Together with his brother-in-law, Soong Tse-ven, he was highly influential in determining the economic policies of the Kuomintang-led Nationalist government of the Republic of China in the 1930s and 1940s.

He then attended North China Union College in Tongzhou, near Beijing, where he took courses in mathematics, physics and chemistry, subjects which were not offered in traditional Chinese schools.

After the Taiyuan Massacre, which included members of the Oberlin Band, he carried letters from several of the murdered missionaries to Beijing by hiding them between the layers of his cloth shoes.

Kung became principal, and married Han Yu-mei, a fellow graduate of the North China Union College, who died of tuberculosis.

According to foreign members of the Famine Relief Commission, the collective efforts of all involved were successful in preventing what otherwise would have been an "appalling calamity", and by 1923 conditions in Shanxi returned to normal.

After his move to the central government, Kung continued to advocate for good relations between Chiang Kai-shek and Yan Xishan.

[11] In 1933, Kung spent weeks in Germany, a German business delegation accompanied him back to China, among them Vizeadmiral a. D. Walther Kinzel, who represented Zeiss, Rheinmetall, Krupp and Loewe.

In June 1933, Hans von Seeckt published the memorandum to Marshal Chiang Kai-shek on his program to industrialize and militarize China.

[13]: 10  The fabi experienced from inflation and hyperinflation, and its collapse during Kung's tenure resulted in his legacy as minister of finance being viewed poorly.

[13]: 57–58 In 1937, as the Minister of Finance of the Republic of China, Kung and two other KMT officials visited Germany and were received by Adolf Hitler on 13 June.

Kung also convinced Hitler to cancel a scheduled speech at a Nazi conference by Prince Chichibu, the Japanese Emperor's brother.

[16] Hitler, Hermann Göring and Hjalmar Schacht bestowed upon Kung an honorary degree, and attempted to open China's market to German exports.

Hitler, Göring, and Schacht earmarked for Chinese students 100,000 ℛ︁ℳ︁ for studying in Germany after they persuaded an industrialist to set aside the money for that purpose.

I hope and wish that Germany will participate in supporting the further development of China, the opening up of its sources of raw materials, the upbringing of its industries and [its] means of transportation.

[22] After a string of Japanese mishaps in 1938, Kung gave a radio address in which he stated that "God is helping China!"

[23] In 1944, Kung gave a speech at China House in New York with one of Mencius's direct descendants, Meng Chih.

[13]: 57–58  Among other issues, Kung was one of the Nationalist government insiders implicated in corruption during the 1942-1943 American Dollar Bond scandal.

[13]: 73  The Nationalist government decided to use USD$200 million to absorb excess fabi in an effort to curb inflation.

[13]: 74  The result was a windfall for Nationalist government insiders including Kung, Long Yun, Wei Daoming, members of the Soong family, and others.

[13]: 76  Chiang nonetheless appointed Kung as the chair of the Central Bank's Board of Directors in an effort to save face.

[13]: 138 After the KMT retreated to Taiwan in 1949 at the end of the Chinese Civil War, Kung moved to the United States.

The Kung family residential compound, a well-preserved example of mid-Qing dynasty architecture, is now a tourist attraction in Taigu County, Shanxi.