Fang Yi

On 26 February 1916, Fang Yi was born in Xiamen, Fujian Province to a poor family. He original name was Fang Qingji (). He had an older brother, and his mother died 26 days after Fang Yi was born. His father remarried, and had another son and daughter. When Fang Yi was eight his father also died, and the family fell into abject poverty. ==War-time career==

He later went to Shanghai and worked at the Commercial Press, a leading publishing house. However, he was arrested by the Kuomintang in 1934, and sentenced to eight years in prison for his Communist activism. He was released from a Suzhou prison in 1937, after the Xi'an Incident and the Japanese invasion of China. He went on to serve as a political commissar in northern China during the Anti-Japanese War, and in the ensuing Chinese Civil War, he was Secretary General of the North China People's Government, the semi-autonomous Communist government in northern China. He also served as vice governor in the Communist government of Shandong Province. ==People's Republic of China==

After the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949 following the Communist victory, Fang Yi served as vice governor in his home province of Fujian from 1949 to 1952, Fang led the team implementing it, instructing schools, factories, and communes to organize youth-focused events celebrating science and technology. When Deng rose to power, Fang was made one of China's vice-premiers in March 1978, and was elected as a member of the 11th CCP Politburo (re-elected to the 12th Politburo in 1982). He also served as President of the CAS from 1979 to 1981. Under Deng's leadership, China established economic contacts with the Western world, and Fang led Chinese delegations to Japan and West Germany. He also accompanied Deng on the latter's historic visit to the United States in January 1979. Fang headed a separate delegation to American technological centers, such as the Georgia Institute of Technology, the Texas Medical Center, and a Lockheed plant near Los Angeles, with the aim of advancing China's industry. In May 1982, Fang became a state councilor, serving until 1988. He was also a member of the Presidium of the 12th Congress of the CCP. In 1988, he was appointed a Vice Chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, serving until 1993. He was honorary chairman of the Chinese Weiqi Association from 1977 until his death. On 17 October 1997, Fang Yi died in Beijing at the age of 81. ==Personal==

Fang Yi married his wife Yin Sen () in 1940, when he was fighting in Anhui Province during the Sino-Japanese War. Because his parents died early, he did not know his own birthdate until he got in touch with relatives when he was 60. == References ==