Chen Jintao (; 1870–1939) was a Chinese technocrat who founded the

Bank of China The Bank of China (BOC; ) is a Chinese majority state-owned commercial bank headquartered in Beijing and the fourth largest bank in the world. The Bank of China was founded in 1912 by the Republican government as China's central bank, repl ...

.中国银行简介．中国银行官网 He was chief financial officer and head of currency reform in the

Republic of China Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northea ...

(1912–1949) and served as finance minister for

warlords A warlord is a person who exercises military, economic, and political control over a region in a country without a strong national government; largely because of coercive control over the armed forces. Warlords have existed throughout much of h ...

in Beijing,

Nationalists Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: Th ...

in Nanjing, and the Nanjing Regime. Chen was responsible for innovations and improvements in printing and engraving, as well as for various currency reforms.Boorman, Harvard L., editor,
Biographical Dictionary of the Republic of China
', “Ch’en Chin-t’ao”, Columbia University Press, New York, 1967. I:170:173. He graduated from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manha ...

and

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...

and served as an economics professor of

Tsinghua University Tsinghua University (; abbr. THU) is a national public research university in Beijing, China. The university is funded by the Ministry of Education. The university is a member of the C9 League, Double First Class University Plan, Projec ...

. He is regarded as one of China's most skilled economists and bankers in the 20th century.

Life

Early life and education

Chen was born in

Nanhai Nanhai () may refer to: *''Nanhai'', the Chinese name for the South China Sea, one of the Four Seas *Nanhai Commandery, the former Chinese administration over Liangguang *''Nanhai'', the Chinese name for the South China Sea Islands *The '' Nanhai I ...

Guangdong Province Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020 ...

in 1870, the son of a merchant from

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...

. He graduated from Queens College in Hong Kong. He received a master's degree in math from

in 1902. He received a doctorate in political economy from

in 1906. When he returned to China, he received the highest score in an

imperial exam The imperial examination (; lit. "subject recommendation") refers to a civil service examination, civil-service examination system in History of China#Imperial China, Imperial China, administered for the purpose of selecting candidates for the ...

for students returning from abroad. For this reason, he is sometimes referred to as China’s “first foreign scholar.”

Financial reforms and founding Bank of China

In 1908, Chen was appointed deputy director of the bureau of printing and engraving and sent on a mission overseas to investigate methods of postage stamp production. Chen concluded that American printing techniques were the best at preventing counterfeiting. He hired two American experts, William A. Grant and Lorenzo J. Hatch, to upgrade China’s postage stamp manufacturing. When he returned to China, Chen was appointed head of a currency reform board. Following the 1911 Revolution, President

Sun Yat-sen Sun Yat-sen (; also known by several other names; 12 November 1866 – 12 March 1925)Singtao daily. Saturday edition. 23 October 2010. section A18. Sun Yat-sen Xinhai revolution 100th anniversary edition . was a Chinese politician who serve ...

, who at this time headed a southern government based in Nanjing, named Chen minister of finance. Chen did not take up the post as he was abroad attending currency-related conferences. When he returned to China in September 1912, Chen was appointed the chief financial officer and head of the central audit office in Beijing. In 1912, he also helped turn the

Daqing Bank The Ta-Ching Government Bank (), known as the Ta-Ching Bank of the Ministry of Revenue (大清戶部銀行) from 1905 to 1908, was the name of the Bank of China as a government agency of the Qing dynasty until the empire's dissolution in 1912. I ...

(大清银行) into the

, becoming the founder and first deputy advisor of the PBC. In 1916, Chen was promoted to finance minister by Prime Minister

Duan Qirui Duan Qirui (; ) (March 6, 1865 – November 2, 1936) was a Chinese warlord and politician, a commander of the Beiyang Army and the acting Chief Executive of the Republic of China (in Beijing) from 1924 to 1926. He was also the Premier of the ...

. When Duan was dismissed in May 1917, Chen was arrested for embezzlement. The

Communications Clique The Communications Clique () was a powerful interest group of politicians, bureaucrats, technocrats, businessmen, engineers, and labour unionists in China's Beiyang government (1912-1928). It is also known as the Cantonese Clique because many of it ...

was blamed for the arrest. Chen was exonerated in February 1918. Chen returned to public service when Duan was restored as premier in November 1924. In 1926-1927, the Nationalists in the South advanced north and defeated the

Beiyang The term Beiyang (; pinyin: Běiyáng; Wade-Giles: Peiyang) literally means Northern Ocean. With the Nationalists in power, in 1929, Chen became professor of economics at

in Beijing. In the early 1930s, Chen briefly retired to Tianjin. In early 1935, he was appointed as an adviser on currency matters to

H. H. Kung Kung Hsiang-hsi (; 11 September 1881 – 16 August 1967), often known as Dr. H. H. Kung, was a Chinese banker and politician in the early 20th century. He married Soong Ai-ling, the eldest of the three Soong sisters; the other two married Presid ...

, the Nationalist finance minister.

World War 2

In 1937, the Japanese occupied Nanjing, the Nationalist capital. While Kung and other officials fled to Chongqing, Chen remained at his post. In March 1938, he was appointed minister of finance in the collaborationist regime of

Liang Hongzhi Liang Hongzhi; (; Wade-Giles: ''Liang Hung-chih''; Hepburn: ''Ryō Koushi'', 1882 - November 6, 1946) was a leading official in the Anhui clique of the Beiyang Government, later noted for his role as in the collaborationist Reformed Government ...

. The Liang regime had jurisdiction in the provinces of Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Anhui. Chen retained this post until he died in June 1939.

Contributions and reform

Before 1928, Chen was one of the few Chinese officials considered expert or competent by China’s foreign diplomats. He was responsible for significant improvements in printing and engraving, as well as founding the

. The currency reforms of the early Republican period may be credited to Chen. He was a technocrat who diligently served China. He was apparently indifferent as to whether the government was imperialist, militarist, Nationalist, or collaborationist. Other than for the sake of running China's banks, his views and motives remain elusive.

Publications

He is known for writing Junfu《均富》(meaning roughly 'Equal Wealth'), a treatise on capital and banking.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chen Jintao 1870 births 1939 deaths Republic of China politicians from Guangdong People from Nanhai District Tsinghua University faculty Columbia University alumni Educators from Guangdong Republic of China economists Politicians from Foshan Economists from Guangdong Chinese collaborators with Imperial Japan