Editing H. H. Kung (section)

===Minister in the Nationalist government===
Kung was an early supporter of [[Sun Yat-sen]] and the [[Kuomintang|Kuomintang (KMT or Nationalist Party)]], including early leaders such as [[Wang Jingwei]].  He developed close family ties. His wife was a sister of [[T. V. Soong|Soong Tse-ven]]. [[Soong Ching-ling]], another sister, married Sun Yat-sen in 1915 and [[Chiang Kai-shek]] became Kung's brother-in-law in 1927 when he married [[Soong Mei-ling]].<ref name="Boorman"/> The [[Soong sisters]] and their husbands had the reputation of being one of the [[Four big families of the Republic of China|Four Big Families]] of the time.<ref name="Boorman"/>

Kung began his career in the Nationalist government of the [[Republic of China (1912–49)|Republic of China]] as Minister of Industry, holding this position from 1927-1928<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,928965,00.html |title=Foreign News: Chiang's Cabinet |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |date=October 29, 1928}}</ref> in the Wuhan Nationalist Government, led by Wang Jingwei during the [[Northern Expedition]] as a leftist rival to Chiang's faction. After the fall of Wang's government, Kung served as the Minister of Industry and Commerce from 1928-1931 in the Nanking Government, and later as the [[List of finance ministers of the Republic of China|Minister of Finance]],<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,852022,00.html |title=U.S. At War: The Mission of Daddy Kung |magazine=Time |date=July 3, 1944}}</ref> from 1933–1944.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,766397,00.html |title=China: Thirteen Billion Blessings |magazine=Time |date=February 16, 1942}}</ref> Kung was governor of the [[Central Bank of China]] from 1933 to 1945, and also chairman of the [[China Development Finance Corporation]] from its creation in 1934.

In 1927 one of his first acts in government was to balance the national budget. To raise the capital required, Kung increased the taxes on cigarettes by 50%. Several Shanghai cigarette factories protested against these taxes with shutdowns. Kung also threatened to increase the salt tax by 28%.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,746553,00.html |title=China: Balance or Bust |magazine=Time |date=December 18, 1933}}</ref>

Kung joined the central executive committee of the KMT in 1931. He served as [[Premier of the Republic of China]] from 1 January 1938 – 20 November 1939. Kung then served as the Vice-Premier of the Executive Yuan, from 1935-1945. Kung served as China's Chief Delegate to the International Monetary & Financial Conference in 1944, where he signed the Bretton Woods Accord during the [[Bretton Woods Conference]] at the Mount Washington Hotel, in New Hampshire, United States. This conference established the [[International Monetary Fund]] (IMF) and the [[International Bank for Reconstruction and Development]] (IBRD), which today is part of the [[World Bank]] Group.

After his move to the central government, Kung continued to advocate for good relations between Chiang Kai-shek and Yan Xishan. Yan's opposition to Chiang during the 1930 [[Central Plains War]] caused Yan to formally retire from all positions of leadership in Shanxi, and to flee to [[Dalian]]. Kung's tireless advocacy for Yan within the central government was successful, as Chiang allowed Yan to return to Shanxi in 1931. Chiang clearly recognized Yan as the ''de facto'' ruler of Shanxi by 1934.<ref>Gillin 120, 124</ref>

In 1933, Kung spent weeks in Germany, a German business delegation accompanied him back to China, among them Vizeadmiral a. D. Walther Kinzel, who represented Zeiss, Rheinmetall, Krupp and Loewe. In June 1933, [[Hans von Seeckt]] published the memorandum to Marshal [[Chiang Kai-shek]] on his program to industrialize and militarize China. In 1934, Kung stated, in response to the American "nationalization of silver", that "We also would like to nationalize silver but for China this is impossible because our Government is hampered by extraterritorial treaties. We do not want the price to skyrocket, for silver is vital to our national life."<ref name="Time2">{{cite magazine |url=https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,747712,00.html |title=China: Chiang on Lid |magazine=Time |date=August 20, 1934}}</ref>

Kung directed the creation of the fiat currency [[History of Chinese currency|fabi]], which replaced the silver standard in 1935.<ref name=":022">{{Cite book |last=Coble |first=Parks M. |title=The Collapse of Nationalist China: How Chiang Kai-shek Lost China's Civil War |date=2023 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |isbn=978-1-009-29761-5 |location=Cambridge New York, NY |author-link=Parks M. Coble}}</ref>{{Rp|page=10}} The fabi experienced from inflation and hyperinflation, and its collapse during Kung's tenure resulted in his legacy as minister of finance being viewed poorly.<ref name=":022"/>{{Rp|pages=57–58}}