He Siyuan

He Siyuan (; 1896 – April 1982), also spelled Ho Shih-yuan, was a Chinese educator, politician and guerrilla leader. Educated in China, the United States, and France, he was an economics professor at Sun Yat-sen University and education minister of Shandong Province. When Japan invaded China in 1937, he organized a guerrilla force to fight the resistance war in Shandong, and was the wartime governor of the province. He later became Mayor of Beijing until he negotiated to surrender to communist forces when KMT was losing. He survived Chiang's two attempts to assassinate him, but lost his youngest daughter in the second attack. In 1949 he negotiated the peaceful surrender of Beijing to the Communist forces, ensuring the safety of its millions of residents. Fluent in four European languages, after 1949 he mainly worked on translating foreign publications into Chinese. His elder daughter, He Luli, grew up to become Vice-Mayor of Beijing and Chairwoman of the Revolutionary Committee of the Chinese Kuomintang.

Early life and education He Siyuan was born in 1896 in Heze, Shandong Province. His courtesy name was Xiancha (仙槎). His family had produced prominent scholar-officials in history, but his own parents were middle-class peasants.

He studied at Shandong No. 6 Provincial High School in Heze, before being admitted to the preparatory school of Peking University in 1915, where he became an active participant of the New Culture Movement. He was especially interested in foreign languages, and in April 1917 his translation of an article on money by Samuel Smiles was published in Chen Duxiu's influential magazine New Youth. He entered Peking University in 1918, majoring in philosophy. He soon joined the Xinchao (New Tide) Society founded by his close friend Fu Sinian, who was to become an eminent educator and scholar. He published many articles in the Xinchao journal.

Academic and government career He Siyuan returned to China in 1926, and was hired by his friend Fu Sinian as an economics professor at the newly established Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou. He married Yiwen in 1928 and she naturalized as a Chinese citizen.

While at Sun Yat-sen University he published the books A Brief History of Politics and Diplomacy of Modern China (中国近代政治外交略史, 1927) and Research Methods in Social Sciences (社会科学研究法, 1928).

Military career during the Sino-Japanese War After Japan invaded China in 1937 and threatened Shandong's capital Jinan,

He Siyuan sent Yiwen and their four children to live in the British concession in Tianjin for safety. After the surrender of Japan at the end of World War II in 1945, he took over the province from the occupiers. and He Siyuan became Mayor of Beijing (then known as Beiping), He was a popular mayor, personally officiating group weddings in the Huairen Hall in Zhongnanhai. 60 years later, some surviving couples organized a reunion to commemorate him.

Later life and legacy After the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, He Siyuan worked for the People's Publishing House and was elected to the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC). Fluent in English, German, French, and Russian, he devoted himself to the translation of foreign works into Chinese, publishing 16 volumes by the early 1960s. He also contributed to the editing of the French–Chinese Dictionary and German Grammar. He died in Beijing on 28 April 1982, at the age of 86.