Editing Chiang Ching-kuo (section)

===Economic policies in Shanghai===
[[File:Chiang Ching-kuo 1948.jpg|thumbnail|Chiang Ching-kuo in 1948]]
[[File:Chiang Kai-shek and Chiang Ching-Kuo in 1948.jpg|250px|thumb|Chiang Ching-kuo (left) with father [[Chiang Kai-shek]] in 1948.]]
After the [[Second Sino-Japanese War]] and during the [[Chinese Civil War]], Chiang Ching-kuo briefly served as a liaison administrator in Shanghai, trying to eradicate the corruption and [[hyperinflation]] that plagued the city. He was determined to do this because of the fears arising from the Nationalists' increasing lack of popularity during the Civil War. Given the task of arresting dishonest businessmen who hoarded supplies for profit during the inflationary spiral, he attempted to assuage the business community by explaining that his team would only go after big war profiteers.

Chiang Ching-kuo copied Soviet methods, which he learned during his stay in the Soviet Union, to start a social revolution by attacking middle class merchants. He also enforced low prices on all goods to raise support from the [[Proletariat]].<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=YkREps9oGR4C&q=middle+class+social+revolution+soviet Fenby 2005 : p. 485] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230412110718/https://books.google.com/books?id=YkREps9oGR4C&q=middle+class+social+revolution+soviet |date=12 April 2023 }}. Retrieved 28 June 2010.</ref>

Chiang Ching-kuo used his own agents to make arrests in Shanghai, rather than the Shanghai city police.<ref name=":023">{{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=178}} Chiang Ching-kuo relied on two relatively new organizations which answered directly to him.<ref name=":023" />{{Rp|page=178}} He used the Sixth Battalion of the Bandit-Suppression National-Reconstruction Corps to search warehouses for hoarded goods and to place secret report boxes in the city where people could anonymously report violators.<ref name=":023" />{{Rp|pages=178–179}} He also used the Shanghai Youth Service Corps for enforcement.<ref name=":023" />{{Rp|page=179}}

As riots broke out and savings were ruined, bankrupting shopowners, Chiang Ching-kuo began to attack the wealthy, seizing assets and placing them under arrest. The son of the gangster [[Du Yuesheng]] was arrested by him.

Ching-kuo ordered KMT agents to raid the Yangtze Development Corporation's warehouses, which was privately owned by [[H.H. Kung]] and his family, as the company was accused of hoarding supplies. H.H. Kung's wife was [[Soong Ai-ling]], the sister of [[Soong Mei-ling]] who was Chiang Ching-kuo's stepmother.

Chiang Ching-kuo had H.H. Kung's son son [[David Kung Ling-kan|David Kung]] and several employees of the Yangtze Development Corporation arrested on allegations of holding foreign exchange.<ref name=":023" />{{Rp|page=181}} Soong Mei-ling called Chiang Kai-shek to complain and also called Chiang Ching-Kuo directly.<ref name=":023" />{{Rp|pages=182}} David Kung was eventually freed after negotiations, and Chiang Ching-kuo resigned, ending the terror on the Shanghainese merchants.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=YkREps9oGR4C&q=ching-kuo+turned+on+rich+assets+agents+raided&pg=PA339 Fenby 2005, p. 486] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230412110721/https://books.google.com/books?id=YkREps9oGR4C&q=ching-kuo+turned+on+rich+assets+agents+raided&pg=PA339 |date=12 April 2023 }}. Retrieved 28 June 2010.</ref>

The major impact of Chiang Ching-kuo's campaign was to cause the flight of prominent capitalists from Shanghai to Hong Kong and elsewhere.<ref name=":023" />{{Rp|page=183}} The failure of the campaign also affected Ching-kuo's political influence and reputation temporarily.