Yen Fu (8 January 1854-27 October 1921), naval officer who became the foremost translator-commentator of his day. Through his translations, the works of such Western thinkers as Charles Darwin, Herbert Spencer, John Stuart Mill, and Adam Smith were introduced to China. The only son of a practitioner of Chinese medicine. Yen Fu was born in […]

Hsu Chih-mo (1896-19 November 1931), poet. His poetic experiments in form, nieter, and theme and his essays increased Chinese understanding and awareness of Western poetry and of the potentialities of the modern Chinese language. Hsiashih, Chekiang, was the birthplace of Hsü Chih-mo. His father, Hsü Shen-ju, was a prominent banker and a friend of the […]

Hsü Ti-shan (1893-4 August 1941), a founding member of the Literary Research Society and a noted writer of short stories, became the first professor of Chinese at the University of Hong Kong in 1936. Tainan, Taiwan, was the birthplace of Hsü Ti-shan. His father, Hsü Nan-ying, was a native of Taiwan and a junior official […]

Hsieh Hung-lai (9 May 1873-2 September 1916), Chinese Christian author and publicist, known as H. L. Zia, was secretary of the national committee and director of the publications department of the YMCA in China (1904-1916). Under his direction, the Association Press in China became one of the most influential YMCA publishing efforts in the world. […]

Wen I-to (24 November 1899-15 July 1946), leading Chinese poet of the 1920's . In the 1930's he devoted himself to classical studies and to teaching at Tsinghua University. The outbreak of the Sino-Japanese war galvanized him into political activity, and he became a leader of the China Democratic League. Wen was assassinated in 1946. […]

Wu Han (1909-), historian and university professor, was known before 1949 primarily as a leading authority on the Ming dynasty. He served after 1952 as a deputy mayor of Peking and as vice chairman of the China Democratic League until his political disgrace in 1966. The Iwu district of Chekiang was the native place of […]

Wang Cheng-t'ing (25 July 1882-21 May 1961), known as C. T. Wang, minister of foreign affairs and one-time acting premier of the Peking government in the early 1920's. He served as minister of foreign affairs in the National Government in 1928-31. In 1937-38 he was ambassador to the United States. Fenghua, Chekiang, was the birthplace […]

Wang Yün-wu (9 July 1888-), editor in chief (1921-29) and general manager (1930-45) of the Commercial Press, republican China's largest publishing house. From May 1946 to April 1947 he was minister of economic affairs, and in 1948 he served as minister of finance during the ill-fated gold yuan currency conversion. In Taiwan, he was vice […]

Wang Shih-chieh (10 March 1 891—), chancellor of Wuhan University (1929-32) and minister of education (1933-36) who served during the Sino-Japanese war as secretary general of the People's Political Council and minister of information. In 1945-48 he was minister of foreign affairs. He served as secretary general of the presidential office in Taiwan in the […]

Wang Ching-ch'un (30 June 1882-16 June 1956), known as C. C. Wang, had a long and distinguished career in railroad administration in China during the period before 1928. From 1931 until 1949 he served abroad as director of the Chinese Government Purchasing Commission in England. Born into a Christian family in Luanhsien, Chihli (Hopei), Wang […]