Introduction
Yan Huiqing (Wade–Giles: Yen Hui-Ch'ing, (Name in English: Yen, Wei Ching Williams or W.W. Yen) 顏惠慶 (2 April 1877 – 24 May 1950) was a Chinese writer, politician, and diplomat from Shanghai.
Biography
A graduate of the University of Virginia, he taught the English language at St. John's University, Shanghai in a short time after coming back from the United States and then went to Beijing to start his political career. It was in the US he became a Freemason.
He served as premier five times and simultaneously as acting president on his last premiership in 1926. Wu Peifu handpicked him for the acting presidency to pave the way for Cao Kun's restoration but he was unable to take office due to Zhang Zuolin's objection. When Yan finally took his post, he immediately resigned and appointed navy minister Du Xigui as his successor.
He was also China's first ambassador to the Soviet Union and he was a delegate in the League of Nations. During World War II, he translated and compiled Stories of Old China in Hong Kong while under Japanese house-arrest in 1942. He took his first plane trip in 1949 to Moscow in hopes of resolving the Chinese Civil War.
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Jin Yunpeng | Premier of China 1921 | Succeeded by Liang Shiyi |
| Preceded by Liang Shiyi | Premier of China 1922 | Succeeded by Zhou Ziqi |
| Preceded by Zhou Ziqi | Premier of China 1922 | Succeeded by Wang Chonghui |
| Preceded by Gu Weijun | Premier of China 1924 | Succeeded by Huang Fu |
| Preceded by Hu Weide | President of the Republic of China 1926 | Succeeded by Du Xigui |
| Preceded by Hu Weide | Premier of China 1926 | Succeeded by Du Xigui |