soviet Friendship Association, each of these dates represents the date the association was founded; Chang retains all these posts except the chairmanship of the China-Mongolia FA, which he relinquished in August 1961, and the position in the Sino-Sovict FA, which was assumed by another man in late 1964. Chang has also held or continues to hold a few more posts worthy of brief notation. From 1959 to 1964 he served as a member of the Third National Committee of the CPPCC as a representative of “organizations for peaceful and friendly relations with foreign countries,” but he was not re-elected to the Fourth Committee, which first met at the end of 1964. In June 1963, in response to Indonesian President Sukarno’s initiative, the Chinese formed a preparatory committee to participate in the “Games of the New Emerging Forces” (GANEFO; see under Jung Kao-t’ang). Chang was selected as a member, and when the preparatory committee was made into a permanent national committee in August 1964 he was again named as one of the members. Finally, in August 1964, he was a delegate to the huge Peking Scientific Symposium, a series of meetings attended by 367 delegates from 44 nations (mainly in Asia, Africa, or Latin America). Apart from all of these positions, Chang has made a large number of appearances in Peking since the mid-1950’s in greeting and entertaining groups, such as “friendship” and cultural delegations. He can be regarded as one of the more important of the international cultural liaison officials of the PRC.

Chang Chih-hsiang

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politician

Background

Chang Chih-hsiang was born about 1915 according to a former Chinese Communist government official.

Education

Little is known about his education. But prior to 1949 his experience had been as a political commissar in the Chinese Communist armies. In the period after the Communist takeover he has become one of the most influential and widely traveled of those persons concerned with “cultural” relations and liaison abroad.

Career

From 1949 to 1954 he served as deputy director of the Political Department of the North China Military Region, which included the provinces of Hopeh and Shansi (and, before they were abolished, Chahar, Pingyuan, and Suiyuan), spending these years in Peking, the headquarters of the Military Region. In July 1949 he attended the inaugural congress of the mass organization for culture, literature, and art, the All-China Federation of Literary and Art Circles. Representation at the congress, attended by over 800 delegates, was by geographic area, except for a military delegation, which was led by Chang. He served on the congress presidium (steering committee) as well as on a special committee that considered proposals to be placed before the congress. At the close of the congress he was elected to the Standing Committee of the All-China Federation of Literary and Art Circles (AC- FLAC), a position he held until the second congress in September-October 1953. At the same time that the ACFLAC was established, several subordinate organizations were formed. One of them was the All-China Association of Literary Workers, chaired by the well-known author Mao Tun. Chang was named to membership on the National Committee of this association, also retaining it until the fall of 1953.

Another organization that Chang helped to establish was the All-China Athletic Federation. When the Preparatory Committee was formed in October 1949 he was named to it as a representative of the North China Military Region, serving on the committee until the Federation was formally inaugurated in June 1952. Other activities of the early 1950’s include membership on the Standing Committee of the Peking branch of the China Peace Committee, a position he may still hold. He also served on the presidium for the first All-Army Sports Meet held in August 1952 to mark the 25th anniversary of the founding of the PLA. But Chang’s major impact on the Chinese Communist movement did not begin until 1954 when he retired from active army duties and was switched to the cultural field. In October 1954 he was appointed as a vice-minister of the Ministry of Culture, then headed by Mao Tun, with whom Chang had earlier been associated, he retained this post for three and a half years. In the following May he made his first trip abroad, leading a 74-member classical theater group on a nine-nation tour which lasted for eight months (May 1955-January 1956). This was one of the first important cultural forays into the non-Communist world.

The group was well received by audiences in France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Switzerland, Italy, England, Yugoslavia, and Hungary. While in Italy (October 1955) Chang attended the Congress of Mayors of World Capitals, representing Peking Mayor P’eng Chen.

While abroad Chang was identified as a Standing Committee member of the Chinese People’s Association for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries, an important mass organization whose name describes its purpose, established in May 1954. It was not until 1957, however, that he was officially carried on the roster of this association; then, in April 1959, he was elevated to a vice-chairmanship, a post he continues to hold. In March 1958 Chang was removed as a vice-minister in the Ministry of Culture but at the same time was made a vice-chairman of the Commission for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries, the governmental counterpart of the mass organization of the same name described above. The government Commission was created in February 1958 and has been headed since that time by non-Communist Chang Hsi-jo. A former Commission employee who worked in the organization in 1964 stated that it was common knowledge that Chang Chih-hsiang, in fact, was actually in charge of the work of the Commission. This assertion seems to be borne out by the fact that for brief periods in 1959, 1960, and 1961 he served as acting chairman. (However, his authority was probably lessened late in 1964 when Li Ch’ang, outranking Chang by virtue of his post as an alternate member of the Party Central Committee, was named as an additional vice-chairman.)

In the interim, Chang had traveled abroad again when, in March 1957, he led a cultural delegation to Mongolia and while there signed a cultural cooperation plan for 1957. (Such annual “executive plans” are part of the Chinese Communist pattern of cultural exchanges; broad cultural agreements are normally signed first and are then followed by the signing of more detailed annual executive plans. In this instance Chang signed a plan in pursuance of an economic and cultural agreement signed in 1952.) Apart from his 1955-1956 tour of Europe and this trip to Mongolia, Chang has been abroad on nine other occasions in the period from 1958 to 1964, trips that have taken him to eight different countries: Sweden (July 1958 and March 1959); Bulgaria (November-December 1959); Greece (May- June 1960); Burma (December 1960-January 1961); Mongolia (July 1961); North Korea (April-May 1962); North Vietnam (December 1962); and, Cuba (December 1963-January 1964). The trips to Sweden were for meetings held by the Communist-backed World Peace Council; that to Mongolia was for the 40th anniversary of the Mongolian People’s Republic; and the one to Cuba for the fifth anniversary of the Castro government. But each of the other journeys was as leader of cultural delegations. Chang’s visit to Greece is of interest because exceedingly few Chinese Communists have visited that country (which maintains diplomatic ties with Nationalist China).

Between 1957 and 1964, Chang signed no less than 13 annual cultural plans and one major cultural agreement. Aside from the one already mentioned in Mongolia (March 1957), he signed three more abroad; Bulgaria (December 1959); North Vietnam (December 1962), Cuba (January 1964). In Peking he signed another nine plans or agreements: Hungary (January 1959); Poland (February 1960) ; North Vietnam (February 1960); Mongolia (February 1960); the U.S.S.R. (February 1961); Ghana (August 1961); Mongolia (January 1962); the U.S.S.R. (May 1963); Cuba (July 1963). It should be noted that all these, excepting only that with Ghana, were negotiated with Communist countries.

Chang’s involvement in foreign relations is illustrated in various other ways, including his participation in “friendship associations.” From 1958 to 1962 he was named to posts within six different associations: China-Mongolia FA (Chairman, September 1958); China-Latin America FA (Standing Committee member, March 1960); China-Africa People’s FA (Stand¬ing Committee member, April 1960); Sino- Soviet FA (acting secretary-general, by October 1960); China-Ceylon FA (Council member, September 1962); and, China-Cuba FA (vice-chairman, December 1962). Except for the Sino-Soviet Friendship Association, each of these dates represents the date the association was founded; Chang retains all these posts except the chairmanship of the China-Mongolia FA, which he relinquished in August 1961, and the position in the Sino-Sovict FA, which was assumed by another man in late 1964.

Chang has also held or continues to hold a few more posts worthy of brief notation. From 1959 to 1964 he served as a member of the Third National Committee of the CPPCC as a representative of “organizations for peaceful and friendly relations with foreign countries,” but he was not re-elected to the Fourth Committee, which first met at the end of 1964. In June 1963, in response to Indonesian President Sukarno’s initiative, the Chinese formed a preparatory committee to participate in the “Games of the New Emerging Forces” (GANEFO; see under Jung Kao-t’ang). Chang was selected as a member, and when the preparatory committee was made into a permanent national committee in August 1964 he was again named as one of the members. Finally, in August 1964, he was a delegate to the huge Peking Scientific Symposium, a series of meetings attended by 367 delegates from 44 nations (mainly in Asia, Africa, or Latin America). Apart from all of these positions, Chang has made a large number of appearances in Peking since the mid-1950’s in greeting and entertaining groups, such as “friendship” and cultural delegations. He can be regarded as one of the more important of the international cultural liaison officials of the PRC.

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Chang Chih-hsiang

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1949 - 1954