Background
Kung Hsiang-hsi was born on September 11, 1881 in Taigu, Shanxi, Qing Empire into a prosperous banking and trading family.
Kung Hsiang-hsi was born on September 11, 1881 in Taigu, Shanxi, Qing Empire into a prosperous banking and trading family.
Kung was educated in the United States at Oberlin College (B. A. , 1906) and at Yale University (M. A. , 1907).
In Beijing Kung prepared for study abroad. Prior to the Boxer Rebellion he favored the reforming policies of the emperor. After he graduated from the university, he returned to China to engage in educational activities. President Yüan Shi-k'ai's repressive policies forced him to go to Tokyo as secretary at the Chinese Y. M. C. A. In 1915 Kung helped found "Oberlin in Shansi" and served as adviser to the liberal governor, Yen Hsi-shan. The revival of Dr. Sun's cause brought Kung to Canton in 1924; as provincial minister of industry and of finance he sat on the Political Council. The united front of Communists and Nationalists who followed Chiang Kai-shek in his northern campaign in 1926 began to deteriorate the following year. In 1929 Kung was minister of industry. When Chiang's expensive anti-Communist wars caused T. V. Soong's resignation in 1932, Kung took over the Ministry of Finance, which he held until the cabinet crisis of 1944. He was premier in 1938, and vice-premier in 1942. His attempt at managed currency failed to avert commercial and financial chaos. After 1944 Kung spent most of his time in the United States. He died in New York on August 15, 1967.
Member of the International Olympic Committee
Kung married Han Yu-mei, a fellow graduate of the North China Union College, who died of tuberculosis. In Tokyo he was married to Ai-ling Soong, sister of Madame Sun and of Mei-ling, who later married Chiang Kai-shek. Kung and Soong had two sons and two daughters.
