Background
Nothing is known about Fang's education.
Nothing is known about Fang's education.
He was educated locally.
Within the next year Fang had risen to an important administrative post in the Kiangsu- Anhwei Border Region Government of which he was a vice-chairman (1945-46). Now concentrating in the field in which he was to make his career, he was also the secretary-general of the Government’s Finance and Economics Committee. In 1946 he was appointed director of the Finance Department of the Shantung-Anhwei Border Region Government. This administrative experience made Fang a logical candidate for work under the important North China People's Government (NCPG) established in 1948. This government, formed mainly from the Shansi-Hopeh-Shantung-Honan (Chin-Chi-Lu-Yu) and Shansi-Chahar-Hopeh (Chin-Ch’a-Chi) Border Region Governments, was established in August 1948. Until the PRC was formally inaugurated in October 1949 it was the closest approximation that the Communists had to a “central” government. Its officials included such prominent men as Tung Pi-wu (the chairman), P’eng Chen, Po I-po, and Nieh Jung-chen. The cap-ital of this government moved from Shih-chia-chuang in western Hopeh to Peking in February 1949. Fang served in this government as secretary-general of the Finance and Economics Committee, a committee chaired by Tung Pi-wu. Although Fang ostensibly remained with the government until its dissolution in October 1949, it is apparent that he was detached from active service and assigned as a high-level cadre to administer the areas being conquered by the advancing Red Armies. In March 1949 he was assigned to Shantung as a vice-governor but was transferred to his native Fukien in August 1949, the same month that the provincial capital (Foochow) was captured by Communist troops. He was immediately assigned as a member of the Foochow Military Control Commission and as a provincial vice-governor, serving under Party-military leader Chang Ting-ch’eng. Fang remained in Fukien for almost three years, concentrating on his special field of finance and economics. He headed both the provincial Finance and Economics Committee (October 1950- July 1952) and the Finance Office (October, September 1951), in addition to holding membership on the provincial Land Reform Committee (April 1951-July 1952). While in Fukien, Fang also served in 1951-52 as a deputy commander of the provincial military district and as a council member of the provincial branch of the Sino-Soviet Friendship Association.
Concurrent with his responsibilities in Fukien from 1949 to 1952, Fang also held posts at the regional level. Prior to the establishment of the East China Military and Administrative Committee (ECMAC) in January 1950, the Communists had established a temporary Finance and Economics Committee in September 1949 under the jurisdiction of the East China Military Region, with Fang as one of the vice-chairmen. Then, when the ECMAC came into existence as the regional government for the provinces of Shantung, Chekiang, Fukien, Kiangsu, and Anhwei (January 1950), Fang was named as a member, as well as continuing as vice-chairman of the Finance and Economics Committee, now under the jurisdiction of the ECMAC. In this economics post, Fang served under Chairman Tseng Shan, another Party leader initiated into civil administration through his work in the areas controlled by the New Fourth Army. For reasons that are not clear, Fang was removed from ECMAC membership (although he retained his economics post) in August 1952 but was then reappointed to membership on the East China Administrative Committee (as the ECMAC was known after it was reorganized in January 1953). He retained these posts until the regional governments were abolished in 1954 with the advent of the constitutional government.
Although Fang was not officially removed from his various positions in Fukien until July 1952, he was already working in Shanghai, the capital of the ECMAC-ECAC, by March 1952, being identified at that time as the vice-chairman of the Shanghai Spring Epidemic Prevention Committee. His permanent transfer to Shanghai was confirmed in July 1952 when he was given two new assignments there which were similar in scope to work he had done in Fukien. For about a year he served as a vice-mayor of Shanghai (under Ch’en I) and as chairman of the city’s Finance and Economics Committee. Then, in September 1953 he received his first assignment in the national government, being named as a vice-minister of Finance. Virtually nothing was reported in the press about Fang’s role in the Finance Ministry, and when the constitutional government was established in September 1954 he was not reappointed. Almost two years passed before Fang was again identified this time in North Vietnam where he was mentioned in June 1956 as the “representative of the Vietnam Office of the Economic Affairs Liaison Bureau of the Foreign Trade Ministry,” a position he was to hold for about four and a half more years. Fang’s lengthy background in the financial and economic field made him a logical choice for this work, and it is noteworthy that since his return to China in 1960 (see below) he has remained a specialist in foreign economic liaison. It is also of interest that in no other instance have the Chinese stationed a full-time economic liaison official abroad (excepting, of course, commercial attachés, who are in most Chinese embassies).
Since Fang’s return to China in late 1960, he has become one of the PRC’s most important economic officials, especially in economic relations with foreign nations. Immediately upon his return he was named (January 1961) a vice-chairman of the State Council’s State Planning Commission, serving under Politburo member Li Fu-ch’un. Four months later in April 1961, he received two other posts under the State Council. The first was as a deputy director of the Foreign Affairs Office, an organization headed by Foreign Minister Ch’en I and charged with the task of coordinating the activities of the various ministries, commissions, and bureaus of the State Council involved in foreign affairs. At the same time he was named director of the Bureau for Economic Relations with Foreign Countries, whose activities are related to the Chinese aid program (as opposed to the Foreign Trade Ministry, which deals mainly with trade). This bureau was created in January 1960 but remained without a director until Fang was named to the post. In June 1964 it was elevated to the commission level, with Fang continuing to serve as its head.
Fang’s stature rose considerably in 1963-64 during which time he visited seven countries and signed agreements or protocols with nine countries. With one exception (Albania), these visits and agreements involved either an Asian or African country and thus reflected the emphasis that the PRC has placed On courting the Afro-Asian nations in the early and mid-1960’s. His first trip was to North Vietnam in May 1963 as a member of Liu Shao-ch’i’s goodwill delegation, which remained for a week. The presence on this mission of Fang, China’s most experienced official in Vietnamese economic affairs, suggests that economic relations were an important agenda item. In 1963-64, Fang spent almost three months (October 1963-January 1964) leading government delegations to Algeria, Albania, Mali, and Guinea. At the conclusion of each visit he signed agreements or protocols involving some aspect of economic and technical cooperation or trade. In June 1964 he led a government delegation to Geneva where he took part in a meeting to prepare for the discussion of economic questions at the Second Afro-Asian Conference.
Fang addressed the gathering, emphasizing the theme that the “developing” nations must rely on their own efforts, thereby following the Chinese example. In August-September 1964 he spent three weeks in North Korea as head of an economic and goodwill delegation; however, no agreements were signed. In addition to the agreements signed abroad, Fang has negotiated and signed several more in Peking, each involving economic and technical cooperation. They were signed with officials from: Syria, February 1963; the Yemen, June 1964; Algeria, September 1964; the Congo (Brazzaville), October 1964; and Mali, November 1964. Moreover, Fang has served as an official negotiator on several other occasions (when the actual documents of agreement were signed by others). For example, he took part in the talks in Peking with the Nigerian Finance Minister in June 1961 and with Ibrahim Abboud (the head of the Sudanese Government) in May 1964.