K'ung, H H (or Hsiang-hsi) (1881–1967)

Chinese politician and banker. As governor of the Bank of China and minister of finance 1933–44, he attempted to increase the government's financial control of the modern sector. Through control of the four major banks, the government floated more bond issues to finance its military projects. K'ung's abandonment of the silver standard in favour of a managed paper currency in 1935 was to lead ultimately to hyperinflation in the 1940s.

He came from a family of traditional bankers and received a missionary education in China before studying in the USA 1901–07. Through marriage, he developed close ties with both Sun Yat-sen and Chiang Kai-shek (their wives were sisters), joining the Guomindang (Kuomintang) in 1924 and becoming minister of industry and commerce of the new Nationalist government in 1928.

During the war against Japan, he was instrumental in obtaining US loans and was China's representative at the UN Bretton Woods Conference in 1914. He moved to the USA permanently in 1948.