Kong Xiangxi (September 11, 1880 - August 16, 1967), known as Yongzhi, was born in Taigu County, Shanxi Province, with his ancestral home in Qufu, Shandong. He is the 75th grandson of Confucius and studied in the United States and graduated from Yale University. Kong Xiangxi has played an important role in China's modern history, and his resume is rich and varied, covering a wide range of fields such as education, politics and economics.
Kong's early experiences included the founding of the Ming Xian School, an important part of his work after his return to China in 1907. Not only did he serve as a principal, but he also taught the curriculum himself, contributing to the development of local education. After the Xinhai Revolution, Kong Xiangxi participated in the Liberation Movement in Shanxi, and was elected as the civil governor of Taigu County and the commander of the new army. In 1912, he served as a senator to Yan Xishan, the governor of Shanxi, and in the years that followed, he held a number of government positions.
In 1924, Kong Xiangxi went to Guangzhou to serve as the Minister of Finance of the Guangdong Government and the Minister of Finance of the Guangzhou Nationalist Government. In 1927, he was appointed Minister of Industry of the Wuhan Nationalist Government. After the establishment of the Nanjing Nationalist Government, Kong Xiangxi successively served as the Minister of Industry of the Nationalist Government, and presided over the implementation of the currency reform. He also visited Britain, Italy, France, and other countries as a special envoy of the Nationalist Government.
After the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, Kong Xiangxi served as vice president of the Executive Yuan and minister of finance of the National Government. He resigned in 1945. He went to the United States in 1947. On August 16, 1967, he died of a heart attack in New York.
Kong Xiangxi's wife is Song Ailing, his father-in-law is Song Jiashu, Chiang Kai-shek's brother-in-law, and his brother-in-law is Song Ziwen. Their marriage had an important influence on the political and economic spheres of the time. During his political career, Kong Xiangxi not only made achievements in fiscal policy, but also made contributions to education and economic reform. However, his political career was also marked by controversy, especially in the area of financial management, where he was accused of power abuse and corruption. Despite this, Kong Xiangxi remains a figure to be reckoned with in modern Chinese history.
Kong Xiangxi's corruption cases during the Republican period were mainly concentrated during his tenure in key positions in the Nationalist government, especially during the Anti-Japanese War, when he controlled the country's economic lifeline as finance minister and central bank governor. The following are some of the corruption incidents related to Kong Xiangxi:
1. U.S. dollar bond fraud: This is one of Kong Xiangxi's best-known corruption cases. In 1942, the U.S. government provided a $500 million loan to China in order to support China's war of resistance. Kong Xiangxi decided to set aside $100 million of this as a fund to issue US dollar bonds. However, in the actual operation process, Kong Xiangxi and his accomplices illegally profited by manipulating the price of public bonds and the timing of the suspension of sales. In 1943, they embezzled a large amount of national assets by stopping the sale of U.S. Treasury bonds and buying unsold U.S. bonds at official prices below market prices. It was revealed that Kong Xiangxi embezzled more than 10 million US dollars of public debt in this way, equivalent to about 2.647 billion yuan at that time.
2. Swallowing U.S. Treasury Bonds: After the outbreak of the Pacific War in 1941, President Roosevelt decided to lend $500 million to China. Kong Xiangxi and Song Ailing began to figure out how to transfer the funds to their own hands. They decided to buy $300 million in gold for depositing in the United States, $100 million for the issuance of dollar savings certificates, and $100 million for US dollar bonds. Through a series of complex financial operations, Kong Xiangxi and his wife swallowed a huge amount of US dollar public debt, causing huge losses to the state's finances.
3. Corruption in Tax Reform: Under Kong Xiangxi's leadership, the Republic of China government carried out tax reforms, trying to simplify the tax system by unifying various taxes into income taxes. However, in the process, Kong Xiangxi was accused of using his power to commit corruption and damage the interests of the state.
These acts of corruption have seriously damaged national interests, weakened the credibility of the Nationalist Government, and aggravated contradictions and conflicts within the Kuomintang. Kong's embezzlement eventually aroused widespread concern and strong dissatisfaction in society, leading to his forced resignation in 1945. Although Kong Xiangxi did some useful things for the country and the nation in the early days of the Anti-Japanese War, his corruption eventually brought him into notoriety.
Kong Xiangxi settled in the United States in 1947 and resigned as chairman of the Bank of China the following year. In 1962, he went to Taiwan for a temporary stay, but four years later, in 1966, he returned to the United States for medical treatment for health reasons. On August 16, 1967, Kong Xiangxi died of a heart attack in New York, USA. Although Kong Xiangxi had plans to settle in Taiwan in his later years, he eventually chose to spend the rest of his life in the United States and died there.