Hsia Pin-fang papers

Hsia Pin-fang (1902-1970) was an executive of the Bank of China who managed the bank’s operations in New York, Ottawa, and London from 1939 to 1951, during the height of World War II and the Chinese civil war that resulted in the Communist takeover of 1949. Hsia was born in Anjing, Anhui province, China, on December 2, 1902. He was admitted by examination to Tsinghua University in Beijing and graduated in 1924. A scholarship funded his study in the United States, where he first earned a B. A. in economics and business administration from Colorado College in Colorado Springs in 1925. Hsia then attended Harvard Business School, where he graduated with an M.B.A. in 1927, concentrating on investment banking. While in the U.S., he met Lui Shuting, graduate of the University of Michigan with a Ph. D. in mathematics. The couple were married in December 1929 and returned to China, settling in Shanghai.

Upon his arrival in Shanghai, Hsia Pin-fang joined the international department of the Bank of China, one of China’s largest banks, which by 1935 was one of four banks controlled by the Chinese government. During the 1930s, he worked in various roles in the Bank of China’s international business and trust departments. In 1939, Hsia was appointed manager of the Bank of China’s New York agency. From 1939 to 1944, he oversaw the daily operations of the New York branch, which handled the bank’s activities in the Western hemisphere, including investment management and remittance transactions between New York and China. These activities were complicated by the circumstances of World War II and the Japanese occupation of parts of China. Hsia’s responsibilities also included providing the bank’s home office with status reports on political, economic, banking, and military issues. He was considerably involved in fundraising and other public activities aimed at increasing support for China’s cause in the Western world.

In 1944, Hsia was transferred to Ottawa to serve as the Bank of China’s resident representative in Canada and to establish a branch there. Then in 1946, Hsia was appointed manager of the Bank of China’s London branch, and was responsible for the bank’s operations and activities in the United Kingdom, Europe, and Africa during the period of economic recovery following the end of World War II. His years in the London office, 1946 to 1951, coincided with the Chinese Civil War (1946-1949) and the founding of the People’s Republic of China in October 1949 after the Communist victory. The effect of the Communist takeover on the Bank of China proved a considerable challenge to Hsia, who was pressed for loyalty by the Communist and Nationalist (then based in Taiwan) sides. Both claimed jurisdiction over the foreign assets and activities of the Bank of China.

In 1951, as the Communist government increased its control over the Bank of China, Hsia Pin-fang decided to resign his position. Having previously sent his family to the United States, he left London in February 1951, traveling first to Canada and then to New York. He left the banking industry and with the help of friends, joined the oil firm Magnus, Maybee and Renard in New York in 1952. In 1969, Hsia became a U.S. citizen. He died in New York City on December 22, 1970.