page_title: Li Qiang (minister)
hierarchical_section_title: Li Qiang (minister)
caption_attribution_description: English: Li Qiang, Minister of Foreign Trade of China
context_page_description: Li Qiang was a Chinese Communist revolutionary, military engineer, secret agent, and politician. He served as Minister of Foreign Trade from November 1973 to September 1981 and was an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
  Born into a prominent family in Changshu, as a student in Shanghai he joined the Communist Party of China during the May Thirtieth Movement in 1925, and became a key technical specialist in the early history of the CPC. After Chiang Kai-shek's Kuomintang massacred the Communists in 1927, Li was recruited by Zhou Enlai as the communications head of Teke, the CPC's intelligence agency, and created the CPC's first underground radio station. After his close friend and colleague Gu Shunzhang defected to the KMT in 1931, Li was forced into exile in the Soviet Union, where he studied to become a radio expert and published a book on rhombic antenna.
  During the Second Sino-Japanese War, Li established an arms industry in the CPC's rural base in Yan'an and headed the Yan'an Natural Science Institute. During the ensuing Chinese Civil War, he continued to oversee the CPC's arms industry and established a shortwave radio station for the Xinhua News Agency.
context_section_description: Li Qiang (Chinese: 李强; Wade–Giles: Li Ch'iang; 26 September 1905 – 29 September 1996) was a Chinese Communist revolutionary, military engineer, secret agent, and politician. He served as Minister of Foreign Trade from November 1973 to September 1981 and was an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
  Born into a prominent family in Changshu, as a student in Shanghai he joined the Communist Party of China (CPC) during the May Thirtieth Movement in 1925, and became a key technical specialist in the early history of the CPC. After Chiang Kai-shek's Kuomintang (KMT) massacred the Communists in 1927, Li was recruited by Zhou Enlai as the communications head of Teke, the CPC's intelligence agency, and created the CPC's first underground radio station. After his close friend and colleague Gu Shunzhang defected to the KMT in 1931, Li was forced into exile in the Soviet Union, where he studied to become a radio expert and published a book on rhombic antenna.
  During the Second Sino-Japanese War, Li established an arms industry in the CPC's rural base in Yan'an and headed the Yan'an Natural Science Institute. During the ensuing Chinese Civil War, he continued to oversee the CPC's arms industry and established a shortwave radio station for the Xinhua News Agency. After the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, Li served for three decades in the Ministry of Foreign Trade. As Vice-Minister, he played a major role in providing aid to North Vietnam during the Vietnam War and secretly visited the Ho Chi Minh trail. After becoming Minister of Foreign Trade in 1973, he signed hundreds of major deals to import Western technology and machinery and helped modernize China's economy.
caption: Li Qiang in 1923
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