Chen Xuechang: Difference between revisions

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|native_name_lang  =  
|native_name_lang  =  
|honorific-suffix  =  
|honorific-suffix  =  
|image              = 1959 Chen Yun (cropped).jpg
|image              = Li Zhaozheng colour.jpg
|imagesize          = 250px
|imagesize          = 250px
|smallimage        = <!--If this is specified, "image" should not be.-->
|smallimage        = <!--If this is specified, "image" should not be.-->
|caption            = Colourised photo of Chen Xuechang in 1956
|caption            = Official portrait of Chen Xuechang
|office            =[[List of heads of government of Xiaodong|3<sup>rd</sup>]] [[First Minister of Xiaodong|First Minister]] of [[Xiaodong]]
|office            =[[List of premiers of Xiaodong|3<sup>rd</sup>]] [[Premier of Xiaodong|Premier]] of [[Xiaodong]]
|term_start        = 24<sup>th</sup> August 1951
|term_start        = 24<sup>th</sup> August 1945
|term_end          = 20<sup>th</sup> March 1957
|term_end          = 20<sup>th</sup> November 1965
|deputy            = [[Li Dongyuan]]<br>[[Shen Jinping]]
|deputy            = [[Zhou Hongkui]]<br>[[Li Zhaozheng]]<br>[[Li Shengjun]]
|president          = [[Shen Jianxiao]]<br>[[Tao Guangmei]]
|president          = [[Wu Jinmo]]<Br>[[Ma Renzhong]]<br>[[Li Zhaozheng]]
|predecessor        = [[Ma Renzhong]]
|predecessor        = [[Luo Huizhong]]
|successor          = [[Li Zhaozheng]]
|successor          = [[Lu Zhaohui]]
|office2            = [[Xiaodong Regeneration Society#Leaders|Chairman]] of the [[Xiaodong Regeneration Society]]
|office2            = [[Ministry of International Affairs|Minister of International Affairs]]
|term_start2        =  24<sup>th</sup> August 1951
|term_start2        =  13<sup>th</sup> October 1940
|term_end2          =  20<sup>th</sup> March 1957
|term_end2          =  20<sup>th</sup> March 1954
|deputy2            = [[Li Dongyuan]]<br>[[Shen Jinping]]
|premier2          = [[Zhou Hongkui]]<br>[[Luo Huizhong]]<br>Himself
|predecessor2      = [[Ma Renzhong]]
|predecessor2      = ''Post established''
|successor2        = [[Li Zhaozheng]]
|successor2        = [[Luo Wenjing]]
|office3            = [[Chairperson of the State Presidium of Xiaodong|Chairman of the State Presidium]]<br><small>Acting</small>
|office3            = Member of the [[State Presidium of Xiaodong]]
|term_start3        = 14<sup>rd</sup> August 1946
|term_start3        = 13<sup>th</sup> October 1940
|term_end3          = 25<sup>th</sup> September 1946
|term_end3          = 20<sup>th</sup> November 1966
|primeminister3    =  [[Ma Renzhong]]
|birth_date        = {{Birth date|1892|06|16}}
|predecessor3      = [[Yu Changshao]]
|birth_place        = [[File:Imperial flag of Xiaodong.png|22x20px]] Majing, Anqian province, [[Heavenly Xiaodongese Empire|Xiaodong]]
|successor3        = [[Shen Jianxiao]]
|death_date        = {{Death date and age|1965|11|20|1892|06|16}}
|office4          = Presiding Officer of the [[State Presidium of Xiaodong|State Presidium]]
|death_place        = [[File:Flag of Xiaodong.png|22x20px]] Baiqiao, [[Xiaodong]]
|president4        = [[Lu Keqian]]<br>[[Yu Changshao]]<br>[[Shen Jianxiao]]
|term_start4  = 10<sup>th</sup> April 1938
|term_end4    = 24<sup>th</sup> August 1951
|predecessor4    = ''Post established''
|successor4    = [[Luo Wenjing]]
|birth_date        = {{Birth date|1897|06|16}}
|birth_place        = [[File:Flag of Xiaodong.png|22x20px]] Renpou, Zhongdong Prefecture, [[Heavenly Xiaodongese Empire|Xiaodong]]
|death_date        = {{Death date and age|1974|04|07|1897|06|16}}
|death_place        = [[File:Flag of Xiaodong.png|22x20px]] Zhinning, Meifucun Prefecture, [[Xiaodong]]
|restingplace      =  
|restingplace      =  
|restingplacecoordinates =  
|restingplacecoordinates =  
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|citizenship        =  
|citizenship        =  
|nationality        =
|nationality        =
|party              = [[Xiaodong Regeneration Society]]
|party              = [[Xiaodongese Section of the Workers' International]]<br>[[Xiaodong Regeneration Society]]
|otherparty        = <!--For additional political affiliations-->
|otherparty        =  
|spouse            = Liu Ran
|spouse            = Liu Ran
|partner            =  <!--For those with a domestic partner and not married-->
|partner            =  <!--For those with a domestic partner and not married-->
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|committees        =  
|committees        =  
|portfolio          =  
|portfolio          =  
|religion          = [[Taojiao]]
|signature          =  
|signature          =  
|signature_alt      =  
|signature_alt      =  
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|footnotes          =  
|footnotes          =  
|footnotes          =  
|footnotes          =  
| branch          = [[File:Flag of Xiaodong (1876-1951).png|22x20px]] [[Xiaodongese Army]] <small>(1928-1933)</small>
| branch          = [[File:Imperial flag of Xiaodong.png|22x20px]] [[Heavenly Xiaodongese Army]] <small>(1928-1932)</small><br>[[File:Flag of Xiaodong.png|22x20px]] [[Army of National Salvation]] <small>(1936-1940)</small>
| allegiance      = [[File:Flag of Xiaodong (1876-1951).png|22x20px]] [[Heavenly Xiaodongese Empire|Xiaodong]] <small>(1928-1933)</small>
| allegiance      = [[File:Imperial flag of Xiaodong.png|22x20px]] [[Heavenly Xiaodongese Empire]] <small>(1928-1932)</small><br>[[File:Mao Zedong's proposal for the PRC flag.svg|22x20px]] [[Xiaodongese Section of the Workers' International]] <small>(1936-1940)</small>
| rank            = {{wp|General officer|General}}
| rank            = {{wp|General officer|General}}
| battles          = [[Senrian-Xiaodongese War]], [[Xiaodongese Civil War]]
| battles          = [[Senrian-Xiaodongese War]], [[Xiaodongese Civil War]]
}}
}}
:''This is a Xiaodongese name; the family name is Chen (陳).''
:''This is a Xiaodongese name; the family name is Chen (陳).''
'''Chen Xuechang''' ({{Wp|Chinese language|Xiaodongese}}: '''陳学昌''', ''Chén Xuéchāng''; June 16<sup>th</sup> 1897 - April 7<sup>th</sup> 1974 aged 76) was a [[Xiaodong|Xiaodongese]] {{wp|statesman}} who served as [[First Minister of Xiaodong]] from 1952 to 1957. He also served as the inaugural presiding officer of the [[State Presidium of Xiaodong|State Presidium]] and its the acting [[Chairperson of the State Presidium of Xiaodong|Chairman]] in 1946.
'''Chen Xuechang''' ({{Wp|Chinese language|Xiaodongese}}: '''陳学昌''', ''Chén Xuéchāng''; June 16<sup>th</sup> 1892 - November 7<sup>th</sup> 1965 aged 73) was a [[Xiaodong|Xiaodongese]] politician, revolutionary, theoretician and military officer who served as [[Premier of Xiaodong|premier]] from 1945 to 1965. Chen also served as Minister of International Relations from the posts creation in 1940 to 1954 and was an inaugural member of the [[State Presidium of Xiaodong]] serving on the body until his death in 1965.  


A former officer in the Xiaodongese colonial army, he served in the [[Senrian-Xiaodongese War]] being taken in as a [[Senria|Senrian]] prisoner of war. Being returned to Xiaodong in a prisoner swap after the Treaty of Keisi, Chen was subsequently appointed as the regional military governor of his native Zhongdong Prefecture. As the governor of the Zhongdong prefecture he openly supported the [[Corrective Revolution (Xiaodong)|Corrective Revolution]] and joined Lu Keqian's Army of National Salvation during the [[Xiaodongese Civil War]], where he served as a {{Wp|general officer|general}}. Chen led the invasion of the Ba Republic where he was appointed military governor of the conquered territory. Chen was soon implicated in widespread human rights abuses in the former republic when serving as its governor from 1937-1938.  
Born in Majing in 1892, Chen came from a bureaucrats family. Chen moved to [[Gaullica]] in 1910 after taking up work for the Gaullican navy, eventually working in [[Verlois]] at dockyards. Whilst in Gaullica Chen was exposed to {{Wp|left-wing politics}} and sojourned with various Xiaodongese socialist and reformist intellectuals who had been exiled from their homeland, joining the overseas wing of the [[Xiaodongese Section of the Workers' International]]. Chen returned to Xiaodong in 1918 following the [[Great Collapse]] during the height of revolutionary activity in the country; Chen would act as a polemicist for the Workers' Daily, the Xiaodongese Section's propaganda paper, as well as organise strikes. During his period he became respected as one of the foremost voices of the Xiaodongese left. In 1920 Chen was imprisoned by authorities for "''sedition and anti-imperial rhetoric''" being sent to a prison camp in northern Xiaodong to perform {{wp|hard labour}}.  


In 1938 he was appointed as the first Presiding Officer of the State Presidium by Lu Keqian, being seen as one of his close associates. During his tenure as Presiding Officer he was regarded as a "''key architect in the emergence of a {{wp|dominant party state}}''" and the repression of opposition movements.  
Chen would spend the next eight years imprisoned before in 1928 he was conscripted into the Xiaodongese army to serve in [[Senria]] during the [[Great War (Kylaris)|Great War]]. Chen was taken as a Senrian {{Wp|prisoner of war}} in 1932 being returned to Xiaodong in a prisoner swap after the Treaty of Keisi in 1935. Shortly after his return Chen re-entered socialist politics becoming ''de facto'' second in command of the Xiaodongese Section after [[Rao Junzhao]]. However Chen's politics had shifted following his return from imprisonment in Senria; rather then support the {{wp|syndicalism|syndicalist}} and {{Wp|anarchism|anarchist}} tendencies of the mainstream of the Xiaodongese Section Chen called for a {{wp|people's democratic dictatorship}} under a {{wp|vanguard party}}. This was criticised within the party as "right-revisionist".  


In 1951 following the death of [[Ma Renzhong]] Chen was appointed a consensus leader to succeed him as [[First Minister of Xiaodong|First Minister]]. Chen rose to power as a hardliner and was expected to champion such a line as First Minister - however he in office unexpectedly liberalised the political and cultural spheres allowing for more freedom of the press and protest whilst abolishing government cultural censorship. This led to the start of the "[[Xiaodongese Spring]] between 1954-1957, a period of gradual liberalisation.  
Chen's own views on socialism and his experience fighting during the war meant he retained contacts within the Xiaodongese military who increasingly supported the {{Wp|neosocialism}} doctrine of scholar [[Wu Jinmo]] and war hero [[Lu Keqian]] which was crystallising into [[National Principlism]]. Chen was successful in persuading Rao and the Xiaodongese Section to support the [[Corrective Revolution (Xiaodong)|Corrective Revolution]] and thus Lu Keqian's [[Army of National Salvation]] during the [[Xiaodongese Civil War]]; as a figure respected both by the socialists and national principlists Chen often worked as a liaison between the two to ensure cordial cooperation.  


The Xiaodongese spring however alienated conservative movements within the regime and led to an upsurge in nationalist activity, notably in [[Duljun]]. In October 1956 after civil rights protests in Henjintao Chen declared that the Xiaodongese spring was over and reimposed restrictions on the press, freedom of assembly and the political sphere - this move however alienated reformists in the regime who made up the core of his support. With little backing from his peers in the Regeneration Society Chen was ousted at a party conference in March 1957 by a compromise candidate, [[Li Zhaozheng]]. He was expelled from the Regeneration Society in 1959 and placed under ''de facto'' house arrest in 1965. He died whilst still under house arrest in 1974 of heart failure.  
Following the victory of the Army of National Salvation in 1940 Chen was appointed as the first Minister of International Relations in the new regime by Lu with Rao becoming premier. Between the two men however conflict within the party was reaching a crisis point; Rao as the leader of the orthodox-internationalist wing of the party supported an alliance with [[Kirenia]] and the use of a {{wp|salami tactics|piecemeal strategy}} to undermine Lu and eventually seize power themselves. Chen meanwhile led the unorthodox-nationalist wing that supported continuing the alliance with the Regeneration Society, embracing a neosocialist approach and supporting the creation of a Xiaodongese-led southern Coian confederation rather then an alliance with other socialist nations. This crisis was exploited by Lu who supported Chen; in 1945 he appointed Chen as premier, leading to a ''de facto'' split within the Xiaodongese Section between Chen's supporters and opponents. Following Lu's death Chen was seen as a key figure in the power struggle that followed, with Chen and his supporters leaving the Xiaodongese Section joining the Regeneration Society giving the new head of state [[Ma Renzhong]] the pretext to purge the rump Xiaodongese Section and monopolise power around the Regeneration Society. Chen was rewarded by maintaining his post as Premier, International Relations Minister and his seat in the [[State Presidium of Xiaodong|State Presidium]]. Chen also became leader of the left-wing of the Regeneration Society supporting a more socialist economic approach and an anti-colonial attitude in regards to Coian powers.  


Chen's time in government was marked by economic growth and political stability - however his reforms were criticised by hardliners as ceding power to the opposition whilst reformers stated the reforms were to timid and that they were opportunist in nature. Chen's role in suppressing the Ba Republic has earned him notoriety amongst the Ba people where he remains a "''totemic figure of hatred''".  
As Minister of International Relations Chen played a crucial part in Xiaodong's post-war foreign policy, overseeing the annexation of the separatist Ba and Chanwan Republics. Chen officially repudiated the Treaty of Keisi and was involved in negotiations that saw Xiaodong pay limited reparations to [[Estmere]] and [[Werania]] although failed to repair relations with Senria. Under Chen's stewardship Xiaodong would emerge as a powerful voice advocating {{Wp|decolonisation}} in Coius. This included during the [[Solarian War]] Xiaodong [[Annexation of Gaoming|invaded and annexed]] the [[Etruria]]n {{wp|concession}} of [[Gaoming]] returning it to Xiaodongese rule. Chen emerged as an important powerbroker both due to his status as leader of the socialist wing of the regime and his growing popularity amongst anti-colonial activists. Chen's support for Ma Renzhong proved crucial in the latter's rise to power making Chen the second most powerful man in Xiaodong.
 
As Premier Chen continued his focus on foreign policy whilst Ma concentrated on domestic affairs. Chen was crucial in the formulation of the [[Three Fundamentals]] that would guide Xiaodongese foreign policy for the next few decades - the fundamentals being the the isolation of Senria from international affairs, the maintenance of Xiaodong as a the foremost great power and the promotion of anti-imperialism in Coius and the Asteria's particularly against Euclean influence. During the 1950's after the assumption of power of [[Tokiyasu Kitamura]] in Senria Xiaodong and Senria would periodically cooperate with each other to promote decolonisation in Coius, a policy that scholars credit as having sped up decolonisation measures in the continent. This light cooperation ended with the assassination of Kitamura in 1964.
 
Ma and Chen were generally seen to have been effective governing together with the pair possessing a {{wp|technocracy|technocratic}} style that led to Xiaodong's fast recovery from the damage of both the Great War and civil war. Ma's stroke in 1958 led to some to speculate that Chen would succeed him as leader; however Chen's socialist leanings meant conservatives within the Regeneration Society distrusted him immensely leading to vice-premier [[Li Zhaozheng]] to eventually succeed Ma when the latter died in 1959. Compared to the cordial relationship Chen maintained with Ma his relationship with Li was poor leading to Li to overrule him increasingly on foreign affairs, such as Li's ordering of the assassination of Kitamura in 1964. During the last years of his premiership Chen became increasingly critical of the ever expanding corruption that was spreading, particularly Li's personal role in it. This occurred at the same time to which Chen was suffering from terminal {{wp|lung cancer}}; he would die at the age of 74 in 1966, receiving a large state funeral.
 
A controversial figure in Xiaodongese history, Chen's reputation has changed over time between that of an opportunistic politician to an outstanding statesman. Along with Ma Renzhong in modern Xiaodong he tends to be highly regarded due to his diplomatic skill, role in reconstructing Xiaodong following the Great War, pragmatic political attitude and opposition to corruption. Chen is the longest serving premier in the history of Xiaodong serving in the role for 19 years.  
[[Category:Xiaodong]][[Category:Xiaodong people]]
[[Category:Xiaodong]][[Category:Xiaodong people]]

Latest revision as of 09:59, 26 February 2021

Chén Xuéchāng
陳学昌
Li Zhaozheng colour.jpg
Official portrait of Chen Xuechang
3rd Premier of Xiaodong
In office
24th August 1945 – 20th November 1965
PresidentWu Jinmo
Ma Renzhong
Li Zhaozheng
DeputyZhou Hongkui
Li Zhaozheng
Li Shengjun
Preceded byLuo Huizhong
Succeeded byLu Zhaohui
Minister of International Affairs
In office
13th October 1940 – 20th March 1954
PremierZhou Hongkui
Luo Huizhong
Himself
Preceded byPost established
Succeeded byLuo Wenjing
Member of the State Presidium of Xiaodong
In office
13th October 1940 – 20th November 1966
Personal details
Born(1892-06-16)June 16, 1892
Imperial flag of Xiaodong.png Majing, Anqian province, Xiaodong
DiedNovember 20, 1965(1965-11-20) (aged 73)
Flag of Xiaodong.png Baiqiao, Xiaodong
Political partyXiaodongese Section of the Workers' International
Xiaodong Regeneration Society
SpouseLiu Ran
Children4
Alma materUniversity of Baiqiao
OccupationPolitician
Military service
AllegianceImperial flag of Xiaodong.png Heavenly Xiaodongese Empire (1928-1932)
Mao Zedong's proposal for the PRC flag.svg Xiaodongese Section of the Workers' International (1936-1940)
Branch/serviceImperial flag of Xiaodong.png Heavenly Xiaodongese Army (1928-1932)
Flag of Xiaodong.png Army of National Salvation (1936-1940)
RankGeneral
Battles/warsSenrian-Xiaodongese War, Xiaodongese Civil War
This is a Xiaodongese name; the family name is Chen (陳).

Chen Xuechang (Xiaodongese: 陳学昌, Chén Xuéchāng; June 16th 1892 - November 7th 1965 aged 73) was a Xiaodongese politician, revolutionary, theoretician and military officer who served as premier from 1945 to 1965. Chen also served as Minister of International Relations from the posts creation in 1940 to 1954 and was an inaugural member of the State Presidium of Xiaodong serving on the body until his death in 1965.

Born in Majing in 1892, Chen came from a bureaucrats family. Chen moved to Gaullica in 1910 after taking up work for the Gaullican navy, eventually working in Verlois at dockyards. Whilst in Gaullica Chen was exposed to left-wing politics and sojourned with various Xiaodongese socialist and reformist intellectuals who had been exiled from their homeland, joining the overseas wing of the Xiaodongese Section of the Workers' International. Chen returned to Xiaodong in 1918 following the Great Collapse during the height of revolutionary activity in the country; Chen would act as a polemicist for the Workers' Daily, the Xiaodongese Section's propaganda paper, as well as organise strikes. During his period he became respected as one of the foremost voices of the Xiaodongese left. In 1920 Chen was imprisoned by authorities for "sedition and anti-imperial rhetoric" being sent to a prison camp in northern Xiaodong to perform hard labour.

Chen would spend the next eight years imprisoned before in 1928 he was conscripted into the Xiaodongese army to serve in Senria during the Great War. Chen was taken as a Senrian prisoner of war in 1932 being returned to Xiaodong in a prisoner swap after the Treaty of Keisi in 1935. Shortly after his return Chen re-entered socialist politics becoming de facto second in command of the Xiaodongese Section after Rao Junzhao. However Chen's politics had shifted following his return from imprisonment in Senria; rather then support the syndicalist and anarchist tendencies of the mainstream of the Xiaodongese Section Chen called for a people's democratic dictatorship under a vanguard party. This was criticised within the party as "right-revisionist".

Chen's own views on socialism and his experience fighting during the war meant he retained contacts within the Xiaodongese military who increasingly supported the neosocialism doctrine of scholar Wu Jinmo and war hero Lu Keqian which was crystallising into National Principlism. Chen was successful in persuading Rao and the Xiaodongese Section to support the Corrective Revolution and thus Lu Keqian's Army of National Salvation during the Xiaodongese Civil War; as a figure respected both by the socialists and national principlists Chen often worked as a liaison between the two to ensure cordial cooperation.

Following the victory of the Army of National Salvation in 1940 Chen was appointed as the first Minister of International Relations in the new regime by Lu with Rao becoming premier. Between the two men however conflict within the party was reaching a crisis point; Rao as the leader of the orthodox-internationalist wing of the party supported an alliance with Kirenia and the use of a piecemeal strategy to undermine Lu and eventually seize power themselves. Chen meanwhile led the unorthodox-nationalist wing that supported continuing the alliance with the Regeneration Society, embracing a neosocialist approach and supporting the creation of a Xiaodongese-led southern Coian confederation rather then an alliance with other socialist nations. This crisis was exploited by Lu who supported Chen; in 1945 he appointed Chen as premier, leading to a de facto split within the Xiaodongese Section between Chen's supporters and opponents. Following Lu's death Chen was seen as a key figure in the power struggle that followed, with Chen and his supporters leaving the Xiaodongese Section joining the Regeneration Society giving the new head of state Ma Renzhong the pretext to purge the rump Xiaodongese Section and monopolise power around the Regeneration Society. Chen was rewarded by maintaining his post as Premier, International Relations Minister and his seat in the State Presidium. Chen also became leader of the left-wing of the Regeneration Society supporting a more socialist economic approach and an anti-colonial attitude in regards to Coian powers.

As Minister of International Relations Chen played a crucial part in Xiaodong's post-war foreign policy, overseeing the annexation of the separatist Ba and Chanwan Republics. Chen officially repudiated the Treaty of Keisi and was involved in negotiations that saw Xiaodong pay limited reparations to Estmere and Werania although failed to repair relations with Senria. Under Chen's stewardship Xiaodong would emerge as a powerful voice advocating decolonisation in Coius. This included during the Solarian War Xiaodong invaded and annexed the Etrurian concession of Gaoming returning it to Xiaodongese rule. Chen emerged as an important powerbroker both due to his status as leader of the socialist wing of the regime and his growing popularity amongst anti-colonial activists. Chen's support for Ma Renzhong proved crucial in the latter's rise to power making Chen the second most powerful man in Xiaodong.

As Premier Chen continued his focus on foreign policy whilst Ma concentrated on domestic affairs. Chen was crucial in the formulation of the Three Fundamentals that would guide Xiaodongese foreign policy for the next few decades - the fundamentals being the the isolation of Senria from international affairs, the maintenance of Xiaodong as a the foremost great power and the promotion of anti-imperialism in Coius and the Asteria's particularly against Euclean influence. During the 1950's after the assumption of power of Tokiyasu Kitamura in Senria Xiaodong and Senria would periodically cooperate with each other to promote decolonisation in Coius, a policy that scholars credit as having sped up decolonisation measures in the continent. This light cooperation ended with the assassination of Kitamura in 1964.

Ma and Chen were generally seen to have been effective governing together with the pair possessing a technocratic style that led to Xiaodong's fast recovery from the damage of both the Great War and civil war. Ma's stroke in 1958 led to some to speculate that Chen would succeed him as leader; however Chen's socialist leanings meant conservatives within the Regeneration Society distrusted him immensely leading to vice-premier Li Zhaozheng to eventually succeed Ma when the latter died in 1959. Compared to the cordial relationship Chen maintained with Ma his relationship with Li was poor leading to Li to overrule him increasingly on foreign affairs, such as Li's ordering of the assassination of Kitamura in 1964. During the last years of his premiership Chen became increasingly critical of the ever expanding corruption that was spreading, particularly Li's personal role in it. This occurred at the same time to which Chen was suffering from terminal lung cancer; he would die at the age of 74 in 1966, receiving a large state funeral.

A controversial figure in Xiaodongese history, Chen's reputation has changed over time between that of an opportunistic politician to an outstanding statesman. Along with Ma Renzhong in modern Xiaodong he tends to be highly regarded due to his diplomatic skill, role in reconstructing Xiaodong following the Great War, pragmatic political attitude and opposition to corruption. Chen is the longest serving premier in the history of Xiaodong serving in the role for 19 years.