Qiu Changwei (; 16 October 1898 – 24 July 1956) was a Chinese-born politician. He began his political career in the

Guangxi Guangxi,; officially the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the China, People's Republic of China, located in South China and bordering Vietnam (Hà Giang Province, Hà Giang, Cao Bằn ...

Provincial Government, then served on the and

Legislative Yuan The Legislative Yuan () is the unicameral legislature of the Republic of China (Taiwan) located in Taipei. The Legislative Yuan is composed of 113 members, who are directly elected for four-year terms by people of the Taiwan Area through a ...

. His tenure as Secretary-General to the President of the Republic of China between 1949 and 1950 saw

the government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

relocate from

mainland China "Mainland China", also referred to as "the Chinese mainland", is a Geopolitics, geopolitical term defined as the territory under direct administration of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in the aftermath of the Chinese Civil War. In addit ...

to Taiwan. In Taiwan, Qiu was a member of the Civil Service Higher Examination Committee and .

Early life, education, and academic career

Qiu was born on 18 October 1898, and could trace his ancestry to

Zhijiang County Zhijiang Dong Autonomous County (), usually referred to as Zhijiang County () ( Dong language: Zix jangh) is an autonomous county of the Dong people in Hunan Province, China. It is under the administration of Huaihua prefecture-level city. Zhi ...

Hunan Hunan is an inland Provinces of China, province in Central China. Located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze watershed, it borders the Administrative divisions of China, province-level divisions of Hubei to the north, Jiangxi to the east, Gu ...

. Qiu earned his Bachelor of Arts degree at

Pomona College Pomona College ( ) is a private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Claremont, California. It was established in 1887 by a group of Congregationalism in the United States, Congregationalists ...

in 1923, and completed his Master of Arts in political science, followed by a doctorate in philosophy, both at

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

, in 1924 and 1928, respectively. Upon his return to China, Qiu became a professor at

Northeastern University Northeastern University (NU or NEU) is a private university, private research university with its main campus in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It was founded by the Boston Young Men's Christian Association in 1898 as an all-male instit ...

. He also taught at

Tsinghua University Tsinghua University (THU) is a public university in Haidian, Beijing, China. It is affiliated with and funded by the Ministry of Education of China. The university is part of Project 211, Project 985, and the Double First-Class Constructio ...

Peking University Peking University (PKU) is a Public university, public Types of universities and colleges in China#By designated academic emphasis, university in Haidian, Beijing, China. It is affiliated with and funded by the Ministry of Education of the Peop ...

and

Sun Yat-sen University Sun Yat-sen University (; SYSU) is a public university in Guangzhou, Guangdong, China. It is affiliated with the Ministry of Education, and co-funded by the Ministry of Education, SASTIND, and Guangdong Provincial Government. The university is p ...

. During his teaching career, he served as an adviser and secretariat of the Fourth Army Group of the

National Revolutionary Army The National Revolutionary Army (NRA; zh, labels=no, t=國民革命軍) served as the military arm of the Kuomintang, Chinese Nationalist Party (Kuomintang, or KMT) from 1924 until 1947. From 1928, it functioned as the regular army, de facto ...

, as well as secretary-general of the

Provincial Government.

Political career in China

On 18 January 1932, Qiu was appointed Chief Secretary of Intelligence for the

Nationalist government The Nationalist government, officially the National Government of the Republic of China, refers to the government of the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic of China from 1 July 1925 to 20 May 1948, led by the nationalist Kuomintang (KMT ...

Ministry of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and relations, diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral r ...

.《國民政府公報》第980號 He resigned from the foreign ministry on 28 March of the same year.《國民政府公報》第3號 On 2 October 1936, Qiu returned to the Guangxi Provincial Government as head of the provincial education ministry.《國民政府公報》第2168號 He was reassigned to lead the provincial civil affairs ministry on 24 June 1939.《國民政府公報》第165號 From 11 August 1939, Qiu was a member of the Guangxi Examination Committee.《國民政府公報》第178號 The following year, Qiu was a member of the Guangxi delegation to the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...

convened to consider

Control Yuan The Control Yuan is the supervisory and auditory branch of the government of the Republic of China, both during its time in mainland China and Taiwan. Designed as a hybrid of auditor and ombudsman by Taiwanese law, the Control Yuan holds th ...

appointments.《國民政府公報》第223號 Qiu was dismissed from his position as leader of the provincial civil affairs ministry on 1 February 1943,《國民政府公報》第541號 and formally resigned as a member of the Guangxi Provincial Government on 4 October 1943.《國民政府公報》第611號 He was elected to the fourth term of the , which started on 23 April 1945, representing Hunan. On 3 October 1946, the

Executive Yuan The Executive Yuan () is the executive (government), executive branch of the government of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Under the Additional Articles of the Constitution of the Republic of China, amended constitution, the head of the Execut ...

appointed Qiu to a district management committee.《國民政府公報》第2640號 Later that month, he became the deputy secretary-general of that body.《國民政府公報》第2656號 Qiu was elevated to lead the second inspectorate convened by the district management committee on 30 January 1947,《國民政府公報》第2736號 and resigned from the committee entirely on 21 February 1947.《國民政府公報》第2755號 He was elected to the First Legislative Yuan in the

1948 Chinese legislative election The 1st Legislative Yuan election was held in Republic of China (1912–1949), China between 21 and 23 January 1948. This election, and the preceding 1947 Chinese National Assembly election, 1947 National Assembly election are the first electio ...

, representing Hunan's third district, a multi-member constituency.「邱昌渭先生傳略」，《國史館現藏民國人物傳記史料彙編》第17輯，第180頁 During his tenure on the

, Qiu was a member of the Foreign Affairs, National Defense, and Finance and Financial Affairs Committees. From 26 June 1949, Qiu was Secretary-General to the President of the Republic of China. In July 1949, Qiu was to be succeeded on the Legislative Yuan by supplemental member , who did not report to assume the office.檔號(全宗號/年度號/分類號/案次號)：A301000000A/0038/B12415/12-1 全宗名：內政部案名：湖南省立委邱昌渭註銷蔣固遞補案檔案起迄日期：民國38年07月15日~民國55年03月11日檔案產生者：內政部媒體型式：紙本數量︰1卷典藏位置︰國家發展委員會檔案管理局內容摘要：本案為內政部對立委名籍遞補與註銷之事宜，內容包括湖南省政府送該省第七區立委邱君如確任總統府秘書長，立委遺缺應由蔣君遞補案給內政部，立法院秘書長送邱君接任總統府秘書長，依法請辭立委職務一事送內政部，內政部轉送湖南省第七區立委邱君辭職照准，遺缺由蔣君遞補一事給湖南省政府、行政院及立法院秘書長，行政院准予備案。後於民國55年內政部送立委蔣君雖已遞補但未向立法院報到應予註銷名籍一事給行政院及立法院秘書處，立法院秘書長送該院淪陷大陸之委員蔣君雖經遞補迄未向立法院報到應予註銷名籍案給內政部，行政院准予備案。湖北省第七區立法委員蔣固，係遞補當選有案，但迄未向立法院報到，依法應視為辭職，註銷其名籍，(55)台統(一)義字第4408號(55.02.22)，《總統府公報》第1726號 Qiu submitted his resignation as presidential secretary-general on 20 March 1950.《總統府公報》第248號

Later political career in Taiwan

Qiu returned to public service on 19 August 1954, as an appointed member of the Civil Service Higher Examination Committee.《總統府公報》第524號 His second term on the committee began on 25 August 1955.《總統府公報》第630號 On 9 October 1954, Qiu was appointed secretary-general of the .《總統府公報》第539號 Qiu died in Taiwan on 24 July 1956. A collection of Qiu's papers, complied during his tenure as presidential secretary-general, was donated to

Columbia University Libraries Columbia University Libraries is the library system of Columbia University and one of the largest academic library systems in North America. With 15.0 million volumes and over 160,000 journals and serials, as well as extensive electronic resources ...

in 2005. One of his daughters, Chiu Kai-yun, became a United States citizen in 1965 and was the head librarian of the Library Company of the Baltimore Bar from 1976 to 2003, the second-longest tenured librarian since the library was founded in 1840.Alternate URL
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Qiu, Changwei 1898 births 1956 deaths Academic staff of the Northeastern University (China) Academic staff of Peking University Academic staff of Tsinghua University Academic staff of Sun Yat-sen University Chinese expatriates in the United States Taiwanese people from Hunan Columbia Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni Pomona College alumni Republic of China politicians from Guangxi Republic of China politicians from Hunan Members of the 1st Legislative Yuan 20th-century Taiwanese politicians 20th-century Chinese educators Chinese Civil War refugees