Cai Pei

Cai Pei
Cai Pei
蔡培
	Cai Pei as pictured in The Most Recent Biographies of Chinese Dignitaries
Born	1884; Wuxi, Jiangsu, China
Died	1960; Shanghai, China
Nationality	Chinese
Alma mater	Waseda University

Cai Pei (Chinese: 蔡培; pinyin: Cài Péi; Wade–Giles: Ts'ai P'ei; Hepburn: Sai Bai; 1884–1960) was a diplomat and politician in the pre-World War II Republic of China. He held a number of important posts during the collaborationist Reorganized National Government of China, and successively held the positions of Mayor of Nanjing Special City and Ambassador to Japan. His courtesy name was Ziping (子平).

Biography

Cai Pei was born in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province. He went to study to Japan and graduated from the Department of Law of Waseda University. After his return to China, together with Liu Yazi he helped establish the literary and poetry society Nanshe. He also was elected Member of the Legislative Yuan. In January 1928 Cai was appointed legislative secretary of the Ministry for Transportation under the Nationalist Government. In January 1930 he was promoted to Chief of the Aviation Bureau of the Ministry for Transportation. In 1935 he was transferred to the position of Chief of the Civil Administration Bureau of the Ministry of the Interior.

In March 1940, when the Reorganized National Government of China led by Wang Jingwei was established, Cai Pei was appointed Policy Affairs Vice-Minister for Commerce and Industry. In June he accepted the post of Mayor of Nanjing Special City. In December he assumed the office of Chairman of the Rationing Management Commission. Afterwards he served in the Political Affairs Committee of the Executive Yuan. In March 1943 he was appointed Ambassador to the Empire of Japan. After his return to Nanjing in May 1945, he was appointed a Member of the National Government.

After the surrender of Japan and collapse of the collaborationist Reorganized National Government of China, Cai Pei was arrested as a hanjian on orders of Chiang Kai-shek's National Government in September 1945. The following July he was charged with promoting "Sino-Japanese friendship" and sentenced to death by the Shanghai High Court. After appealing to the Supreme Court, his sentence was commuted to life imprisonment in November 1947.

Cai Pei served his sentence in Shanghai at the Tilanqiao Prison. After the People's Republic of China was established, his situation remained unchanged. In August 1956, following deterioration in his health condition, he was allowed to receive medical treatment. Cai Pei died in prison in 1960.

References

Xu Youchun (徐友春) (main ed.) (2007). Unabridged Biographical Dictionary of the Republic, Revised and Enlarged Version (民国人物大辞典增订版). Hebei People's Press (Hebei Renmin Chubanshe; 河北人民出版社). ISBN 978-7-202-03014-1.
History of Prison in Shanghai (上海监狱志), The Office of Shanghai's History (上海地方志办公室) Website
Liu Shoulin (刘寿林) (etc.ed.) (1995). The Chronological Table of the Republic's Officer (民国职官年表). Zhonghua Book Company. ISBN 7-101-01320-1.
The Biographies of Most Recent Chinese Important People (最新支那要人伝). Asahi Shimbun. 1941.

Political offices
Preceded by Gao Guanwu	Mayor of Nanjing Special City (Wang Jingwei Government) 1940–1942	Succeeded by Zhou Xuechang
Preceded by Xu Liang	Ambassador of the Wang Jingwei Government to the Empire of Japan 1943–1945	Succeeded by Lian Yu

v t e China's Ambassadors to Japan
Qing dynasty 1644–1912	He Ruzhang 1876–1877 Zhang Sigui 1877–1880 Xu Jingcheng 1880–1881 Li Shuchang 1881–1884 Xu Chengzu 1884–1887 Li Xingrui 1887 Li Shuchang 1887–1890 Li Jingfang 1890–1892 Wang Fangzao 1892–1894 Yugeng 1895–1898 Huang Zunxian 1898 Li Shengduo 1898–1901 Cai Juni 1901–1903 Yang Shu 1903–1907 Li Jiaju 1907–1908 Hu Weide 1908–1910 Wang Daxie 1910–1913
Republic of China (Beiyang) 1912–1928	Ma Tingliang 1913 Zhong Lu 1913–1916 Liu Chongjie 1916 Zhang Zongxiang 1916–1919 Liu Jingren 1919–1920 Hu Weide 1920–1922 Shi Luben 1922–1923 Zhang Yuanjie 1925–1926
Republic of China (Nationalist) 1928–1938	Jiang Zuobin 1931–1936 Xu Shiying 1936–1938
Republic of China (Collaborationist) 1940–1945	Chu Minyi 1940–1941 Xu Liang 1941–1943 Cai Pei 1943–1945 Lian Yu 1945
Republic of China on Taiwan 1952–1972	Hollington Tong 1952–1956 Shen Jinding 1956–1959 Chang Li-sheng 1959–1963 Wei Tao-ming 1964–1966 Cheng Zhimai 1966–1969 Peng Mengji 1969–1972
People's Republic of China 1973–present	Chen Chu 1973–76 Fu Hao 1977–82 Song Zhiguang 1982–85 Zhang Shu 1985–83 Yang Zhenya 1988–93 Xu Dunxin 1993–98 Chen Jian 1998–2001 Wu Dawei 2001–04 Wang Yi 2004–07 Cui Tiankai 2007–09 Cheng Yonghua 2010–19 Kong Xuanyou 2019–2023 Wu Jianghao 2023-present