Who's Who in China (3rd edition)/Chang Chien

Mr. Chang Chien

張謇字季直

Mr. Chang Chien was born at Tungchow, Kiangsu, in 1853. After years of hard labor, he has succeeded in transforming his wretched birthplace into a modern industrial town where there are no beggars. Mr. Chang is a noted Hanlin scholar (Optimus) but in the Ching dynasty declined to take any executive office, except that of Adviser to the Board of Commerce in 1904, in order to devote his energies to the fostering of industry and commerce. When Chang Chih-tung was viceroy of Liang Kiang Provinces, he appointed Chang Chien to organize a spinning and weaving mill, the capitalization of which was Tls. 1,000,000. This mission was carried out with success. Later he organized the Fuhsin Flour Mill, the Kwangsheng Oil Mill, the Tse-sheng Iron Works, the Fousheng Silk Filature, and the Ta Teh Steam Navigation Co. The next mission with which Chang Chien was entrusted by Viceroy Chang Chih-tung was the organization of four mills at Wuchang, namely, one weaving mill, one spinning mill, one hemp mill and one silk filature. It was undertaken with equal success. Other industrial projects he initiated were the colonization of Manchuria by poor people, the Huai River conservancy, and the formation of Sino-American industrial enterprises. In 1908 Chang Chien was elected chairman of the Kiangsu Provincial Assembly. In October of 1911 when the first revolution broke out in Wuchang, he was elected Kiangsu governor. At the same time Yuan Shih-kai, the late President, who was then Imperial Prime Minister, appointed him Pacification Commissioner for Kiangsu. Shortly afterwards, he was appointed Imperial Minister of Commerce. Upon the establishment of the Provisional Republican government in Nanking after the revolution Chang Chien was made the first Minister of Industry and ordered to control salt affairs concurrently. On March 13, 1913, Mr. Chang was appointed director-General of the Huai River Conservancy Board. In September 1913, when Hsiung Hsi-lin organized the Cabinet, Mr. Chang was appointed Minister of Industry and Commerce and concurrently Minister of Agriculture and Forestry. In December he founded the National Conservancy Bureau and was appointed concurrently to hold the position of its Director-General. In the same month the two aformentioned ministries were amalgamated and became the Minister of Agriculture and Commerce with Mr. Chang as Minister. The late President Yuan after having made himself Emperor of China, made Ching Chien one of his "Four Friends of Sung shan." Since his retirement from Peking, Mr. Chang devotel himself to commercial enterprises at Nantungchow and conservancy works in his native province. In May 1919 the Peking government upon the recommendation of Mr. Chang approved of the organization of the Kiangsu Grand Canal Improvement Board and appointed him the Director-General; in January 1920. Mr. Chang was conferred the First Class Tashou Paokuang Chiaho Decoration. In November he was appointed director general of the Woosung Port Construction Board; December 1921, Mr. Chang was given the director-generalship of the Bureau for the Construction of a New Canal for the Five Seacoast District; January 1922, Mr. Chang was appointed vice-president of the Yangtsu River Commission; June 1922, he was elected president of the Bank of Communications. Mr. Chang wields great influence among the literati and modern Chinese merchants and industrial leaders. The First Order of Merit by President Li Yuan-hung in recognition of his services rendered in connection with conservancy work. In January 1923 Mr. Chang was appointed by the Peking government a member of the Educational Sinking Funds Commission. Mr. Chang is holding all these positions given to him since May 1919. Mr. Chang wields great influence among the literati as well as among modern Chinese merchants and industrial leaders. He is also the author of many standard works on Chinese literature and arts.