Mr. Cheng Hsiao-hsu Passes in Changchun At Age of 79; Loyal Service to His Emperor Changchun, Mar. 28.
'R. Cheng Hsiao-hsu, the first Prime Minister of the new state of Manchoukuo, died here to-day at the age of 79. Mr. Cheng was one of the men responsible for planning the escape of the young ex-Emperor of China, Mr. Pu Yi—now Emperor Kang Teh of Manchoukuo—when his life was threatened in 1924 by Marshal Feng Vu-hsiang.
Despite offers of high positions made to him from time to time by the Chinese Government, Mr. Chengs loyalty lasted throughout the years that followed. He was rewarded at last on March 8, 1932, when Henry Pu Yi was installed as Chief Executive of the state of Manchoukuo, post which was only the prelude to his enthronement as the Emperor Kang Teh in 1934.
Cheng Hsiao-hsu was born in 1859 at Foochow, the treaty-port in Fukien province. From his father Cheng Shou-lien he inherited scholarly qualities which led to his entry as a pupil in the Hanliyuan Academy out of which he passed, at the age of 22, with the coveted title of a Hanlin.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.