Miao Yuntai

Miao Yuntai (; March 23, 1894 – September 3, 1988) was a Chinese male politician, who served as the Vice Chairperson of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference from 1983 to 1988.

Early life Miao Yuntai was born Miao Jiaming in Kunming, Yunnan Province, on March 23, 1894. His family owned a shop that sold pickled vegetables and various sauces.

Education In 1913, he received a provincial scholarship to attend university in the United States. He first attended Southwestern College in Winfield, Kansas, then went to Illinois University in 1914. In 1915, he transferred to University of Minnesota’s School of Mines. He later changed his field of study and graduated with a bachelor of arts degree in 1918.

Early Work in Yunnan (1919-1935) Before returning to China, he worked at an iron mine and later a steel company in New York. In 1919, he was hired as a manager at Geiju Tin in Yunnan. In 1922, Miao was removed from his post due to political conflicts. After this, he worked in the financial industries of Hong Kong and Shanghai.

In 1928, he returned from Hong Kong to Kunming to bury his older brother. Long Yun, the governor of Yunnan, recruited him to direct the province's bank on his arrival. Miao and Long created the Department of Agriculture and Mining and the Yunnan Economic Commission, which managed government shares in state-owned and joint state-private enterprises.

In 1935, Miao adopted a hardline policy to prevent French colonial officials from extracting Yunnanese profits through the Yunnan Railroad and the Banque de l'Indochine. This involved the provincial government enacting stricter control over exports and banking, and was met with resistance by French officials. In response the Governor-General of Hanoi was told to obstruct Yunnanese imports and exports during the customs process, and Geiju Tin miners were threatened and offered bribes to collaborate with the French. Miao planned to use livestock to transfer tin to avoid French sabotage, but was able to leverage competition between the railway and the Banque de l'Indochine in order to ensure Yunnanese exports would continue to be transported and gain intelligence on the Banque de l'Indochine. After a year, the Yunnanese government was able to gain economic independence from the French sphere of influence.

Second Sino-Japanese War During the Second Sino-Japanese War, Miao adjusted the Yunnan Economic Commission's investment policy to benefit the war effort and take advantage of the large numbers of people moving to Southern China due to the war. At this time the Economic Commission invested in an electric steel plant to manufacture war materials, used the Yunnan Alcohol Plant to create transportation fuel, and used Yunnanese concrete to construct wartime infrastructure in Kunming. The mass migration to the region resulted in a housing shortage, and the Economic Commission built a residential community called Zhuantang New Village that contained apartments, schools, and recreational facilities.

Miao, acting as a representative of the Yunnan provincial government, helped to negotiate the construction of the Burma Road in 1937. This road would link Burma (now known as Myanmar) and Yunnan, and act as a strategic channel to bring wartime aid into China. Miao also negotiated with France to bring supplies through the Yunnan Railway, and arranged reception for American forces entering Yunnan.

Miao participated in the 1946 Political Consultative Conference as a representative of capitalist interests in the Southwest. In 1947 he served as a member of both the Executive Yuan and Legislative Yuan, a representative to the National Assembly, and chairman of the Committee for the Handling of American Aid and Relief Materials. He was invited to the 1st National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) by Zhou Enlai in 1949, but was unable to attend due to his wife needing medical treatment in Japan.

Return to China and Death (1979-1988) Miao moved to Hong Kong in 1949, and went to the United States the following year. He became a citizen of the United States in 1955, but renounced it in 1979 when he moved back to China.

His autobiography The Memoirs of Miao Yuntai was published in 1991 by Chinese Literature and History Press.