Yu Xinqing Explained

Office1:Member of the 3rd and 4th Standing Committee of the Revolutionary Committee of the Chinese Kuomintang
Term Start1:1956
Term End1:1966
1Blankname2:Chairman
1Namedata2:Li Jishen
Office2:Member of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd National People's Congress
Term Start2:1954
Term End2:1966
Office3:Member of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference
Term Start3:1949
Term End3:1965
Office4:Vice-Chairman of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th Beijing Municipal Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference
Term Start4:1949
Term End4:1966
1Blankname4:Chairman
1Namedata4:Liu Ren
Office5:Member of the 1st and 2rd Central Committee of the Revolutionary Committee of the Chinese Kuomintang
Term Start5:1948
Term End5:1956
1Blankname5:Chairman
1Namedata5:Li Jishen
Yu Xinqing
Native Name:余心清
Native Name Lang:zh-hans
Birth Place:Hefei, Anhui, Qing Empire
Death Place:Beijing, China
Party:China Democratic League
Revolutionary Committee of the Chinese Kuomintang
Occupation:Clergy, politician
Nationality:Chinese
Spouse:Liu Lanhua
Children:Yu Huaxin
Relations:Yu Wenrui
Yu Enhui
Yu Enci
Alma Mater:Nanking Theological Seminary
Columbia University

Yu Xinqing (; 1898-4 September 1966) was a Chinese clergy and politician.

Born into a family of local government officials in Hefei, Anhui, Yu graduated from Nanking Theological Seminary as well as Columbia University. In his early years, he was a chaplain in Christian General Feng Yuxiang's army, fought north and south. He had been hailed as "Red Priest" . Yu began his revolutionary career since 1933, he was once in exile in Japan, and he was once arrested and jailed. After the Chinese Communist Revolution, he served in various posts in government. In 1966, the Cultural Revolution broken out, Yu committed suicide during a series of humiliations.

Biography

Early life and education

Yu was born in Hefei, Anhui, in 1898, to a powerful family. His grandfather was a general in the Huai Army. He had twelve siblings. Because of war and poverty, only he and three other siblings survived. In the autumn of 1915, Yu was accepted to the newly created Nanking Theological Seminary and graduated in 1919.

Pastor career

After graduation, he became a minister and pastor a church in Jiangxi. In the summer of 1922, the Henan YMCA hosted a summer camp in the capital city Kaifeng, they invited celebrities to give lectures. Yu made a stirring speech that attracted the Christian General Feng Yuxiang's attention. He was hired as Feng's chaplain. In the autumn of 1924, he pursued advanced studies at Columbia University in the United States.

Revolutionary career

When he returned to China he became president of Xunzheng College in Kaifeng, Henan and then president of Mingyi Meddle School in Linfen, Shanxi, and later became director of the general affairs department of the Counter-Japanese Allies, serving as secretary-general of the warlord Feng Yuxiang.

In 1933, he took part in the Fujian Incident, served as acting president of the Economic Committee of the People's Revolutionary Government . Chiang Kai-shek, the Generalissimo of the Republic of China, personally led his troops to crush the rebellion. The People's Revolutionary Government was routed and Yu went into exile in Japan.

In the summer of 1935, he returned to China and worked in the United Front of the Chinese Communist Party under the leadership of Zhou Enlai. After the fall of Shandong province, Yu served as a member of the Standing Committee of the Disaster Relief Committee of the Executive Yuan in Chongqing. He joined the China Democratic League in 1944. On September 26, 1947, he was arrested by the Nationalist government for participating the anti-government protesters in Beijing. Yu's wife, Liu Lanhua, an alumna of Yenching University, asked the former president John Leighton Stuart for help. John Leighton Stuart said to Chiang Kai-shek:"This man can not kill, he isn't a member of the Communist Party, you killed him will cause many people's discontent." [1] He was released in 1949. He had a brief stay in Hong Kong and then head for Beijing. At the Same year, he attended the First Plenary Session of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).

PRC era

After the establishment of the People's Republic of China, he served as deputy director of the Office of the Central People's Government, deputy secretary-general of the National People's Congress, deputy director of the State Ethnic Affairs Commission, member of the Standing Committee of the China Democratic League, and vice-chairman of the Beijing Municipal Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. During his time as director of Dianli Bureau, he was responsible for the founding ceremony of the etiquette arrangements.[2]

Cultural Revolution

In 1966, Mao Zedong launched the Cultural Revolution, Yu wrote a letter to Prime Minister Zhou Enlai, he expressed doubts about the socialist mass movement. But soon Yu was denounced as a "monsters and freaks" (; literally: evil people) by the Communist government. Like thousands of other intellectuals in China, he experienced mistreatment and suffered political persecution. The Red Guards paraded him through the streets and beat him in public. On September 4, 1966, Yu hanged himself because of unbearable psychological pressures.[3] "Mr. Yu is a senior intellectural who follows our Party, he is uprightness and tenacity as well as honest and upright, 'a scholar prefers death to humiliation', how could he have had that kind of insult? If I was in Beijing, I will enlighten him, perhaps he will not go that way." said Xi Zhongxun who had worked closely with him for years.[4]

Personal life

Yu married Liu Lanhua in 1927, after they met in Columbia University.[5] The couple had a daughter, Yu Huaxin, who was married to Feng Hongda, son of Feng Yuxiang and a rear admiral (shaojiang) in the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) and deputy commander of the North Sea Fleet.

Work

External links

Notes and References

  1. News: http://www.ggj.gov.cn/ltxgbj/syrg/201110/t20111010_275676.htm . zh:怀念国管局首任局长余心清 . ggj.gov.cn . 2011-10-10. zh.
  2. News: http://news.163.com/14/0831/01/A4UIBLR900014Q4P.html . zh:周总理对余心清的请示做批示 . 163.com . 2014-08-31. zh.
  3. News: http://news.ifeng.com/history/vp/detail_2012_07/15/16035193_13.shtml . zh:因文革而自杀的党政军领导干部 . ifeng . 2012-07-15. 文革时被当成“牛鬼蛇神”揪斗,他不堪身心侮辱,1966年9月4日在北京家中后院上吊自杀。终年68岁。 . zh.
  4. News: http://news.ifeng.com/a/20140811/41523467_0.shtml?20o--www.zh62.cn--niegonge.html . zh:习仲勋文革谈某高知自杀:他刚直正派 士可杀不可辱 . ifng . 2014-08-11 . zh.
  5. News: http://szb.dlxww.com/dlwb/html/2012-02/18/content_613669.htm . zh:一对传奇夫妻,一段女大九岁的浪漫爱情 . dlxww.com. 2012-02-18 . zh.