People · businessman, Municipal Council Chinese director
Yuan Ludeng
袁履登Yuán Lǚdēng · 1879–1954
Ningbo-born businessman who in 1928 became one of the first Chinese directors of the Shanghai Municipal Council and sat again in 1939-1943.
Yuan Ludeng (袁履登, Yuán Lǚdēng) was a Ningbo-born businessman who was among the first Chinese to sit on the Shanghai Municipal Council’s board.
Educated at St John’s University, he worked at the Commercial Press, as comprador for German and American firms, and as manager of the Ningshao Steamship Company. During the May Thirtieth Movement in 1925 he led the merchants’ federation and negotiated with the Council, then joined the campaign for Chinese representation as deputy head of the Chinese Ratepayers’ Association. That campaign succeeded in 1928, when he was elected the first Chinese director of the Council; he served until 1934 and again from 1939 to 1943, as deputy chairman in the last two years.
In 1940 he became head of the Shanghai chamber of commerce under the Wang Jingwei government. After the war a Chinese court sentenced him to seven years; he was freed in February 1948, went to Hong Kong, returned in 1951 and died in 1954.