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Zhou Ziqi 周自齊
Acting President of the Republic of China
In office 2 June 1922 – 11 June 1922
Preceded by	Xu Shichang
Succeeded by	Li Yuanhong
Acting Premier of the Republic of China
In office 8 April 1922 – 11 June 1922
President	Xu Shichang Himself (as acting President)
Preceded by	Yan Huiqing
Succeeded by	Yan Huiqing
Minister of War of the Republic of China
In office 1913–1914
Preceded by	Duan Qirui
Succeeded by	Wang Shizhen
Personal details
Born	(1869-11-17)November 17, 1869 Guangdong, Qing Dynasty
Died	October 21, 1923(1923-10-21) (aged 53) Shanghai, Republic of China
Nationality	Republic of China
Political party	Non-partisan
Other political affiliations	Progressive Party
Education	Columbia University
Awards	Order of Rank and Merit Order of the Precious Brilliant Golden Grain Order of the Rising Sun Order of the Sacred Treasure Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus
Military service
Allegiance	Qing dynasty Republic of China

Zhou Ziqi (Chinese: 周自齊; pinyin: Zhōu Zìqí; Wade–Giles: Chow Tzu-ch'i) (17 November 1869 – 21 October 1923) was a Chinese educator and politician in the late Qing dynasty and early republican period. During the early part of the Republic, he served multiple roles: first in multiple ministry positions (including Communication and Finance), as a diplomat, then as acting President of the Republic, and, for a time, as acting Premier in 1922, during Liang Shiyi's illness. He was a member of the Communications Clique.

Biography

Born in Guangdong, Zhou, who spoke both Cantonese and Mandarin, later moved back to his ancestral province of Shandong. He attended Columbia University in the United States, and upon returning to China, he helped found Tsinghua University to prepare Chinese students to study abroad in America; among the subjects he emphasized were English, mathematics, and science. During his time at Tsinghua, Zhou was in charge of sending students to study abroad, and from 1911 to 1912, he served as president of the university.

As the governor of Shandong Province, he exerted significant influence, helping leak information about the Twenty-One Demands to the media.

A supporter of Yuan Shikai, the provisional president, and his actions to revert China from a republic to a monarch-led empire, Zhou, during his tenure as governor of Shandong, believed that the Chinese people, with a literacy rate of 2%, were not ready to govern themselves. In his view, the people could only be manipulated by politicians, and their actions would bring instability and chaos to the country. (To further buttress his argument, Zhou may have invited Columbia University political scientist Frank Johnson Goodnow to justify monarchism for China.) In 1913, Yuan appointed him Minister of War, a post in which he served until the following year.

Yuan attempted to re-establish the Empire of China in late 1915, sending Zhou to the Empire of Japan as a special envoy. The Japanese government under Okuma Shigenobu rejected him, and he returned to China to tell Yuan that his government had lost foreign support. After the failure of the restoration of the monarchy and Yuan's death in June 1916, Zhou found that his support for the Empire was not without personal cost: considered one of the eight top monarchists of the former regime, he was declared a traitor; and the new President, Li Yuanhong, ordered his arrest, causing Zhou to flee to Japan for asylum. After being pardoned by President Feng Guozhang in 1918, he served as Minister of Finance in 1920, under Xu Shichang.

As finance minister, he lost a power struggle against Premier Jin Yunpeng in 1921, and was compelled to resign. Seeking revenge, he convinced Zhang Zuolin to replace the premier with Liang Shiyi, the head of the civilian Communications Clique. That same year, he served as a member of the Chinese delegation to the Washington Naval Conference, before his resignation due to the "negative results" of the conference.

Zhou also served as President of the Bank of China, Minister of Communication, Minister of Military, Minister of Agriculture and Commerce, and the Inspector General of Salt.

In 1922, he briefly served as acting premier and acting president, after the resignation of Liang as premier (due to illness), and, later, Xu as President. His presidency, the shortest in Chinese history, was an interim one, as the Zhili clique tried to woo Li Yuanhong back into office. Having succeeded, but complaining of Zhili interference, he left to study film-making in the United States, later returning to China to start a film studio. He died on Oct 21, 1923 at his home in Beijing.

References

1. "Attaches of Delegation Resign in Protest Against 'Negative Results' of Conference.; THREE MORE CHINESE ADVISERS RESIGN". The New York Times. 1921-12-07. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2018-02-28.
2. "CHINA HAS ACTING PREMIER.; Chow Tzu-Chi Named in the Absence". The New York Times. 1922-04-13. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2018-02-28.

v t e Presidents of the Republic of China
Provisional Government	Sun Yat-sen (1912) Yuan Shikai (1912–1913)
Beiyang government	Yuan Shikai (1913–1916) Li Yuanhong (1916–1917) Feng Guozhang (1917–1918; acting) Xu Shichang (1918–1922) Li Yuanhong (1922–1923) Gao Lingwei (1923; acting) Cao Kun (1923–1924) Huang Fu (1924; acting) Duan Qirui (1924–1926) Hu Weide (1926; acting) Yan Huiqing (1926; acting) Du Xigui (1926; acting) Wellington Koo (1926–1927; acting) Zhang Zuolin (1927–1928)
Nationalist government (Chairman)	Tan Yankai (1928) Chiang Kai-shek (1928–1931) Lin Sen (1931–1943) Chiang Kai-shek (1943–1948)
Constitutional government (Indirect election)	Chiang Kai-shek (1948–1949) Li Tsung-jen (1949–1950; acting) Chiang Kai-shek (1950–1975; resumed) Yen Chia-kan (1975–1978) Chiang Ching-kuo (1978–1988) Lee Teng-hui (1988–1996)
Constitutional government (Direct election)	Lee Teng-hui (1996–2000) Chen Shui-bian (2000–2008) Ma Ying-jeou (2008–2016) Tsai Ing-wen (2016–2024) Lai Ching-te (2024–present)
See also List of presidents of the Republic of China Xia → Shang → Zhou → Qin → Han → 3 Kingdoms → Jìn / 16 Kingdoms → S. Dynasties / N. Dynasties → Sui → Tang → 5 Dynasties & 10 Kingdoms → Liao / Song / W. Xia / Jīn → Yuan → Ming → Qing → ROC / PRC

v t e Heads of government of the Republic of China
Premiers of Cabinet	Tang Shaoyi Lu Zhengxiang Zhao Bingjun Duan Qirui* Xiong Xiling Sun Baoqi*
Secretaries of State	Xu Shichang Lu Zhengxiang*
Premiers of State Council	Duan Qirui Wu Tingfang* Li Jingxi
Premiers of State Council	Duan Qirui Wang Daxie* Wang Shizhen* Qian Nengxun* Gong Xinzhan* Jin Yunpeng Sa Zhenbing Yan Huiqing* Liang Shiyi Zhou Ziqi* Wang Chonghui* Wang Zhengting* Zhang Shaozeng Gao Lingwei Sun Baoqi Vi Kyuin Wellington Koo* Huang Fu* Xu Shiying Jia Deyao* Hu Weide* Du Xigui* Pan Fu
Presidents of Executive Yuan (Mainland China)	Tan Yankai T. V. Soong Chiang Kai-shek Chen Mingshu Sun Fo Wang Jingwei H. H. Kung Zhang Qun Weng Wenhao He Yingqin
Presidents of Executive Yuan (Taiwan)	Yan Xishan Chen Cheng Yu Hung-chun Yen Chia-kan Chiang Ching-kuo Sun Yun-suan Yu Kuo-hwa Lee Huan Hau Pei-tsun Lien Chan Vincent Siew Tang Fei Chang Chun-hsiung Yu Shyi-kun Frank Hsieh Su Tseng-chang Liu Chao-shiuan Wu Den-yih Sean Chen Jiang Yi-huah Mao Chi-kuo Chang San-cheng Lin Chuan Lai Ching-te Su Tseng-chang Chen Chien-jen Cho Jung-tai
*acting

v t e Warlord Era and warlordism during the Nanjing decade
1915–1924 1925–1934 Factions 1911–1914 Bai Lang Rebellion 1913 Second Revolution 1915 Twenty-One Demands 1915–1916 Empire of China (Yuan Shikai) National Protection War 1916 Death of Yuan Shikai 1917 Manchu Restoration 1917–1922 Constitutional Protection Movement 1917–1929 Golok rebellions 1918–1920 Siberian intervention 1919 Paris Peace Conference Shandong Problem May Fourth Movement 1919–1921 Occupation of Outer Mongolia 1920 Zhili–Anhui War 1920–1921 Guangdong–Guangxi War 1920–1926 Spirit Soldier rebellions 1921 1st National CPC Congress 1921–1922 Washington Naval Conference 1922 First Zhili–Fengtian War 1923–1927 First United Front 1923 Lincheng Outrage 1924 Second Zhili–Fengtian War Canton Merchants' Corps Uprising Beijing Coup 1925 Yunnan–Guangxi War May Thirtieth Movement 1925–1926 Anti-Fengtian War Canton–Hong Kong strike 1926 Zhongshan Warship Incident 1926–1928 Northern Expedition Nanjing–Wuhan Split Nationalist-Communist Civil War 1927 Nanking incident of 1927 1927 Shanghai Commune of 1927 1927 Shanghai massacre 1927 July 15 Incident 1927–1930 Muslim conflict in Gansu 1928 Jinan incident Huanggutun incident Looting of the Eastern Mausoleum Northeast Flag Replacement 1928–1929 Third Red Spears' uprising in Shandong 1929 Chiang-Gui War Warlord Rebellion in northeastern Shandong (incl. Beijing Revolt) Sino-Soviet conflict 1930 Central Plains War 1930–1932 Sino-Tibetan War / Qinghai–Tibet War 1931–1935 Kumul Rebellion / Soviet invasion of Xinjiang 1932 Han–Liu War 1932 Two-Liu war 1934 War in Ningxia Beiyang Anhui Zhili Fengtian (National Pacification Army) Zhili Army Shanxi Guominjun Ma Xinjiang Yunnan Sichuan Old Guangxi New Guangxi Guangdong Guizhou Kuomintang (KMT) Communist Party (CCP)
Republic of China (1912–1949)

• Presidents of the Republic of China
• 1869 births
• 1923 deaths
• Premiers of the Republic of China
• Columbia University alumni
• Recipients of Chinese presidential pardons
• Politicians from Chaozhou
• Republic of China politicians from Guangdong
• Progressive Party (China) politicians
• 20th-century Chinese heads of government
• Governors of Shandong
• Chinese filmmakers