Yan Huiqing

Yan Huiqing
President of the Republic of China
In office 13 May 1926 – 22 June 1926
Preceded by	Hu Weide
Succeeded by	Du Xigui
Premier of the Republic of China
In office 18 December 1921 – 24 December 1921
Preceded by	Jin Yunpeng
Succeeded by	Zhang Xun
In office 25 January 1922 – 8 April 1922
Preceded by	Zhang Xun
Succeeded by	Zhou Ziqi
In office 11 June 1922 – 5 August 1922
Preceded by	Zhou Ziqi
Succeeded by	Wang Chonghui
In office 14 September 1924 – 31 October 1924
Preceded by	Wellington Koo
Succeeded by	Huang Fu
In office 13 May 1926 – 22 June 1926
Preceded by	Hu Weide
Succeeded by	Du Xigui
Personal details
Born	(1877-04-02)2 April 1877
Died	24 May 1950(1950-05-24) (aged 73)
Political party	Anhui clique

Yan Huiqing (Wade–Giles: Yen Hui-Ch'ing, (also Weiching Williams Yen or simply W W Yen) 顏惠慶 (2 April 1877 – 24 May 1950) was Premier of China and President of the Republic of China in the 1920s, native of Shanghai. He was also an accomplished linguist.

Biography

A graduate of the University of Virginia, he taught the English language at St. John's University, Shanghai in a short time after coming back from the United States and then went to Beijing to start his political career. It was in the US he became a Freemason.

He served as premier five times and simultaneously as acting president on his last premiership in 1926. Wu Peifu handpicked him for the acting presidency to pave the way for Cao Kun's restoration but he was unable to take office due to Zhang Zuolin's objection. When Yan finally took his post, he immediately resigned and appointed navy minister Du Xigui as his successor.

He was also China's first ambassador to the Soviet Union and he was a delegate in the League of Nations. During World War II, he translated and compiled Stories of Old China in Hong Kong while under Japanese house-arrest in 1942. He took his first plane trip in 1949 to Moscow in hopes of resolving the Chinese Civil War.