Chen Bijun

Chen Bijun (5 November 1891 – 17 June 1959) was a Chinese politician. She was the acting head of the Guangzhou government for four months in 1944–1945.[1]

Chen Bijun

Life

She was the daughter of the Chinese millionaire Chen Gengji and Wei Yuelang and was raised in Penang in Malaya. In 1907, she became a member of the Tongmenghui. In 1909, she moved to Japan to study, and became a member of the Tongmenghui revolutionary group which attempted to assassinate Prince Chun in 1910. In 1912, she married Wang Jingwei.

Kuomintang

She joined the Kuomintang (KMT) with him. In 1924, she was one of only three women delegates of the KMT national congress along with He Xiangning and Tang Yungong, and elected a member of the KMT Central Supervisory Committee.[2] During the 1936 kidnapping of Chiang Kai-shek, she unsuccessfully attempted to have her spouse depose Chiang Kai-shek in a coup.[3]

Wartime activities

During the Sino-Japanese War, she and her husband regarded the communists as worse threats that the Japanese, and defected to the Japanese and established a puppet government under Japanese control. Chen Bijun was elected member of the KMT Central Supervisory Committee for their government party. When her spouse died in 1944, he was replaced by Chen Gongbo. Chen Bijun left Nanjing and took control of the Guangzhou government, which she kept for four months.[4]

Post war

After the surrender of the Japanese in August 1945, she was offered but rejected an evacuation by the Japanese. She was arrested by the order of Chiang Kai-shek on 25 August and charged with treason. She refused to admit guilt. In 1949, she was imprisoned in Shanghai when the Communist took over the city. On the request of He Xiangning and Song Qingling, Mao and Zhou Enlai offered her a pardon if she would admit guilty on the charge of treason, but as she refused, she remained in prison until her death.

References
  1. Lily Xiao Hong Lee: Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Women: v. 2: Twentieth Century
  2. Lily Xiao Hong Lee: Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Women: v. 2: Twentieth Century
  3. Lily Xiao Hong Lee: Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Women: v. 2: Twentieth Century
  4. Lily Xiao Hong Lee: Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Women: v. 2: Twentieth Century

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