Yuan Geng
| Yuan Geng | |
|---|---|
| Native name | 袁庚 |
| Born |
Ouyang Rushan (欧阳汝山) 23 April 1917 Dapeng, Bao'an County, Guangdong, China |
| Died | 31 January 2016 (aged 98) Shekou, Shenzhen, China |
| Known for | Establishment of Shekou Industrial Zone, founding of China Merchants Bank and Ping An Insurance |
| Awards | Golden Bauhinia Star |
Yuan Geng (Chinese: 袁庚; 23 April 1917 – 31 January 2016), born Ouyang Rushan, was a Chinese guerrilla fighter, war hero, spy, policy visionary, and serial entrepreneur on behalf of the Chinese state. He was an early proponent of China's reform and opening up, and went on to create Shekou Industrial Zone, China International Marine Containers, CSG Holding, China Merchants Bank, and Ping An Insurance.
Born in Bao'an County, now part of Shenzhen, he joined the Chinese Communist Party at age 21 and fought guerrilla operations against the Japanese occupation army in the Dongjiang (East River) Column of the CPC-led Guangdong People's Anti-Japanese Aggression Guerrilla Force from March 1939. In 1942 he led a noted rescue operation of 800 people, and in 1944 became head of the Dongjiang Column's liaison division. In this capacity he provided crucial information to the US military (Pacific Fleet and 14th Army Air Force) about Japanese operations in Guangdong. In September 1945, he created a liaison office for the Communist guerrillas in Hong Kong, which later became the Xinhua News Agency office and as such, the de facto embassy of the People's Republic of China in the territory after 1949. From 1945 to 1949 he went on to fight the Chinese Civil War as an artillery officer.
From November 1949, Yuan Geng pursued a career as an intelligence officer, seconded to Ho Chi Minh in Vietnam in 1950, then as Consul in Jakarta from 1952. In 1955, he was in charge of security for the Chinese delegation at the Bandung Conference, and was credited with saving Premier Zhou Enlai from the KMT-led assassination plot that resulted in the airplane crash of the Kashmir Princess. He was imprisoned in April 1968 during the Cultural Revolution, in Beijing's Qincheng Prison.
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