Wu Tingfang

Ng Choy (Wu Tingfang)
Chinese Unofficial Member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong
In office 1880–1882
Appointed by	Sir John Pope Hennessy
Succeeded by	Wong Shing
Premier of State Council of the Republic of China
In office May 23, 1917
President	Li Yuanhong Feng Guozhang
Preceded by	Duan Qirui
Succeeded by	Li Jingxi
Personal details
Born	30 July 1842 Malacca, Straits Settlements
Died	23 June 1922(1922-06-23) (aged 79) Canton, Kwangtung, Republic of China
Political party	Republican Party Progressive Party
Children	Wu Chaoshu
Alma mater	St. Paul's College University College London Lincoln's Inn
Profession	Lawyer Diplomat Calligraphist

Wu Tingfang (Chinese: 伍廷芳, also known as Ng Choy (Chinese: 伍才; pinyin: Wǔ Cái); 30 July 1842 – 23 June 1922) was a Chinese diplomat and politician who served as Minister of Foreign Affairs and briefly as Acting Premier during the early years of the Republic of China.

Career in Hong Kong

1908 photograph

Wu was born in the Straits Settlement, now modern day Malacca in 1842 and was sent to China in 1846 to be schooled.^[1] He studied at the Anglican St. Paul's College, in Hong Kong where he learned to read and write in English. After serving as an interpreter in the Magistrate's Court from 1861 to 1874,^[2] marrying Ho Miu-ling (sister of Sir Kai Ho) in 1864.

He studied Law in the United Kingdom at University College London and was called to the bar at Lincoln's Inn (1876). Wu became the first ethnic Chinese barrister in history. After being called to the bar in England, he returned to Hong Kong in 1877 to practise law. He was admitted as a barrister in Hong Kong in a ceremony before Chief Justice John Smale welcomed him to the bar and said:

"In England every office becomes open to talent without favour of affection. A distinguished American statesman has become, and now is an ornament of the English bar, and all the Bar will gladly hail the time when a Chinaman shall distinguish himself as much as the eminent counsel to whom I refer. I have seen stranger things happen."^[3]

Later, Wu became the first ethnic Chinese Unofficial member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong (appointed 1880).^[4]

Service under the Qing Dynasty

The former residence of Envoy Wu and the Office of the Qing Legation to the United States, located in the Dupont Circle neighborhood of Washington, D.C.

He served under the Qing Dynasty as Minister to the United States, Spain, and Peru from 1896 to 1902 and from 1907 to 1909. In this role he lectured widely about Chinese culture and history, in part working to counter discrimination against Chinese emigrants by increasing foreign appreciation of their background. ^[5] To further this end, he published America, through the spectacles of an Oriental diplomat in English in 1914^[6] (published by Stokes).^[7]

Wu is mentioned several times in the diaries of Sir Ernest Satow who was British Envoy in China, 1900-06. For example, on 21 November 1903: "Wu Tingfang came in the afternoon, and stopped talking for an hour and a half about his commercial code and connected subjects. His idea is to draft also a new criminal code, and put both into force at the outset in the open ports." ^[8]

Service post Xinhai Revolution

He supported the Xinhai Revolution and negotiated on the revolutionaries' behalf in Shanghai. He served briefly in early 1912 as Minister of Justice for the Nanjing Provisional Government, where he argued strongly for an independent judiciary, based on his experience studying law and travelling overseas.^[9] After this brief posting, Wu became Minister of Foreign Affairs for the ROC. He served briefly in 1917 as Acting Premier of the Republic of China.

He joined Sun Yat-sen's Constitutional Protection Movement and became a member of its governing committee. He advised Sun against becoming the "extraordinary president" but stuck with Sun after the election. He then served as Sun's foreign minister and as acting president when Sun was absent. He died shortly after Chen Jiongming rebelled against Sun.

References

Notes

Further reading

• Pomerantz-Zhang, Linda. (1992) Wu Tingfang (1842-1922): reform and modernization in modern Chinese history. ISBN 962-209-287-X.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Wu Tingfang.

• Works by Wu Tingfang at Project Gutenberg
• Works by or about Wu Tingfang at Internet Archive
• America, through the spectacles of an Oriental diplomat, by Wu Tingfang at Project Gutenberg

Heads of government of the Republic of China
Premiers of Cabinet	Tang Shaoyi Lou Tseng-Tsiang Zhao Bingjun Duan Qirui* Xiong Xiling Sun Baoqi*
Secretaries of State	Xu Shichang Lou Tseng-Tsiang*
Premiers of State Council	Duan Qirui Wu Tingfang* Li Jingxi
Prime Minister of Restored Qing Imperial Government	Zhang Xun（under restored monarchy）
Premiers of State Council	Duan Qirui Wang Daxie* Wang Shizhen* Qian Nengxun* Gong Xinzhan* Jin Yunpeng Sa Zhenbing Yan Huiqing* Liang Shiyi Zhou Ziqi* Wang Chonghui* Wang Zhengting* Zhang Shaozeng Gao Lingwei Sun Baoqi Wellington Koo Vi-kyuin* Huang Fu* Xu Shiying Jia Deyao* Hu Weide* Du Xigui* Pan Fu
Presidents of Executive Yuan	Tan Yankai T. V. Soong Tse-ven Chiang Kai-shek Chen Mingshu Sun Fo Wang Jingwei H. H. Kung Hsiang-hsi Chang Ch'ün Weng Wenhao Sun Fo He Yingqin Yan Xishan Chen Cheng Yu Hung-Chun Yen Chia-kan Chiang Ching-kuo Sun Yun-suan Yu Kuo-hwa Lee Huan Hau Pei-tsun Lien Chan Vincent Siew Wan-chang Tang Fei Chang Chun-hsiung Yu Shyi-kun Frank Hsieh Chang-ting Su Tseng-chang Liu Chao-shiuan Wu Den-yih Sean Chen Jiang Yi-huah Mao Chi-kuo Chang San-cheng Lin Chuan
*acting

China's Ambassadors to the U.S.
Qing ministers to the U.S. 1875–1912	Chen Lanbin 1875–81 Zheng Zaoru 1881–85 Zhang Yinheng 1885–89 Cui Guoyin 1889–93 Yang Yu 1893–96 Wu Tingfang 1896–1902 Liang Cheng 1902–07 Wu Tingfang 1907–09 Zhang Yintang 1909–11 Alfred Sao-ke Sze 1911–12
ROC's envoys to the U.S. 1912–35	Zhang Yintang 1912–13 Xia Xiefu 1913–15 V. K. Wellington Koo 1915–20 Alfred Sao-ke Sze 1920–29 Wu Chaoshu 1929–31 Yan Huiqing 1931–33 Alfred Sao-ke Sze 1933–35
ROC's ambassadors to the U.S. 1935–79	Alfred Sao-ke Sze 1935–36 Wang Zhengting 1936–38 Hu Shih 1938–42 Wei Tao-ming 1942–46 Wellington Koo 1946–56 Hollington Tong 1956–58 George Yeh 1958–61 Tsiang Tingfu 1961–65 Zhou Shukai 1965–71 James Shen 1971–79
ROC's representatives to the U.S. 1979–present	Konsin Shah 1979–81 Cai Weiping 1981–82 Frederick Chien 1982–88 Ting Mao-shih 1988–94 Benjamin Lu 1994–96 Jason Hu 1996–97 Stephen S.F. Chen 1997–2000 Chen Chien-jen 2000–04 David Lee 2004–07 Joseph Wu 2007–08 Jason Yuan 2008–12 King Pu-tsung 2012–14 Shen Lyu-shun 2014–2016 Stanley Kao 2016–
Chiefs of the PRC Liaison Office in the U.S. 1973–79	Huang Zhen 1973–77 Chai Zemin 1978–79
PRC's ambassadors to the U.S. 1979–present	Chai Zemin 1979–82 Zhang Wenjin 1983–85 Han Xu 1985–89 Zhu Qizhen 1989–93 Li Daoyu 1993–98 Li Zhaoxing 1998–2001 Yang Jiechi 2001–05 Zhou Wenzhong 2005–10 Zhang Yesui 2010–13 Cui Tiankai 2013–present