T'ai-hsu (8 January 1890-17 March 1947), Buddhist monk of the wei-shih [consciousnessonly] school who led a movement to reform and modernize his religion. He headed the Wu-ch'ang fo-hsüeh yuan [Wuchang Buddhist institute], edited the Hai-ch'ao-yin, and established such organizations as the World Buddhist Association. Although his native place was in Ch'ungte, Chekiang, T'ai-hsu was born […]
P'u-yi (1906-17 October 1967), the last Manchu emperor. Born in Peking, P'u-yi was the son of Tsaifeng, the second Prince Ch'un and the nephew of the Kuang-hsü emperor. As the emperor neared death in 1908, some members of the Manchu hierarchy pressed the claims of P'u-lun and P'u-wei, older great-grandsons of the Taokuang Emperor in […]
Lin Wen-ch'ing (5 September 1869-1 January 1957), known as Lim Boon Keng, a successful doctor, entrepreneur, and public figure in Singapore who abandoned his lucrative career to serve as president of Amov Universitv from 1921 to 1937. Born in Singapore to a family of Fukien ancestry, Lim Boon Keng displayed such academic brilliance as a […]
Lin Shu (8 November 1852-9 October 1924), the first major Chinese translator of Western fiction and one of the last important prose writers in the Chinese classical style. He also was known for his outspoken opposition to the new literary movements of the May Fourth period. Minhsien, Fukien, was the birthplace of Lin Shu. He […]
Liang Ch'i-ch'ao 梁啓超 T. Cho-ju, Jen-fu 卓如，任甫 H. Jen-kung 任公 Liang Ch'i-ch'ao (23 February 1873-19 January 1929), pupil of K'ang Yu-wei who became the foremost intellectual leader of the first two decades of twentieth-century China. A native of Hsinhui, Kwangtung, Liang Ch'i-ch'ao was the eldest son in a family which had been farmers for ten […]
Chiang Fang-chen (13 October 1882-4 October 1938), trained in military science in Japan and Germany, did much to revolutionize military training in republican China and was powerful as adviser to many military commanders, notably Wu P'ei-fu, Sun Ch'uan-fang, and Chiang Kai-shek. He also introduced to China knowledge of Western culture, constitutional ideas, and military practices. […]
Ho-tung (2 December 1862-26 April 1956), an internationally known entrepreneur and philanthropist, became Hong Kong's largest property owner and one of its wealthiest citizens. He was knighted (1915) by King George V for his patriotic generosity. Born in a small house off d'Aguilar Street in Hong Kong, Ho-tung began life in unpromising circumstances. He was […]
Ch'en Yuan 陳垣 (1880-), historian, was president of Fu-jen University for many years after 1 929. He was known for his studies of the Yuan period and of the history of religion in China. In 1952 he became president of Peking Normal University, which absorbed the facilities of Fu-jen. Little is known of Ch'en Yuan's […]
Ch'en San-li 陳三立 Ch'en San-li (1852 - 15 September 1937) helped to develop reform and modernization programs in Hunan while his father, Ch'en Pao-chen, was governor (1895-98). After the failure of the Hundred Days Reform of 1898, he was banished from government service. He then became a noted poet and essayist. The Ch'en San-li branch […]
Wang Ching-wei 汪精衛 Orig. Wang Chao-ming 汪兆銘 Wang Ching-wei (4 May 1883-10 November 1944), Kuomintang leader and intimate political associate of Sun Yat-sen. At the time of the Sino-Japanese war, after more than a decade of feuding with Chiang Kai-shek for top authority in the Kuomintang, Wang became head of a Japanese-sponsored regime established at […]
