Collections : [Oral History Archives at Columbia]

Son of Chinese immigrants to Hawaii; return to China, 1911; Commissioner of finance, Canton, 1919-1920; Commissioner of land, Canton, 1926; general manager Canton-Hankow Railway, 1928; managing director Shanghai-Nanking Railway and Shanghai-Hangchow Railway, Shanghai, 1928-29; mayor of Hangchow, 1930; commissioner of finance, Shanghai, 1931; commissioner of land, Shanghai, 1933-1934; visits abroad; rehabilitating shipping; second Japanese invasion; refuge in Macao, hazardous journey to Shiukwan; trek to Chungking, return to America

Early days in China; student in United States, 1904-1909; Kiangsu provincial government and bank, 1910-1915; Shanghai Commercial and Savings Bank, 1915-1937; China Travel Service, interest in insurance business; National Revolution of 1925-1927; travel before the war; currency reform and 1936 Silver Mission; views on general situation to 1937; contributions to War of Resistance; War of Resistance, 1937-1945; postwar years, 1946-1949; transition and revival, 1949-1961. Audio does not represent full interview content. Most audio associated with interview was not retained. Content on reel was retained as sample of source material for edited transcript

Interview audio has been digitized.

Boyhood and early education, 1895-1909; high school education in China, 1909-1919; university education in United States, 1919-1926; first decade at Nankai University, 1926-36; economic research and teaching at Nankai Univesity; government service; insights into power in China, the Sian Incident and its aftermath; work with Nung-pen chu, 1938-1941, and events leading to its abolition; parties and cliques; rest, reflection and travel, 1941-1943; post-war economic reconstruction, 1944-1946; ministry of economic affairs; activities after leaving government, 1946-1948; return to Nankai, 1948

Family and early life; student days in the United States, 1910-17; working for a Chinese renaissance: theories of literary reform, analyses of early Chinese philosophy, discoveries in the history of Zen Buddhism, critical studies of major Chinese novels.

Childhood and education, 1882-1912; first decade as diplomat, 1912-1922; sevice in China, 1922-1932; mission to Paris, 1932-1941; second mission to London, 1941-1946; to Washington, 1946-1953; second mission to Washington, 1953-1956; service as foreign minister and premier; representative to League of Nations and United Nations; associate justice of the International Court of Justice at The Hague, 1956-1967; detailed table of contents for all eight volumes. Audio content for this interview is broken into segments that not follow same sequence as the transcript

Childhood, family's position in business, early influence of missionaries, experiences in politics, the Boxer Rebellion; education in China and United States, return to China; early association with Kuomintang and rise within Nationalist government; trip to Europe 1937 and meetings with Franklin D. Roosevelt, Neville Chamberlain, Eduard Benes, Hitler, and Mussolini; view of many government policies, role in currency stabilization, information about the Sian Incident and increasing Japanese pressure; friendship with various Chinese and foreign leaders.

Part I: Childhood, military education, military experience before the Northern Expedition (1928-1930), pacification of two areas in Kwangtung, War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression (1937-1938), governor of Kwangtung Province, 1939-1945; Part II, experience as wartime governor: organization of provincial government with administrative organs; Part III: a select translation of his detailed diary for 1949, amplified by explanations and opinions