Li Qiang (revolutionary)

Li Qiang
Li Qiang
李强
	Li in 1923
Minister of Foreign Trade
	In office; October 1973 – September 1981
Preceded by	Bai Xiangguo
Succeeded by	Zheng Tuobin
Personal details
Born	Zeng Peihong; 26 September 1905; Changshu, Jiangsu, Qing China
Died	29 September 1996 (aged 91); Beijing, People's Republic of China
Resting place	Yushan Scenic Area, Changshu
Political party	CCP
Spouse	Wei Huantu
Children	3
Education	High school affiliated to Nanyang Railroad and Mining Speciality School

Li Qiang (Chinese: 李强; Wade–Giles: Li Ch'iang; 26 September 1905 – 29 September 1996) was a Chinese Communist revolutionary, military engineer, secret agent, radio scientist, diplomat, and politician. He served as the 2nd Minister of Foreign Trade of China from November 1973 to September 1981, and was elected an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1955.

Born into a prominent family in Changshu, as a student in Shanghai he joined the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) during the May Thirtieth Movement in 1925, and became a key technical specialist in the early history of the CCP. After Chiang Kai-shek's Kuomintang (KMT) massacred the Communists in 1927, Li was recruited by Zhou Enlai as the communications head of the Central Special Operations Division (Teke), the CCP's intelligence agency, and created the CCP's first underground radio station. After his close friend and colleague Gu Shunzhang defected to the KMT in 1931, Li was forced into exile in the Soviet Union, where he studied to become a radio expert and published a book on rhombic antenna.

During the Second Sino-Japanese War, Li established an arms industry in the CCP's rural base in Yan'an and headed the Yan'an Natural Science Institute. During the ensuing Chinese Civil War, he continued to oversee the CCP's arms industry and established a shortwave radio station for the Xinhua News Agency. After the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, Li served for three decades in the Ministry of Foreign Trade. As Vice-Minister, he played a major role in providing aid to North Vietnam during the Vietnam War and secretly visited the Ho Chi Minh trail. After becoming Minister of Foreign Trade in 1973, he signed hundreds of major deals to import Western technology and machinery and helped modernize China's economy.