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 |party             = [[National Reconstruction Front (Daxia)]]
 |birth_date     = May 16th 1896
-|birth_place        = Hango
+|birth_place        = Quyang
 | death_date      =  July 18th 1964
 | death_place    =  [[Mirzak]]
-| death_cause    =  Alzheimer's disease
+| death_cause    =  Leukemia
 | resting_place  =
 |spouse              =
@@ Line 44: / Line 44: @@
 '''Qiu Heng''' (May 16 1896-July 18 1964) was a [[Daxia]]n military officer and politician who served as the second president of the [[Daxia|Republic of Daxia]] from 1951 to 1964; succeeding his old comrade and superior, General [[Dai Hanjian]]. Qiu Heng was a recipient of several military awards throught his career including the highest attainable existing one, the [[Medal of the Republic (Daxia)|Medal of the Republic]]. He joined the army in 1913 and rose through the ranks, participating in the 1918 suppression of the [[Liyuan peasant uprising]] and serving in [[Rusana]] during the [[Al-Dukir War]]. During the [[Second Great War]] he commanded [[Daxia]]n land forces during the [[Battle of Ayermer (1936)]] and became a national figure after its successful conclusion. The disappointing lack of progress on other [[Daxia]]n fronts and the unchecked popular growth of socialism under the indolent gaze of [[Hongli|Emperor Hongli]] led him to side with his friend [[Dai Hanjian]] and together they overthrew the imperial system during the [[Glorious Revolt]]; he became second in command of the military junta that was formed to rule the nation.
-In 1944 he was promoted to Chieft of Staff of the armed forces and oversaw the rebuilding and expansion of Daxia's [[Armed Forces of Daxia|military might]], and moved its doctrines towards a combined arms approach. As head of the military he supported [[Lixin Ji]]'s push for the creation of the State Atomic Commission to spearhead the development of a nuclear weapons program. As president he guided the transition from a purely military regime to a hybrid one with the creation of the [[National Reconstruction Front (Daxia)|National Reconstruction Front]] and extended the latters political dominance and networks of patronage to cover most productive sectors. A lifelong opponent of socialist thought, he fiercely persecuted and jailed leftists throught his tenure, forcing the [[Communist Party of Daxia]] back underground. In 1962 he orchestrated the [[Daxia]]n intervention in the long running [[Rusani Civil War]] known as the Little Incursion that swung the battlefield fortunes of the NCDP and allowed it to prevail by 1963. During the last months of his life he progressively forced the devastated [[Rusana]] into a subordinate position within [[Daxia]]'s sphere of influence. He died in 1964 due to complications of leukemia.
+In 1944 he was promoted to Chieft of Staff of the armed forces and oversaw the rebuilding and expansion of Daxia's [[Daxian Armed Forces|military might]], and moved its doctrines towards a combined arms approach. As head of the military he supported [[Lixin Ji]]'s push for the creation of the State Atomic Commission to spearhead the development of a nuclear weapons program. As president he guided the transition from a purely military regime to a hybrid one with the creation of the [[National Reconstruction Front (Daxia)|National Reconstruction Front]] and extended the latters political dominance and networks of patronage to cover most productive sectors. A lifelong opponent of socialist thought, he fiercely persecuted and jailed leftists throught his tenure, forcing the [[Communist Party of Daxia]] back underground. In 1962 he orchestrated the [[Daxia]]n intervention in the long running [[Rusani Civil War]] known as the Little Incursion that swung the battlefield fortunes of the NCDP and allowed it to prevail by 1963. During the last months of his life he progressively forced the devastated [[Rusana]] into a subordinate position within [[Daxia]]'s sphere of influence. He died in 1964 due to complications of leukemia.
 Qiu Heng is a divisive figure in modern [[Daxia]], on one hand he is celebrated for his many noteworthy military achievements, for strengthening Daxia's military capacities and for beginning the work of restoring the nation's place at the center of [[Audonia]]'s power politics. On the other hand his detractors point to him as the principal architect of a repressive system that grew too sluggish and dysfunctional to keep up in the modern world and could only respond with brutality. He is vilified in Western sources especially for his mistreatment of prisoners of war and for the wholesale expulsion of [[Levantia]]ns from [[Cheun|Ayermer]].
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 The two officers created a secret society named the Lodge of the Righteous Serpents to gather like minded officers and overthrow the Imperial system and replace it with a military dictatorship. On December 16th tank columns aligned with the lodge entered the capital from all sides while squads of soldiers went took over ministries.Other groups went to the houses of ministers to arrest them, the minister of defense was shot and killed after he tried to resist his captors. Qiu Heng himself led the takeover of the imperial palace and the capture of [[Hongli]], forcing the imperial guards to surrender or the emperor and his family would be executed once the palace was inevitably taken. The coup was carried out in two hours and resulted in minimal casualties on both sides, stemming from the element of complete surprise achieved by the putschists and unwillingness on the part of many soldiers to defend the failing monarchy. An ecstatic [[Dai Hanjian]] took to the airwaves and announced the [[Glorious Revolt]] had succeeded and the era of dynastic rule had come to a definitive end; he declared the formation of the Committee of National Restoration that would lead the country with himself as its head and Qiu Heng as his deputy.
+===Deputy junta leader===
 [[File:PrimerMinistroDuanQiruiLibroDePutnamWeale.jpg|thumb|Qiu Heng during his time as deputy leader of the Committee of National Restoration]]
-===Deputy junta leader===
 The junta moved quickly to assert its authority and shore up popular support; a line up of technocratic ministers were appointed to replace the old dynasty loyal bureaucrats and the Emperor was made to officially abdicate the throne and renounced the Heavenly Mandate before being put under house arrest until 1948 when he died of complications of diabetes; his teenage son and heir died soon after in unclear circumstances. Hongli's royal consort, Princess Keuto of [[Metzetta]] was allowed to depart back to her homeland with two of the emperor's daughters. Many other members of the former imperial family were either put in prison, work camps or sent into exile to [[Metzetta]] or [[Yueguo]]. A referendum was organized asking the population if it agreed with the junta's capture of power and despite reported instances of pressuring people into voting, threats of violence and transporting people from rural areas on military buses to voting booths the result was overwhelmingly positive with an approval of 86%.
-This period is where the political qualities of Qiu Heng first began to rise to the surface, while [[Dai Hanjian]] was the public leader and face of the junta and was fairly charismatic,  Heng was the real operator behind the scenes. Ambitious officers soon began to be sidelined from the ranks of the junta, some were arrested after being accused of plotting a countercoup or of missappropiating army supplies; by 1948 out of ten military zones, eight were commanded by people considered to be part of Qiu Heng's political clique. If Dai had any misgivings about the growing influence of his friend he gave no indication in public or private conversation that survives; he gave the post of Minister of Defense to Qiu in 1949 and allowed him to staff its structure as he saw fit. Shortly after Qiu began speaking of setting up a political structure to gain more legitimacy in the eyes of influential Western nations, whose financial help might be needed to continue army expansion. The junta leader seemingly disagreed with these notions and intimated that he would get the job done and if necessary would stay on the job for twenty years. The insinuation of quasi imperial ruling for life was not lost on Qiu Heng who may have begun quiet preparations to oust Dai, or perhaps have him assasinated. According to medical records [[Dai Hanjian]] fell gravely ill from a bladder infection of worrisome intensity. Despite all attempts to save his life, the junta leader died on December 12 1951 at the age of 56. Authors critical of Qiu Heng suggest he had Dai poisoned with arsenic to get him out of the way of political reforms and stop his succession plan which may not have included Qiu in it anymore; no conclusive evidence has ever been found to corroborate this accusation. As deputy leader of the Committee of National Restoration, Qiu was sworn in two days later as leader of the junta and the country.
+This period is where the political qualities of Qiu Heng first began to rise to the surface, while [[Dai Hanjian]] was the public leader and face of the junta and was fairly charismatic,  Heng was the real operator behind the scenes. Ambitious officers soon began to be sidelined from the ranks of the junta, some were arrested after being accused of plotting a countercoup or of missappropiating army supplies; by 1948 out of ten military zones, eight were commanded by people considered to be part of Qiu Heng's political clique. If Dai had any misgivings about the growing influence of his friend he gave no indication in public or private conversation that survives; he gave the post of Minister of Defense to Qiu in 1949 and allowed him to staff its structure as he saw fit. Shortly after Qiu began speaking of setting up a political structure to gain more legitimacy in the eyes of influential Western nations, whose financial help might be needed to continue army expansion. The junta leader seemingly disagreed with these notions and intimated that he would get the job done and if necessary would stay on the job for twenty years.
+The insinuation of quasi imperial ruling for life was not lost on Qiu Heng who may have begun quiet preparations to oust Dai, or perhaps have him assasinated. According to medical records [[Dai Hanjian]] fell gravely ill from a bladder infection of worrisome intensity. Despite all attempts to save his life, the junta leader died on December 12 1951 at the age of 56. Authors critical of Qiu Heng suggest he had Dai poisoned with arsenic to get him out of the way of political reforms and stop his succession plan which may not have included Qiu in it anymore; no conclusive evidence has ever been found to corroborate this accusation. As deputy leader of the Committee of National Restoration, Qiu was sworn in two days later as leader of the junta and the country.
 ==Presidency==
 ===National Reconstruction Front===
@@ Line 74: / Line 76: @@
 ===Persecution of communists===
 The new President and the military establishment despite allowing it to run in elections, still saw the [[Communist Party of Daxia|CPD]] with its radical ideas on wealth and land redistribution, world revolution and its 'massification' of the army, as its main internal enemy. With a strong public mandate secured and with the communists revealing part of their underground networks during the presidential campaign to try and amp up their political mobilization, the government organs began to take aim at them. While [[Communist Party of Daxia|CPD]] parliamentarians were booed and drowned out every day by the NRF majority in the National Assembly, their associates on the outside began to be arrested, assassinated and abducted in plain daylight. In the face of government repressive tactics, the [[Communist Party of Daxia|CPD]]'s internal consensus to participate in electoral politics began to crumble and the party withdrew entirely from the Assembly a year before the 1956 election to 'pursue the interests of the people in other fronts', an euphemism for armed struggle. The struggle to rebuild an exhausted organization bled dry by killings and arrests during its three year dalliance with electoral politics was to be a fraught one, the [[Communist Party of Daxia|CPD]] would not be a serious foe at all during all of Qiu Heng's three presidential terms. The party mostly fled the cities other than its birthplace of [[Khov]], preferring to concentrate its cadres in hidden bases in rural locales and this mostly in the far west of the country. Most of the second genertion of communist party leaders were killed during Qiu Heng's first term and the third generation of leaders were mostly from peasant origins; the Red Peasant faction would become dominant in the 1960's and 1970's and were fairly disconnected from the industrial urban worker class.
-===Stabilizing maturation===
+===Stabilizing growth===
-During Qiu Heng's presidency the country saw sustained economic growth, a period known as the ''Stablizing Growth'' that was fueled by import substitution and low rates of inflation. An important factor helping the sustained growth in the period was the reduction of political turmoil, particularly around national elections, with the creation of a single, overly dominant party. Qiu Heng nationalized all of the oil fields, the railroads, the telephone companies  and the ports; many of these companies had been owned by members of the Qian elites and now passed into the hands of the state which created vast and byzantine hierarchies of bureaucrats to manage these massive state companies.
+[[File:Qiu Heng coin.jpg|thumb|Five Lire coin depicting Qiu Heng during his second term]]
+During Qiu Heng's presidency the country saw sustained economic growth, a period known as the ''Stablizing Growth'' that was fueled by import substitution and low rates of inflation. An important factor helping the sustained growth in the period was the reduction of political turmoil, particularly around national elections, with the creation of a single, overly dominant party. Qiu Heng nationalized all of the oil fields, the railroads, the telephone companies  and the ports; many of these companies had been owned by members of the Qian elites and now passed into the hands of the state which created vast and byzantine hierarchies of bureaucrats to manage these massive state companies. And of course the [[Central Confederation of Daxian Trade Unions|All-Daxian Workers Central Union]] made sure new syndicates were created to go with the new shiny state companies, new dutiful 'soldiers' of the NRF system. In 1956 the National Development Bank was founded to fund the expansion of the industrial sector and the building of massive infrastructure projects such as improving the road networks and electricity generating hydroelectric dams. A fully fledged  import-substitution program which stimulated output by boosting internal demand was put in place. The government raised import controls on foreign consumer goods but relaxed them on capital goods (such as machinery for domestic production of consumer goods), which it purchased with accumulated international reserves. This period also saw massive investment in education, enrollment at the primary and secondary levels quintupled from the levels reached in 1945. The higher employability and earning power of this growing skilled labor pool stimulated the internal consumer market and the expansion of the middle class. Daxian strong economic performance continued into the 1960s, when GDP growth averaged about 8 percent overall and about 3 percent per capita. Consumer price inflation averaged only 4 percent per year. Manufacturing remained the country's dominant growth sector, expanding 12 percent annually and attracting considerable foreign investment. Mining grew at an annual rate of nearly 5 percent, trade at 6 percent, and agriculture at 6 percent. By 1970 [[Daxia]] had diversified its export base and become largely self-sufficient in food crops, steel, and most consumer goods. Although its imports remained high, most were capital goods used to expand its own domestic production.
 ===The Little Incursion===
+Another area of importance that Qiu Heng sought to address during his terms in office was the rebuilding of the traditional [[Daxia]]n sphere of influence, nations like the newly formed [[Rusana]](a state composed of former [[Tributary system of Imperial Daxia|Qian tributary states)]] and [[Canpei]] had drifted out of their relations of dependence. The [[Rusani Civil War]] had been raging almost since he was first democratically elected and he wanted the disruption to border security and trade to end. He also was unwilling to countenance a victory of the 'Front for the Defense of the Homeland' or FDH, a grouping of conservative and islamist forces who were extremely hostile to [[Daxia]]. The FDH wanted to expel all Daxians and ethnic groups related to them from [[Rusana]], these groups totaled some fifteen percent of the population at the time. Qiu Heng was convinced the FDH's secular opponents, the National Congress for the Defense of the People (NCDP) led by Farrukhzad Khosa, were unable to achieve victory on its own after almost nine years of war. After a series of meetings in November 1962 with Farrukhzad Khosa, an agreement was finalized to 'assist the legitimate government of Rusana in restoring its territorial integrity'. The state propaganda apparatus began driving the narrative that ethnic Daxian's were in grave danger of annihilation and that a short and victorious war was needed to save them. On December of the same year some forty thousand Daxians entered into [[Rusana]] from the Xiazhai Pass in the far south; this military action would be known as ''the Little Incursion'' in Daxian history, after the term the president used for the operation.
+Boosted by Daxian mechanized forces and modern aviation, the NCDP began a series of successful offensives over the course of two months that pushed the FDH back towards the Mursi river in disarray and then forced them across with terrible losses of men and vehicles. Some 7,000 men from the FDH are thought to have been killed fighting to defend the FDH perimeter on the south bank of the Mursi as its limited transport capacity struggled to ferry as many of the trapped troops to the other side. The FDH lack of modern planes meant that their armored columns were prone to being destroyed by enemy aviation before they could be properly deployed for battle or were blown up piecemeal as sitting ducks. By July 1963 the NCDP had made further advanced north and retaken the capital of [[Tabish]] almost without a fight, the FDH too battered and demoralized to be able to mount an effective defense even with the benefit of fighting on an urban area, which favors the defenders. Only a month later the two sides of the civil war signed a cessation of hostilities that froze the conflict lines, the FDH only controlled a corner of territory in the northwest, some 8% of [[Rusana]] while their rivals controlled the rest of the country. Qiu Heng had maintained his promise to the people and delivered a short and victorious war. The NCDP began the process of reasserting its control over the destroyed country and rebuilding its political structures, only now heavily in debt to [[Daxia]] politically, militarily and economically; with numerous Daxian bases established in its territory. The [[Rusana Patriotic Alliance]] which is the direct political successor of the NCDP continues to steer [[Rusana]] into its neighbor's embrace, to the point of dependence.
 ==Final years==
+[[File:Qiu Heng Tomb.jpg|thumb|The Temple of the Republic, Qiu Heng's final resting place]]
+Starting in 1962 the president began to suffer the debilitating effects of leukemia, a disease he has been accussed of faking during the [[Second Great War]]. Quite real now by all accounts, he rarely appeared in public but to do rare public addresses; he practically lived in the building of the War Ministry during the Little Incursion to manage the war from there. On December 1963 he had to be hospitalized for an acute infection that left him bedridden. With the president's health in dire state, the issue of succession should he die jumped to the forefront in the minds of the country's political and military elites. They settled on general [[Chi Long Qua]], commander of [[Daxia]]n forces during the Little Incursion and a political unknown. Qiu Heng was said to dislike the man but his say on the matter was practically ignored, he fell into a coma in mid May of 1964 and died in July 18th just a few months short of the end of his term. The government declared a week long period of mourning after the state funeral took place, Qiu Heng was then buried in a specially built mausoleum that was called the Temple of the Republic. Even today the [[Party of Daxian Democrats|PDD]] commemorates Qiu Heng's birthday with events in the mausoleum, there have been proposals to paint its roof yellow to more closely depict Qiu Heng as aligned to the Party's views.
 ==Personal life==
+Qiu Heng was married twice during his lifetime. His first wife was Li Shenfi, a cousin of [[Dai Hanjian]] with whom he had one daughter named Qiu Yue. Qiu Yue became a physicist and worked  on the State Atomic Commission and was a university lecturer. After Li Shenfi died of stomach cancer, Qiu Heng married one of his secretaries named  Cui Yang, a woman twenty years younger than him. They had a son named Qiu Kezhen who became a lawyer and had several positions in the central bureaucracy.
 ==Legacy==
+Qiu Heng is a divisive figure to this day. His achievements before his presidency especially the recapture of [[Cheun|Ayermer]] are still celebrated for restoring Daxia's territorial integrity. During his twelve year presidency he created the foundations upon which the modern state rests, grew the economy and lifted millions from poverty. But he also built the repressive system which the [[Party of Daxian Democrats]] began to follow like a blueprint and later began to add to and made their own. In recent years the Party has decidedly inducted Qiu Heng into its pantheon of national heroes, harnessing his achievements as precursors and guidelines for of the Party's own.
 [[Category:Daxia]]
 [[Category:People]]
+{{Template:Award winning article}}
+[[Category:2023 Award winning pages]]
+[[Category:IXWB]]