Cheng Hsiao-hsü (2 April 1860-28 March 1938), Manchu loyalist and assistant to P'u-yi (q.v.), was a prime mover in the creation of Manchoukuo. He served as premier at Hsinking (Changchun) from 1932 to 1935. Although his ancestral home was Minhou, Fukien, Cheng Hsiao-hsü was born in Soochow. His father, Cheng Shou-lien (T. Chung-lien), was a […]

Chou Hsueh-hsi (12 January 1866-26 September 1947), industrial promoter and entrepreneur. He served Yuan Shih-k'ai in the field of economic modernization in north China and then as minister of finance. He organized the Ch'i-hsin Cement Company, established the Peking Water Works, and was one of the central figures in the successful Chinese efforts to regain […]

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 […]

Wu T'ing-fang (9 July 1842-23 June 1922), English-educated lawyer who gained international prominence as the Ch'ing government's diplomatic representative in the United States in 1897-1901 and in 1907-9. He also served as co-chairman of the fa-lü pien-tsuan-kuan [bureau for the compilation of the law]. Wu was chief delegate for the revolutionaries in the peace negotiations […]

Wang Shih-chen (1861-1 July 1930), one of Yuan Shih-k'ai's three chief assistants (with Tuan Ch'i-jui and Feng Kuo-chang) in organizing and training the Peiyang Army. In 1917 he served as premier and minister of war at Peking, and in 1922 he became president of the college of marshals. Chengting, Chihli (Hopei), was the birthplace of […]

T'ang Shao-yi (1860-30 September 1938), long-time associate of Yuan Shih-k'ai who became the Chinese republic's first premier in 1912. He broke with Yuan in June 1912 and later allied himself with Sun Yat-sen. After Sun's death, T'ang lent support to various movements within the Kuomintang which opposed the growing authority of Chiang Kaishek. T'ang was […]

Sheng Hsuan-huai (4 November 1844-27 April 1916), industrial promoter who developed the concept of company organization known as kuan-tu shang-pan [official supervision and merchant management]. Wuchin hsien, Ch'angchou, Kiangsu, was the birthplace of Sheng Hsuan-huai. His father, the gentry-official Sheng K'ang (1814— 1902), was a chin-shih of 1844 who held several minor provincial posts before […]

Ch'i Ju-shan (23 December 1876-18 March 1962), playwright, scholar, and impresario for Mei Lan-fang (q.v.), was the first Chinese scholar in the twentieth century to do extensive practical research on traditional Chinese drama. He helped to restore it to a place of honor in China. A native of Kaoyang, Chihli (Hopei), Ch'i Ju-shan was born […]

Ma Liang (7 April 1840-4 November 1939), Jesuit priest, government official, and educator. He was a founder of the Aurora Academy, the Fu-tan Academy, and the Fu-jen School. Aurora and Fu-jen later became universities. Born at Tanyang, Kiangsu, into a family which had embraced Roman Catholicism in the early 1600's, Ma Liang was the second […]

Lu Cheng-hsiang (1871-15 January 1949), diplomat and cleric, entered the Chinese foreign service in 1 892 as an interpreter assigned to the legation at St. Petersburg. He became minister to the Netherlands in 1908 and minister to Russia in 1911. After the republic was established, he served the Peking government at various times as minister […]