Chen Cheng (; ; wugniu (Qingtian dialect): Dzan2-yin2; January 4, 1898 – March 5, 1965), courtesy name Tsi-siou (), was a Chinese politician, military leader, revolutionary, and the leader of the Tsotanhui Clique. He is widely regarded as the chief architect of Taiwan's post-war land reform and economic modernization programs during the 1950s.
A close protégé of Chiang Kai-shek, Chen rose through the ranks of the National Revolutionary Army and played a major role as a senior commander during the Northern Expedition, the Warlord Era, the Second Sino-Japanese War, and the Chinese Civil War. Following the Kuomintang's retreat to Taiwan, Chen was appointed Governor of Taiwan, during which he declared martial law, and later served as Premier and Vice President. In these roles, he led Taiwan's land redistribution and industrial transformation throughout the 1950s and 1960s, reforms that scholars often identify as key precursors to the Taiwan Miracle. These programs were widely credited with curbing the spread of communism on the island and consolidating public support for the KMT regime.
Early life Chen Cheng was born in Qingtian County, Zhejiang, to a peasant family as the eldest son among three boys and one girl. He graduated from Baoding Military Academy in 1922, and entered Whampoa Military Academy two years later. It was there that he first met Chiang Kai-shek, Commandant of the Academy. Later, Chen joined National Revolutionary Army to participate in the Northern Expedition.
Personal life Chen Cheng married Wu Shun-lien (吳舜蓮), the younger sister of his classmate Wu Ziqi, in 1917. In May 1925, while on leave to attend his father’s funeral, Wu reportedly attempted suicide due to suspicions of Chen’s infidelity, but survived. The couple subsequently divorced, though Wu continued to reside at Chen’s family home in Zhejiang. She retreated to Taichung in 1949 and lived with her brother until her death in 1978.
In 1932, through the introduction of Chiang Kai-shek, Chen married Tan Siang (譚祥), daughter of the late Premier Tan Yankai. They had six children, listed here in birth order:
Chen Hsing (陳幸), who earned a master's degree in mathematics from Columbia University. She married , a biochemist who later served as Vice Minister of Education and President of National Central University. Yu was also the son of Young China Party co-founder Yu Jiaju. Chen Ping (陳平) Chen Li-an (陳履安), who obtained a Ph.D. in mathematics from New York University and later served as Minister of Economic Affairs, Minister of National Defense, and President of the Control Yuan, and ran as an independent candidate in the 1996 presidential election. Chen Li-ching (陳履慶) Chen Li-pei (陳履碚) Chen Li-chieh (陳履潔)
Of Chen’s grandchildren, only the eldest son of Chen Hsing and the eldest son of Chen Li-an were born during his lifetime.
Rise in military During the Northern Expedition, Chen displayed good leadership ability. Within a year, he was promoted from commanding battalions to divisions already.
After the expedition, Chen became active in the wars against the warlords. His successes in the battles allowed him to be promoted again, to the commander of the 18th Army.
Anticommunist campaigns In 1931, Chen was assigned the task of suppressing the Red Army. In various campaigns searching for the main force of Red Army, Chen's units experienced heavy casualties. In the fifth campaign against the Communists, he finally managed to defeat them, which forced the Red Army to launch its Long March.
Campaigns against the Red Army came to an end after the Xi'an Incident in which Chiang and his staff were forced to agree to co-operate with the communists against the invading Imperial Japanese Army.
War against Japan Military Activity
During the Battle of Shanghai, he was one of the top military assistants of Chiang Kai Shek. It was his idea to seek a decisive action in Southern China, rather than confronting the Japanese in Northern China, where Nationalist troops were in poor condition and lacked transporting vehicles. After the fall of Shanghai and of Nanjing, Chen moved to Hubei to command the Battle of Wuhan in 1938. Wuhan was the provisional headquarters of the Chinese Army. The Japanese, however, managed, despite heavy losses to defeat the Chinese and captured Wuhan on October 25, 1938.
In July 1938, Chen assumed the position of Secretary-General of the Three Principles of the People Youth Corps. The organization, established by Chiang Kai-shek in response to the Japanese invasion, was intended as an entity independent of the Kuomintang, designed to operate outside the party’s direct control and free from CC Clique influence. Due to the Chen’ military responsibilities, Chiang and Chen appointed Zhu Jiahua as acting Secretary-General, a move that has been interpreted as marking the beginning of Chen’s shift in focus from military to politic, and simultaneously regarded as a collaboration between Chen and Zhu against CC Clique.
In the last years of the war, Chen went on to command in the Battle of Changsha, the Battle of Yichang, and the Battle of West Hubei. In 1943, he was appointed the commander of the Chinese Expeditionary Force in the Burma Theater until he was replaced by Wei Li-huang because of illness.
Political Activity In January 1938, Chen assumed leadership of the newly merged Political Department, which incorporated the Military Affairs Commission’s Sixth Department responsible for wartime party organization and training. This reorganization effectively transferred the KMT’s powers of organization, propaganda, and cadre training from Chen Lifu to Chen Cheng. In April of the same year, former CC Clique member Zhu Jiahua was appointed Secretary-General of the Kuomintang with Chiang Kai-shek’s support. From Chen Cheng’s perspective, the restructuring strengthened his control over party affairs and provided the institutional backing to counter the influence of rival factions, including the CC Clique, thereby consolidating his position within the KMT leadership. This restructuring marked the Whampoa Clique’s first significant senior-level intervention in KMT party affairs and constituted Chiang Kai-shek’s initial attempt to use the faction to curb the influence of the CC Clique.
As Secretary-General of the Three Principles of the People Youth Corps. Chen was mominally the second most important leader after Chiang Kai-shek. In practice, however, Chen’s control was constrained. The appointment of Kang Tse as acting head of the Organization Department, often have conflicts with Chen. General Xu Yongchang also critzed that Chen’s political commitments undermined his military responsibilities. Chiang Kai-shek’s subsequent decision to appoint Zhu Jiahua—an academic figure acceptable to both Chen and close to Kang Tse—as acting Secretary-General.
Chinese Civil War
After the Second Sino-Japanese War, Chen became the Chief of the General Staff and commander-in-chief of the navy. He followed Chiang's orders and began to raid the "liberated" areas of the Red Army, which launched the Chinese Civil War.
In August 1947, Chiang appointed Chen as director of the Northeastern Headquarters to command the Nationalist forces against the Communists in that area. He made the crucial mistake of dissolving the local security regiments because they had served in the Japanese-collaborationist Manchukuo Imperial Army, which made the total Nationalist strength in Manchuria fall from 1.3 million to less than 480,000. He also dismissed some of the most capable Nationalist commanders, such as Du Yuming, Sun Li-jen, Zheng Dongguo, and Chen Mingren. As a result, he suffered a series of major defeats, and Chiang recalled Chen to Nanjing and sent Wei Lihuang to replace him in Shenyang as Commander-in-Chief of the Northeast and Fan Hanjie as deputy commander-in-chief and director of Jinzhou forward command center. Chen took a sick leave in Taiwan to treat his chronic stomach ailment.
In Taiwan
Governorship Chiang appointed Chen as the Governor of Taiwan Province in 1949 to plan the development of Taiwan as a Nationalist stronghold. After the Nationalist force retreated to Taiwan, Chen went on to hold key civilian government positions such as Vice-Executive of the Kuomintang, Vice President, and Premier of the Republic of China. He was the youngest premier since promulgation of the 1947 constitution to take office.
Chen's administrative style combined centralized authority with reliance on technocrats. As Premier, he promoted figures such as Yin Chung-jung, Yen Chia-kan, Yang Chi-tseng and Li Kwoh-ting, valuing professional expertise to drive Taiwan’s postwar reconstruction.
In his years on Taiwan, he introduced various land and economic reforms and carried out the reconstruction of Taiwan. Chen's 37.5% Arable Rent Reduction initiative was credited with stopping the spread of communism in Taiwan. The policy capped the rent farmers paid to landlords at 37.5% of the harvest. Prior to the directive, landlords had often sought more than half of the crop as payment.
Following the "37.5% Arable Rent Reduction Act" policy, Chen promptly initiated the Public Land Distribution in 1951, aiming to compulsorily acquire land from landlords. A total of 138,957 hectares were redistributed to 286,287 tenant farming households.李守孔，《中國現代史》，台北，三民書局，1973年9月，第184頁，ISBN 9571406635
In 1952, the Land to the Tiller policy was implemented. Between 1949 and 1960, rice yields per hectare in Taiwan increased by approximately 50%, and farmers’ net income tripled. Land reform resulted in over 80% of Taiwanese farmers becoming owner-cultivators.
He advanced the national strategy of “People above All, Livehood First” alongside the dual policy of “using agriculture to nourish industry, and using industry to develop agriculture.”
He was also credited with launching several construction projects. One was the Shimen Reservoir, in Taoyuan County, which reduced flooding and increased the rice crop production.
Chen opposed the Kuomintang’s policy of launching a military counterattack against the mainland, repeatedly warning in meetings against taking reckless action. In his memoirs, he stated that while a military reconquest was impossible, “political, diplomatic, and economic counteroffensives” were still feasible.
Based on this view, Chen supported reducing military expenditure. A well-known episode during the drafting of the “19-Point Economic and Financial Reform Program”—aimed at ensuring Taiwan’s economic self-sufficiency after the cessation of U.S. aid—saw Chen, Yin Chung-jung, and Yen Chia-kan forgoing the Lunar New Year holiday to discuss persuading Chiang Kai-shek to cut defense spending. Ultimately, Yen proposed freezing the defense budget at its current nominal value, so that as national revenues increased, military spending would constitute a progressively smaller share of the budget. The three then presented this plan to Chiang, who eventually approved it.
White Terror
During the April 6 Incident (四六事件), a wave of student protests broke out in Taiwan against Kuomintang authoritarian rule in 1949. At the time, Chen Cheng ordered the suppression of the demonstrations and the arrest of a number of student activists.
On May 19, 1949, Chen promulgated the Order of Martial Law to announce the imposition of martial law throughout Taiwan to expel communist infiltration and to buffer defense capabilities.
As Governor of Taiwan, Chen also served concurrently as commander of the Taiwan Garrison Command and head of the High-level Intelligence Committee. He co-directed suppression campaigns against dissenters and curtailed the influence of the CC Clique by withholding budgetary support for its Bureau of Investigation.