Qian Sunqing

Qian Sunqing (; 1887 – December 31, 1975), courtesy name Jihou (基厚), was a Chinese educator, civic leader, businessman, and politician from Wuxi, Jiangsu. A prominent local public figure in modern Wuxi, he participated in educational administration, local self-government, commercial organizations, and anti-Japanese resistance activities. After the establishment of the People's Republic of China, he served as Vice Chairman of the Jiangsu Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and held several provincial political and economic posts. He was also known as an uncle of writer Qian Zhongshu.

Biography

Qian Sunqing was born in Wuxi in 1887. He studied at the Liangjiang School of Law and Politics in Nanjing, graduating in 1911. Following the establishment of the Republic of China, he became head of the Wuxi branch of the Republican Party and later served as director of the Education Section of the Wuxi County Government. During the May Fourth Movement in 1919, he participated in local patriotic activities and subsequently became involved in county self-government affairs. In 1921, he was elected Vice Chairman of the Wuxi County Self-Government Promotion Association and a member of the Jiangsu Provincial Assembly.

In 1924, at the invitation of industrialist Rong Desheng, Qian became principal of Gongyi Industrial and Commercial Middle School. During the conflicts that affected Jiangsu in the mid-1920s, he played an important role in maintaining public order in Wuxi. Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, Qian held a number of leadership positions in local civic and commercial organizations. He served as chairman of the Wuxi Chamber of Commerce and chaired several municipal committees responsible for public assets and local administration. In 1931, he attended the National Assembly in Nanjing.

After the January 28 incident in 1932, Qian became chairman of the Wuxi National Crisis Committee, coordinating relief work and support for refugees. Following the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937, he was elected chairman of the Wuxi Anti-Japanese Support Association. Because he was wanted by the Japanese-sponsored authorities, he took refuge in the foreign concessions in Shanghai, where he continued fundraising and patriotic activities in support of the resistance effort.

Following Japan's surrender in 1945, Qian served as deputy chairman of the Wuxi Demobilization Committee and later became chairman of the Wuxi County Bank. As the Chinese Civil War intensified, he opposed the continuation of military conflict and government conscription policies. In December 1948, he helped organize the Wuxi County Joint Association of Public and Private Organizations as a contingency body in anticipation of political change. In early 1949, he dispatched representatives, including his son Qian Zhonghan, to establish contact with Communist authorities in northern Jiangsu. He joined the China Democratic National Construction Association in 1949 and, after the Communist takeover of Wuxi, mobilized the local business community to provide logistical support for the People's Liberation Army.

Group photograph of the first plenary meeting of the Finance and Economic Committee of the East China Military and Administrative Committee, July 24, 1950. Qian Sunqing is the elderly man seated eleventh from the left in the front row. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Qian held a series of provincial and local positions, including Vice Chairman of the Consultative Committee of the Wuxi People's Representatives Conference, Vice Administrator of the Southern Jiangsu Administrative Region, member of the Jiangsu Provincial People's Government, Vice Chairman of the Jiangsu Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, Vice Chairman of the Jiangsu Provincial Committee of the China Democratic National Construction Association, and Chairman of the Jiangsu Federation of Industry and Commerce. He played a leading role in establishing local branches of both the China Democratic National Construction Association and the Federation of Industry and Commerce in Wuxi. He was elected a delegate to the 1st National People's Congress in 1954 and became a member of the Central Committee of the China Democratic National Construction Association in 1955.

During the Anti-Rightist Campaign in 1957, Qian was designated a rightist and removed from his official positions. He was further persecuted during the Cultural Revolution. After the Third Plenum of the 11th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party in the late 1970s, he was posthumously rehabilitated. Qian died on December 31, 1975.

Qian was the twin brother of scholar Qian Jibo and the uncle of writer Qian Zhongshu. His eldest son, Qian Zhonghan, later served as president of Southeast University, while another son, Qian Zhonghan (钱钟汉), served as a vice mayor of Wuxi.

Qian left several published works, including Xishan Xuewu Wenduo (《锡山学务文牍》), Sun'an Nianpu (《孙庵年谱》), and Sun'an Sicheng (《孙庵私乘》).