Who's Who in China (3rd edition)/Ch'ien T'ai
Dr. Tsien Tai
錢秦宇階平
(Ch'ien T'ai)
Dr. Tsien Tai was born at Chiashan Hsien, Chekiang Province, in 1888. In 1906 be passed a "Competitive Examination by Imperial Grace” and obtained the degree of "Yu Kung Sheng" or Meritorious Senior Licentiate. He was a graduate of the University of Paris with the degree of LL.D. Dr. Tsien was for some time a Deputy Judge of the Peking Local Court. In January 1915 he was appointed a Secretary of the Ministry of Justice. In April he was delegated by the Ministry to be a member of the Measurements Standardization Commission under the Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce. In September he was appointed to hold concurrently the position of Chief of the Bureau of Statistics of the Ministry of Justice. In December he was appointed by the President to be Councillor of the same Ministry. In the same month the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and of Justice jointly invited him to be a member of the Judicial Discussion Commission. In April 1917 Dr. Tsien received another appointment in the Ministry of Justice, the Chief of the Compilation Bureau. In August the Ministry delegated him to be a member of the Commission for the study of International Affairs at war time. In December he became Comptroller of the Law Translation Commission. In January 1918 Dr. Tsien was appointed by the President to be Resident Member of the Commission for the Supervision of the Final Examination for Judicial Officials. In February he was invited by the Cabinet to be a member of the Preparation Bureau for the Participation of the European Peace Conference. In December a Presidential Mandate appointed him to be Judicial Expert of the Chinese Delegation to the Paris Peace Conference. A Third Class Paokuang Chiaho Decoration was then conferred upon him. In July 1919 Dr. Tsien was delegated by the Ministry of Justce to be a member of the International Communications Committee under the Ministry of Communications. In September he was invited to be a member of the Commission for the Study of the Peace Treaty in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In October he was delegated as a member of the Temporary Commission appointed to take over the Russian Court on the Chinese Eastern Railway. In December the Waichiaopu and Ministry of Justice jointly appointed him to be a member of the Commission for the Study of Jurisdiction. At the same time he was appointed an Assistant Councillor of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In December he was appointed a member of the Commission for the Study of Russian Affairs. In November 1920 Dr. Tsien was conferred the Second Class Paokuang Chiaho Decoration. In March 1921 Dr. Tsien was appointed by the Minister of Justice to be a member of the Commission for the Examination of the Service Records of Judicial Officials. In May a Presidential Mandato appointed him a Director of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Simultaneously he was appointed a member of the Councillors' Hall of the Ministry of Justice. In August the Waichiaopu appointed him a member of the Bureau for the Preparatory Work for the Participation in the Washington Conference. In September he was appointed legal expert to the Chinese Delegation to the Pacific Conference. In November he was made a member of the Commission for the study of Tibetan Questions. In March 1922 Dr. Tsien was appointed an expectant Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary. In June he was appointed assistant director of the Secretariat of the Cabinet. In December the Waichiaopu appointed him a member of the Bureau for the Preparation of Customs Conference.
In May 1923 Dr. Tsien was appointed Advisor to the Bureau for the Preparation of Sino-Russian Conference. In June 1924 he was appointed Expert to the Sino-Russian Conference. He has been with this post two years and is still the Director des Traites et Conventions, Foreign Office Peking. The highest orders of honor Dr. Tsien at present holds are the Second Tashou Paokuang Chiaho and the Third Class Wenfu. Besides, he has been conferred by the French government with the Third Order of Black Star and by the Greek government the Second Order of Joseph.