Shen Hung

1898

China

He was able to establish a small machine shop in Shanghai where he manufactured simple metal goods. When the Japanese attacked in mid-1937, Shen moved his small shop to Hankow (briefly the capital of China) and there came into contact with liaison officials of the Eighth Route Army. He was persuaded to go to north Shensi, headquarters of the Communists, to serve as director and chief engineer of a small arsenal that produced small arms and ammunition as well as light industrial equipment, which was so badly needed in the isolated Chinese northwest. This period of Shen’s career was climaxed in 1944 when he was officially named as a labor model and hero and given the appellation “father of industry” of the Shensi-Kansu-Ninghsia Border Region. At some time after 1944, Shen was transferred eastward to the Shansi-Chahar-Hopeh (Chin-Ch’a-Chi) Border Region where he served as a mechanical engineer in the Industry Bureau for the region. He was working in this capacity in August 1948 when, at the Sixth Labor Congress in Harbin, he was elected as a member of the Sixth Executive Committee of the All-China Federation of Labor. He was not, however, rc-elccted to the Seventh Committee at the next congress in 1953. In the same month that the labor congress was being held in Harbin, the North China Peopled Government (NC- PG) was being formed, drawing many of its officials from the Shansi-Chahar-Hopeh Border Region. During the life of the NCPG (August 1948-October 1949), Shen served as an engineer in the State-operated Enterprises Department, a department headed by Huang Ching, an important Party leader and industrial specialist. In February 1949, almost immediately after the surrender of Peking to the Communists, the NCPG moved to the Communist capital-to-be. That summer the Communists staged a large conference attended by many of the top scientists and science administrators in China. At the close of this conference, Shen was named (July 1949) to the standing committee of a preparatory committee charged with the task of creating a nationwide scientific organization. Out of this work grew one of the most important professional organizations in China, the AllChina Federation of Scientific Societies, formally established in August 1950. In September 1949 he had served as an alternate member of the Federation of Labor delegation to the first session of the CPPCC, at which time the PRC was established. In January 1950 Shen was singled out for a distinction unusual for a man of his then rather modest background: he was included in Chou En-lafs entourage to Moscow where Mao Tse-tung was negotiating with the Russians. These talks ultimately led to the signing on February 14, 1950, of the basic Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship, Alliance, and Mutual Assistance, as well as a series of lesser agreements dealing with economic matters. After his return home he was appointed (June 1950) to head the Heavy Industry Planning Division of the Central Finance and Economic Planning Bureau under the central government. The Bureau was the precursor of the State Planning Commission formed in late 1952. In August 1954 Shen was named a Standing Committee member of the China Mechanical Engineering Society, one of the constituent organizations of the All-China Federation of Scientific Societies, which he had helped establish in 1949-50. By 1960 he was serving as a vice-chairman of this professional society, a position he still retains. In April 1955 Shen was appointed as an assistant minister of the newly formed Third Ministry of Machine Building, charged with directing the work of machine and electrical engineering industries and headed by Chang Lin-chih, who was elected a Central Committee alternate in 1956. In May 1956, during a partial government reorganization, this ministry was abolished, but its functions were transferred to a newly created Ministry of Power Equipment Industry, also headed by Chang Lin-chih. Shen was not immediately reappointed, but in January 1957 he was named as a vice-minister under Chang (a promotion in rank, because he had previously been an assistant minister). In December 1961 Shen was transferred still another time. In this instance he was made a vice-minister in the First Ministry of Machine Building, a position he still retains. Also in 1961 he assumed the chairmanship of the Preparatory Committee for another professional organization, the China Agricultural Mechanization Society. When it was fully established in 1963, however, Shen was not given any major position within the society. As already described, Shen headed the Chinese side of a joint commission for technical cooperation with the Yugoslavs in 1957. In December 1962 he received a similar assignment in dealing with Hungary. He led the negotiations in Peking for the seventh session of the Sino- Hungarian Commission for Scientific and Technical Cooperation and on December 14 signed a protocol for the meetings. Exactly a year later he was in Budapest for the eighth session, signing the protocol there on December 11, 1963. In 1964 Shen was elected as a Heilungkiang deputy to the Third NPC, which held its first session in December 1964-January 1965.

Shen Hung

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politician Party Leader

Background

He was bom into a large gentry family.

Education

After attending a secondary school in Shanghai, he enrolled at the Hohai School of Engineering in Nanking.

Career

He was able to establish a small machine shop in Shanghai where he manufactured simple metal goods. When the Japanese attacked in mid-1937, Shen moved his small shop to Hankow (briefly the capital of China) and there came into contact with liaison officials of the Eighth Route Army. He was persuaded to go to north Shensi, headquarters of the Communists, to serve as director and chief engineer of a small arsenal that produced small arms and ammunition as well as light industrial equipment, which was so badly needed in the isolated Chinese northwest. This period of Shen’s career was climaxed in 1944 when he was officially named as a labor model and hero and given the appellation “father of industry” of the Shensi-Kansu-Ninghsia Border Region.

At some time after 1944, Shen was transferred eastward to the Shansi-Chahar-Hopeh (Chin-Ch’a-Chi) Border Region where he served as a mechanical engineer in the Industry Bureau for the region. He was working in this capacity in August 1948 when, at the Sixth Labor Congress in Harbin, he was elected as a member of the Sixth Executive Committee of the All-China Federation of Labor. He was not, however, rc-elccted to the Seventh Committee at the next congress in 1953. In the same month that the labor congress was being held in Harbin, the North China Peopled Government (NC- PG) was being formed, drawing many of its officials from the Shansi-Chahar-Hopeh Border Region. During the life of the NCPG (August 1948-October 1949), Shen served as an engineer in the State-operated Enterprises Department, a department headed by Huang Ching, an important Party leader and industrial specialist. In February 1949, almost immediately after the surrender of Peking to the Communists, the NCPG moved to the Communist capital-to-be. That summer the Communists staged a large conference attended by many of the top scientists and science administrators in China. At the close of this conference, Shen was named (July 1949) to the standing committee of a preparatory committee charged with the task of creating a nationwide scientific organization. Out of this work grew one of the most important professional organizations in China, the AllChina Federation of Scientific Societies, formally established in August 1950. In September 1949 he had served as an alternate member of the Federation of Labor delegation to the first session of the CPPCC, at which time the PRC was established.

In January 1950 Shen was singled out for a distinction unusual for a man of his then rather modest background: he was included in Chou En-lafs entourage to Moscow where Mao Tse-tung was negotiating with the Russians. These talks ultimately led to the signing on February 14, 1950, of the basic Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship, Alliance, and Mutual Assistance, as well as a series of lesser agreements dealing with economic matters. After his return home he was appointed (June 1950) to head the Heavy Industry Planning Division of the Central Finance and Economic Planning Bureau under the central government. The Bureau was the precursor of the State Planning Commission formed in late 1952.

In August 1954 Shen was named a Standing Committee member of the China Mechanical Engineering Society, one of the constituent organizations of the All-China Federation of Scientific Societies, which he had helped establish in 1949-50. By 1960 he was serving as a vice-chairman of this professional society, a position he still retains. In April 1955 Shen was appointed as an assistant minister of the newly formed Third Ministry of Machine Building, charged with directing the work of machine and electrical engineering industries and headed by Chang Lin-chih, who was elected a Central Committee alternate in 1956. In May 1956, during a partial government reorganization, this ministry was abolished, but its functions were transferred to a newly created Ministry of Power Equipment Industry, also headed by Chang Lin-chih. Shen was not immediately reappointed, but in January 1957 he was named as a vice-minister under Chang (a promotion in rank, because he had previously been an assistant minister).

In December 1961 Shen was transferred still another time. In this instance he was made a vice-minister in the First Ministry of Machine Building, a position he still retains. Also in 1961 he assumed the chairmanship of the Preparatory Committee for another professional organization, the China Agricultural Mechanization Society. When it was fully established in 1963, however, Shen was not given any major position within the society. As already described, Shen headed the Chinese side of a joint commission for technical cooperation with the Yugoslavs in 1957. In December 1962 he received a similar assignment in dealing with Hungary. He led the negotiations in Peking for the seventh session of the Sino- Hungarian Commission for Scientific and Technical Cooperation and on December 14 signed a protocol for the meetings. Exactly a year later he was in Budapest for the eighth session, signing the protocol there on December 11, 1963. In 1964 Shen was elected as a Heilungkiang deputy to the Third NPC, which held its first session in December 1964-January 1965.

Politics

In the mid-1950's the Chinese established a number of joint commissions with other Communist nations for the purpose of exchanging scientific and technical information. During the year 1957 Chinese relations with Yugoslavia were relatively harmonious and a joint commission was thus formed with the Yugoslavs. The initial meeting of the commission was in January 1957 in Peking where Shen signed a protocol to the first session of the Sino-Yugoslav Joint Commission for Scientific and Technical Cooperation. In November of the same year he led a group to Belgrade for the commission, following a month of negotiations he signed the protocol to the second session on December 27, 1956. Sino-Yugoslav relations seriously deteriorated in the spring of 1958, the joint commission was one of the casualties of the bad relations and Shen has therefore had no further dealings with the Yugoslavs.

At almost the same moment that he departed for Yugoslavia (November 1957), he was removed as vice-minister of Power Equipment Industry and transferred (with the same rank) to the Ministry of Coal Industry, once again serving under Chang Lin-chih, who had assumed the portfolio in September 1957. (Despite Shen’s seemingly close connections with Chang in the mid-1950’s, there is nothing in the earlier careers of these men suggesting past ties.) Little was heard of Shen until another government reorganization in September 1959, at which time he was again transferred. On this occasion he was removed from the Coal Industry Ministry and transferred, still as a vice-minister, to the newly formed (August 1959) Ministry of Agricultural Machinery, the fourth different ministry in which he had served within a period of slightly over four years. His qualifications in this ministry, where he served under Central Committee member Ch'en Cheng-jen, reached back to the war period when he had helped produce cotton gins and other implements useful in rural areas.

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Shen Hung

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1944

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1954