Sun Yueqi (, 16 October 1893 – 9 December 1995), formerly known as Sun Yuqi or Sun Shifen, was an industrialist and politician in the Republic of China and later the People's Republic of China. He led the surveys and developments of several coal mines and oil fields in China, such as the Yanchang and Yumen Oilfields.
In 1946, Sun was the vice chairman of the National Resources Commission under the Nationalist government. During his term, he presided over the survey and mapping of the Three Gorges Project by American hydraulic engineer John L. Savage.
Early life On 16 October 1893, Sun was born in an ordinary family in Tongkang Village, Shaoxing County, Zhejiang. His original name was "Sun Yuqi" (). His father was Sun Yanchang (), with the courtesy name Yantang (). Being a xiucai, Sun Yanchang left home for Heilongjiang in 1905, where he served as a local official and later the manager of a gold mine.
At the age of 17, Sun Yuqi was admitted to Shaoxing Jianyi Normal School () and graduated at the end of 1911. In accordance with the official policy at the time, he taught in a primary school for a year on voluntary duty. During this time, he married Ge Caixiang () under an arranged marriage deal made in their childhoods by their parents.Selected Shaoxing Literary and Historical Materials, p.116 In 1913, Sun enrolled in the Middle School Department of Fudan Public School in Shanghai, where he got to know political activists like Shao Lizi, Luo Jialun and Yu Dawei. In May 1915, angered by Yuan Shikai's acceptance of the Twenty-One Demands proposed by the Japanese government, Sun changed his name to "Yueqi" ().Xue 1997, p.272 After graduating in 1916, Sun studied under the Liberal Arts Preparatory Department in Beiyang University. Under persuasion from his father, Sun transferred to the Mining and Metallurgy Department later the same year.
May Fourth Movement
In 1919, the May Fourth Movement broke out in Beijing, and student representatives from several schools in Tianjin held a secret meeting to discuss methods of supporting the movement. Sun attended the meeting as the president of Beiyang University Student Union, and was the first to propose holding protests in support of the students in Beijing. Sun also participated in the establishments of the Union of Tianjin Students ().Selected Shaoxing Literary and Historical Materials, p.117 On 4 June, while the students in Tianjin were holding a demonstration in Nankai University, representatives of the students, including Sun Yueqi, Ma Jun, Chen Zhidu and Sha Zhupei, went to negotiate with Cao Rui, the then Governor of Zhili Province. They demanded the governor to send a telegram to Beiyang government, requesting the release of the arrested students in Beijing and rejection of the Treaty of Versailles. The Beiyang government relented and accepted the students' petition.
Following the end of the demonstration, which lasted for three months, Sun and many other students were expelled from Beiyang University for their participation in the protest. With assistance from Cai Yuanpei, Sun enrolled in the Mining Department of Peking University, and graduated in 1921 with a bachelor's degree in engineering. After graduation, Sun Yueqi returned to Shaoxing to recuperate for two years, during which his wife Ge Caixiang died of illness.Yan 1991, p.264
Early career In the autumn of 1923, Sun went to Northeast China to inspect several industrial sites, including Fushun Coal Mine, Benxi Coal Mine and Anshan Steel Works. In early 1924, Chinese and Russian authorities jointly established the Muling Coal Mine Company (). At the invitation of its supervisor Cai Yunsheng, Sun went to participate in the creation of Muling Coal Mine, where he was appointed as the chief of the Chinese Mining Department as well as the chief of the Machinery and Engineering Department. He led the operations in digging the No. 2 vertical shaft.Xue 1997, p.274 The mine became operational in October.
In 1926, with introduction from his father's friend Xu Zihou and Wang Yunzhi, Sun met and later married Wang Yimeng ().Xue 1997, p.25 A year later, he met the director of Beijing Institute of Geological Survey () Weng Wenhao, who introduced Sun to the Geological Society of China as well as the Mining and Metallurgical Engineering Society of China.Yan 1991, p.267
In early 1929, Weng offered Sun the position of Chief Engineer of Jingxing Coal Mine in Hebei, but Sun turned down the job as he was preparing to study in the United States. In August, Sun enrolled in the Mining Department of Stanford University. He did not obtain a master's degree, instead only studied postgraduate courses. During his study, Sun also inspected gold mines in San Francisco as well as oil mines in Los Angeles and Houston. In September 1931, he transferred to Graduate School in Columbia University, and inspected coal mines across the eastern United States in the meantime.Biography of Sun Yueqi, p.68 On his way back to China in the spring of 1932, he took a detour through Europe, spending about 40 days inspecting the mining industries in United Kingdom, France and Germany. In July, he returned to his home in Harbin through Soviet Union.Xue 1997, p.35 He did not want to reside in Manchukuo under Japanese occupation, so after 20 days he and his family moved to Beiping (the name of Beijing from 1928 to 1949), which at the time was under the rule of the Nationalist government.
Public career
In November, Sun went to Nanjing at the invitation of Weng Wenhao and served as commissioner and director of mining chamber in the newly established National Defense Planning Commission. In March 1933, he investigated and published a report on the coal resources along Jinpu Railway. In September of the same year, Sun was sent to Shaanxi to inspect for oil along with Yan Shuang. In the spring of 1934, after learning of the existence of oil resource in Northern Shaanxi, the National Defense Planning Commission established Northern Shaanxi Oilfield Exploration Division (), with Sun as the director. In Yanchang County, Sun assembled China's first oil drilling team and directed the team's operations in constructing oil derricks and refining gasoline.Biography of Sun Yueqi, p.301
In September, Chiang Kai-shek appointed Weng Wenhao as Organization Commissioner to oversee the reorganization of Zhongfu Company (), a coal company in Henan that recently came under the control of Military Affairs Commission. Weng invited Sun to serve as the chief engineer of Zhongfu Company, and acting commissioner in Weng's absence.Zhu 2006, p.42 Under their leadership, Zhongfu Company began operating at a profit again in 1935, with an annual anthracite coal production of 1.5 million tons. In October, Sun took the role of Organization Commissioner. At the end of 1936, the control of Zhongfu Company was returned to its previous board of directors, and in the first board meeting Sun was appointed as the Chief Executive Officer with a term of three years.
Second Sino-Japanese War Following the Marco Polo Bridge Incident in 1937, Sun decided to relocate the equipment of Zhongfu Coal Mine to Sichuan. He persuaded the directors who originally opposed to the relocation, and moved most of the coal mine equipment to Sichuan through Hankou. Zhongfu Coal Mine became the only modern coal mine successfully relocated to Sichuan during the Second Sino-Japanese War. With the relocated equipment, Sun founded four coal mining companies (Tianfu, Jiayang, Weiyuan and Shiyan) in cooperation with Chongqing Minsheng Industry Company, National Resources Commission, General Administration of Salt Affairs and banking industry in Sichuan. He also established the Fourth Mine Joint Corporation in Chongqing and served as its chief executive officer.Fudan University Chronicle, p.493 In 1938, he officially joined the Nationalist Party of China.Yan 1991, p.622
In March 1941, the Gansu Oil Mine Bureau () was formed in Chongqing under the management of National Resources Commission, with Sun appointed as the general manager. Tasked with building an oil mine in Yumen, the bureau completed construction of Yumen Oilfield in 1942, with annual production of 1.8 million gallons of gasoline in that year. The success in Yumen earned Sun the nickname "King of Coal and Oil" (). In August, Chiang Kai-shek and Hu Zongnan inspected the Yumen Oilfield. The Chinese Society of Engineers awarded Sun the "Golden Engineering Medal" for his accomplishment. At the Sixth National Congress of the Nationalist Party of China held in May 1945, he was elected as an alternate member of the Central Executive Committee.
Chinese Civil War After the end of World War II, Sun resigned from his position in the Fourth Mine Joint Corporation and the Gansu Oil Mine Bureau in the spring of 1946. As the Special Commissioner for the Northeast Region of the Ministry of Economic Affairs of Executive Yuan, he was sent to Shenyang to supervise the transfer of control of the heavy industries in Northeastern China to the Nationalist government. At the same time, Sun Yueqi also served as the director of Enemy Industry Processing Bureau of Pingjin District in Hebei, with office located in Beiping. Sun had to travel constantly between Beiping and Shenyang for his roles.Fudan University Chronicle, p.494
In January, Sun served as the deputy chairman of the National Resources Commission. In May, the National Resources Commission was changed to be directly administered by the Executive Yuan, with Sun serving as vice chairman. In January 1947, Sun resigned from his posts in Enemy Industry Processing Bureau and Ministry of Economic Affairs, and moved to Nanjing to serve as the chairman of Resources Committee of the Executive Yuan. In May, the Weng Wenhao Cabinet was established, and Sun was also appointed as the Political Affairs Councilor.Xue 1997, p.132
In July, Sun was tasked with inspection of industrial and mining enterprises affiliated with the National Resources Commission in Northern and Northeastern China. He was reportedly pessimistic about the current condition of the Nationalist Party.Xue 1997, p.137 In October 1948, Sun convened a secret meeting with the leaders of industrial and mining enterprising in Nanjing, where he proposed the mobilization of all available workers and miners to protect the industrial assets from destruction in the war.
Following the Huaihai campaign, the Nationalist government lost control over most of Northern China. By the end of December, Chiang Kai-shek ordered Sun to demolish five factories in Nanjing and relocate the equipment to Taiwan.Selected Shaoxing Literary and Historical Materials, p.125 On 21 January 1949, Chiang Kai-shek announced his resignation as the President of the Republic of China. Around this time, Sun ordered the assets of demolished factories to be returned to and reinstalled in their original sites. When Chiang was in Fenghua District of Ningbo, he twiced ordered Tang Enbo to send telegrams to Sun, demanding the immediate demolition and relocation of factories to Taiwan. Sun, with the support of acting president Li Zongren, refused to carry out the orders on the grounds that it would be detrimental to the peace talks held at the time.