Qiu Heng: Difference between revisions

'''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.  

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]].

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===

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.

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==

[[Category:Daxia]]

[[Category:People]]