Chen Lianbo

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 Father
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 Civilian awards

**Chen Lianbo** (Chinese: 陈廉伯; Wade–Giles: Ch'en Lien-pai; born 1884) is the former president of the General Chamber of Commerce in Canton and Commander-in-Chief of the **Canton Merchants' Corps**, an underground group operating in Canton (Guangzhou). He is perhaps most known for leading the 1924 **Canton Merchants' Corps Uprising** (Chinese: 廣州商團事變) against the government of Sun Yat-sen.

## The Merchants' Corps

During the Xinhai Revolution, society was in chaos. In 1912, the **Canton Merchants' Corps**was established as the self defense arm of the Canton merchants, with Chen as it's president. It was aimed at maintaining social security and protecting the lives and property of the Cantonese merchants. However, as it continued to grow in strength, the movement became increasingly conservative, gradually evolving into an armed force against Sun Yat-sen's revolutionary government.

## The Uprising

### Background

In January of 1924, the **1st National Congress of the Chinese Kuomintang** was held in Guangdong, and an united front with the **Chinese Communist Party** was formed. Fearing that communism would be eventually adopted in Canton, the initially pro-KMT merchants changed their attitude towards Sun's government. In May, the Nationalists' announcement of the "unified road ownership" law to impose a new tax caused further dissatisfaction. In August, many strikes happened in Canton. The Merchants' Corps established its "Defense Headquarters", in which Chen was the commander and Deng Jieshi and Chen Gongshou vice-commanders. After further negotiations, the government decided to withdraw the road ownership law and the strike was suspended.

### The Merchants Take Action

On August 10, 1924, the British-registered ship *Harvard* arrived in Canton, carrying some 9000 guns, 40 machine guns, and 3 million rounds of ammunition purchased by the merchants' corps from a British company. The merchants' corps had already been approved for the weapon purchase, but the ship was immediately detained by Chiang Kai-shek's *Jianggu*. The government claimed that both the quantity of weapons and their arrival date did not match what had been stated. On August 12 and 15, about a thousand of the Canton Merchants' Corps marched to Sun's office and appealed to the government to release their weapons. Sun refused and the merchants' corps called a strike all over Guangdong Province.

On August 24, Sun Yat-sen announced a curfew in Canton, and a warrant was issued for Chen Lianbo's arrest. Two days later, 32 counties in Guangdong decided to support the merchants' strike. On September 4, Sun left Canton for Shaoguan, and appointed **Hu Hanmin** as the governor. On September 15, Chen Lianbo and Chen Gongshou posted that the merchants' corps had no intention to overturn the government in Canton and would abide by orders from Sun and his government. Hu withdrew their arrest warrants, and he released a portion of the seized weapons to the corps.

On October 10, the Communists held demonstrations against the merchants, and chanted "Beat the Merchants' Corps, Kill Chen Lianbo, and Support the Revolutionary Government". When the crowd came to South Taiping Road, they clashed with the merchants, leaving about 20 dead and more than 100 injured. The merchants posted notices with slogans such as "Sun's government should retire" and "Beat Sun's government." During that night, Chen Qianzhong, Chen Lianbo's brother, met Deng Jieshi, Li Songshao, and other leaders of the merchants' corps. It was decided to congregate all the soldiers in Xiguan at 5 PM on 14 October and take over governmental agencies the morning after.

On October 11, Sun organized a revolutionary commitee with Xu Zongzhi, Liao Zhongkai, Wang Jingwei, Chiang Kai-shek, Chen Youren, and Tan Pingshan in attendance. On October 15, Chiang Kai-Shek led his **Whampoa** cadets back to Canton. Together with Sun's supporters, they swiftly defeated the Merchants' Corps, and Chen had to leave for Hong Kong. During this battle, business areas in Xiguan were severely damaged by a fire.

## The Merchants' Corps in 1932

As of 1932, the Merchants' Corps is a fringe group. Most of the leadership has been exiled to Hong Kong, and the few in Canton are either under arrest or have been marginalized. The British in Hong Kong have promised, however, to help Chen become the "Washington of China" and overthrow the Kuomintang government, which they believe is leading China towards communism.

## Philanthropy

Chen is an enthusiastic philanthrope. He has donated funds to hospitals, charity associations and economic associations, having founded the Yi School and Women's Vacational School in his hometown of Foshan. He has also contributed to the establishment of Canton Orphanage and the Canton Girls' Industrial School.

He is an active member of the Board of Directors of the Canton Hospital, and of the Fong Pin, or Convenient Hospital. In 1919, Chen was directly responsible for the organization of the Canton Food Relief Association, which eventually averted a possible rice famine that would have caused great distress to the poor of Canton.