Background
Born in Suzhou city, Jiangsu province, to a well-to-do family, Yan Jiagan was tutored in the Chinese classics at home by his grandfather and father, both scholars.
Born in Suzhou city, Jiangsu province, to a well-to-do family, Yan Jiagan was tutored in the Chinese classics at home by his grandfather and father, both scholars.
After graduating from the missionary-managed Daowu Middle School in Suzhou, he attended St. John's University in Shangai, focusing on the sciences, especially chemistry. Graduating in 1926, he became the supply director of the Nanjing-Shanghai railroad bureau in Shanghai.
In the winter of 1938, after Japan's invasion of China, Yan became the commissioner of reconstruction in Fujian province. The following year Fujian's governor, Chen Yi, appointed him finance commissioner. In an effort to reform Fujian's budgetary system and efficiently collect more taxes, Yan conceived of a scheme to collect land taxes in grain instead of currency. Using Yan's plan Fujian's government collected more tax revenue than in the past and managed to reduce inflation, which was becoming a problem elsewhere in the mainland. Yan's reform ideas were soon adapted by other provinces, winning him considerable fame and respect.
Yan then began to ascend the Republic of China’s (ROC) bureaucracy. In February 1945 he served as director of procurement of the war production board in Chongqing city and later became a member of the army general headquarters,pianning committee and then a standing committee member of the ministry of economic affairs committee for reorganizing Japanese assets in the Japanese-occupied areas.
In December 1945 the Nationalist government dispatched Yan to Taiwan as the communication commissioner under the first Taiwan governor, Chen Yi, a colleague of Yan's from Fujian. In April 1946 Yan became the Taiwan finance commissioner and board chairman of the Bank of Taiwan. In that president. Taiwan's leaders and elites revered Yan, judging him to be an incorruptible and dedicated official. They especially praised him for his contributions to Taiwan’s economic growth and financial stability. In March 1986 Jiang Jingguo displayed his high esteem for Yan Jiagan's integrity and capabilities by appointing him chair of the Guomindang's ten-person committee for planning Taiwan's political reforms. Those reforms ultimately led to the island’s becoming a democracy.
On December 16, 1986, Yan was admitted to Veteran's Hospital in Tai-bei after suffering a stroke. He remained hospitalized until his death on December 24, 1995.