Sun Yingpo

Sun Fuling (September 1921 – May 18, 2018), originally named Sun Fuling, was a native of Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province, born in Heihe, Heilongjiang. He was an outstanding representative of modern Chinese national industry and commerce, a well-known social activist, and a member of the China Democratic National Construction Association (CNDCA). He served as Vice Chairman of the 8th and 9th National Committees of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), and Executive Vice Chairman of the 6th Executive Committee of the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce (ACFIC).

In his early years, Sun studied at Nankai High School in Tianjin and Yuying High School in Beijing. He later enrolled in the Physics Department at Yenching University and the Mathematics Department at Southwest Associated University. Between 1941 and 1945, he studied in the Department of Political Economy at Guanghua University in Chengdu and the Department of Economics at West China Union University. From 1945 to 1948, he worked in coal mines, for the Relief and Rehabilitation Administration, and in mining transportation companies. In December 1948, he became manager of Fuxing Flour Mill in Beiping, one of the city’s largest national industrial enterprises, where he actively supported Communist Party policies.

After the founding of the People’s Republic of China, Sun held several important positions, including factory director of Fuxing Flour Mill, secretary-general and vice-chairman of the Beijing Federation of Industry and Commerce, director of the Beijing Service Industry Administration Bureau, deputy director of the Beijing Foreign Trade Bureau, and vice-chairman of the Beijing CPPCC. From 1983 to 1988, he served as Deputy Mayor of Beijing and Vice Chairman of the ACFIC, concurrently heading the Beijing branch. Between 1988 and 1998, he was Vice Chairman of the Beijing CPPCC and Executive Vice Chairman, later Honorary Vice Chairman, of the ACFIC. He also served as Honorary President and Adviser of the China Council for the Promotion of Peaceful National Reunification.

Politically, he was a member of the 2nd to 9th CPPCC National Committees, serving as Vice Chairman of the 8th and 9th. In the ACFIC, he held leadership roles for decades, playing a pivotal role in the transformation of private industry and commerce. He took the lead in applying for public-private partnerships, promoting the socialist transformation of capitalist industry and commerce in Beijing, and setting an example for others.

During the Korean War, he led fundraising efforts and personally visited the front lines in Korea to express support. After returning, he promoted patriotic education among industrialists. Following China’s reform and opening-up, he established the Beijing Federation of Industry and Commerce Investment Service Company, serving as chairman and general manager. Under his leadership, the company provided jobs for thousands of unemployed youth and was recognized as an “Advanced Collective for Serving the Four Modernizations.”

Deeply influenced by his uncle, the patriotic industrialist Sun Yueqi, Sun Fuling upheld the ideal of “saving the nation through industry” throughout his life. He dedicated himself to the development of China’s national industry and commerce and to public service. He passed away in Beijing on May 18, 2018, at the age of 97.