Background
Chang Su was probably born about 1909 or a few years earlier. He hails from an area in present-day Hopeh that was under the jurisdiction of Chahar Province during its existence from 1928 to 1952.
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Chang Su
Edit ProfileEducation
Chang is a graduate of Peking Normal College, and in 1927, possibly while a student there, he joined the Communist Youth League.
Career
Until 1933 he worked as a school teacher, reportedly having taught during these years at middle schools in Peking, Yii-lin in Shensi, and in Chekiang, as well as at a normal college in Hopeh. By 1933 he had returned to his native province (then Chahar), where he worked with the army of Feng Yii-hsiang, the famous “Christian General.” Chang participated in Feng’s Allied Anti-Japanese Army, established at Kalgan (Chang-chia-k’ou) for the alleged purpose of countering Japanese advances toward the Great Wall in the Jehol and Chahar areas, This effort soon petered out, and Chang was reported later in the same year (1933) to be teaching at a middle school in Kalgan.
Until 1933 he worked as a school teacher, reportedly having taught during these years at middle schools in Peking, Yii-lin in Shensi, and in Chekiang, as well as at a normal college in Hopeh. By 1933 he had returned to his native province (then Chahar), where he worked with the army of Feng Yii-hsiang, the famous “Christian General.” Chang participated in Feng’s Allied Anti-Japanese Army, established at Kalgan (Chang-chia-k’ou) for the alleged purpose of countering Japanese advances toward the Great Wall in the Jehol and Chahar areas, This effort soon petered out, and Chang was reported later in the same year (1933) to be teaching at a middle school in Kalgan.
In addition to municipal and provincial administrations, the Communists began the formation of larger, multi-provincial governments in the postwar period. Such a governmental unit had existed in Manchuria from 1946. In August 1948 the Chin-Ch’a-Chi (Shansi-Chahar-Ho- peh) and the Chin-Chi-Lu-YU (Shansi-Hopeh-Shantung-Honan) Border Region Governments were combined into a new North China People’s Government (NCPG) under the chairmanship of Party veteran Tung Pi-wu. The NCPG lasted only 14 months, its functions being absorbed by the Central People’s Government in October 1949. But while it existed it was an active organization, particularly after it moved from Shih-chia-chuang to Peking in early 1949. Chang served as one of the 27 members of the NCPG as well as head of the Pei-yueh Administrative Office, one of the subdivisions of the NCPG covering a large area which lay south of Kalgan and west of Peking. Chang remained until the end of 1951 in Chahar, where he served from September 1950 as head of the provincial Finance and Economics Committee in addition to his post as governor.
In the interim, he also took part in the establishment of the central government in the fall of 1949. Chang attended the first session of the CPPCC (September 1949), the organization that brought the PRC into existence, as a delegate from the north China “liberated areas.” He also served on the ad hoc committee that drafted the Organic Law of the Central People’s Government, one of the key documents adopted at this time; the committee was headed by Tung Pi-wu, under whom he was still working in the North China People’s Government. From October 1949 to December 1954 Chang was also a member of the First Executive Board of the Sino-Soviet Friendship Association.
Chang was brought from Chahar to Peking in late 1951 to assume two new and important posts. In December 1951 he was named both as a vice-chairman and as secretary-general of the North China Administrative Committee (NCAC), the governmental administration with jurisdiction over the five provinces of Hopeh, Shansi, Chahar, Pingyuan, and Suiyuan. He re-linquished the secretary-generalship in late 1952 but retained the vice-chairmanship until the NCAC was abolished in August 1954, just prior to the establishment of the constitutional government. Paralleling this executive position, Chang was named (April 1952) as the Chief Justice of the north China branch court under the Supreme People’s Court. From that time onward, Chang has played an increasingly active role in Peking’s judicial and quasi-judicial affairs, a field where a background of administrative experience and Party service can sometimes substitute for more formal legal training. In April 1953 he served as a member of the presidium (steering committee) for the meeting that inaugurated the Political Science and Law Association of China, although it was not until later that he became formally affiliated with this organization (see below). At about the same time he also became chairman of the Political and Legal Affairs Committee under the NCAC, and in 1954 he chaired a special committee to promote the discussion in north China of the draft constitution. In August 1954 Chang was promoted to a vice-presidency of the Supreme People’s Court, concurrently with his position as Chief Justice for north China. Rather oddly, however, he relinquished both posts in the following month. The one known Party post held by Chang in these years was that of second deputy secretary of the North China Bureau, he held this post by early 1954, but no later than August 1954, at which time the Bureau was abolished.
In September 1954 Chang attended the inaugural session of the First NPC and from that time has been one of the key officials in this legislative body. At the close of (and shortly after) the sessions he was given four important assignments. He was named to NPC Standing Committee membership, as well as being made a deputy secretary-general (under Secretary- General P’eng Chen) and director of the Standing Committee’s Staff Office. Finally, Chang was named to head the permanent NPC Bills Committee, responsible for the drafting of legislation for submission to the Congress. Chang was appointed again to all these posts when the Second NPC was formed (1959), but he was removed as a deputy secretary-general in September 1962. He was once again named to the Standing Committee and Bills Committee at the close of the initial session of the Third NPC (January 1965), but it is not certain if he continues to head the Staff Office.
Chang’s work was given recognition in May 1958 at the second session of the Eighth Party Congress when he was elected an alternate member of the Party Central Committee. In August 1958 he was elected a member of the Third National Council of the Political Science and Law Association of China, the organization he had helped to found in 1953. Six years later, in October 1964, he was boosted to a vice-presidency when the Fourth National Council was formed. As already noted, Chang was removed as a deputy secretary-general of the NPC in September 1962. The reason, apparently, was to allow more time for a new and important assignment; he was appointed at this time as a deputy procurator general of the Supreme People’s Pro-curatorate, serving here under veteran Party leader Chang Ting-ch’eng. The Procuratorate, responsible to the NPC, has broad investigative powers to carry out its functions of ensuring the nationwide observance of the law.
Between 1956 and 1964, Chang made six trips abroad. He accompanied Sung Ch’ing-ling (Mme. Sun Yat-sen) on a goodwill visit to Indonesia in August 1956, traveling via Burma. In August-September 1959 he was secretary-general of a group led by Politburo member Lin Po-ch’ii, that visited Mongolia, and in February 1961 Chang led a delegation to Moscow to take part in the celebrations marking the 11th anniversary of the signing of the Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship, Alliance and Mutual Assistance. In May of 1962 he accompanied Politburo member P’eng Chen to North Korea for a visit described as a “goodwill” tour, but one that occurred as the Chinese and Soviets fought for the allegiance of the Koreans in the continuing Sino-Soviet ideological struggle. On a somewhat similar mission, and again accompanying P’eng Chen, Chang visited North Vietnam in September-October 1962. Finally, in September 1964, Chang again toured North Korea, this time as leader of a small delegation of the China-Korea Friendship Association. In addition to the contacts he has made while abroad, Chang has doubtless come to know many other foreigners owing to the fact that he is very often op hand in Peking to receive and entertain the many foreign visitors to the national capital.
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Born
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Nationality
China -
Ethnicity
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Political Party
Chinese Communist Party
Education
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1927
Career
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1949
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1949 - 1954