Xu Xinliu

[2] In 1917, Xu Xinliu was serving as Secretary of the Ministry of Finance and twice assisted Liang Qichao in borrowing loans from Japanese businessmen.

In November, Liang Qichao resigned angrily due to disagreements with Duan Qirui on the Sichuan Civil War.

Xu Xinliu also left the Ministry of Finance and became treasury supervisor of the Bank of China.

In the same year, he went to Europe with Liang Qichao to inspect the political and economic conditions of various countries after the war, and was appointed as the Chinese representative of the Reparations Committee[citation needed] of the Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920) and a special member of the Chinese delegation.

[4] Tao Menghe [zh] introduced Hu Shih to Xu Xinliu,[5] and in turn, Xu Xinliu introduced Hu Shih to Liang Qichao.