Who's Who in China (3rd edition)/Chin Shao-ch'eng

Mr. Kungpah King

金城学伯

(Chin Shao-ch'eng)

Mr. Kungpah King was born at Nanhsun, Chekiang Province, in 1876. After having finished his Chinese education at home, he acquired his rudimentary knowlege of English at the St. Xavier's School, Shanghai. In 1901 Mr. King went to England and joined the Department of Commerce of King's College, London and finished in 1905. Upon his return to China in the same year, he was appointed Assistant Magistrate of the Mixed Court at Shanghai. In the following year he was in charge of the Trade Marks section of the Board of Commerce at Peking. Later, Mr. King was transferred to be a Judge in the Supreme Court of Justice, which position he held for five years. During the fourth year of his office, he was sent to Washington as Chinese delegate to attend the Prison Conference. After the conference, he investigated prison conditions and studied law proceedings in some eighteen different countries in America and Europe. Upon his return to China, he wrote a number of books embodying the results of his studies and researches. In 1912 Mr. King resigned from the Supreme Court and became the Dean of the College of Commerce of the Peking University and concurrently held the position of secretary to the Board of the Interior. About the same time he founded the first National Museum in the Chinese Capital, and was appointed its first curator. In 1914 when Hsiung Hsi-ling was director-general of the National Oil Administration, Mr. King served as resident director of the Field Office in Shensi where a number of wells were dug by the Standard Oil Company undertaking the exploitation work. In August 1918 Mr. King was elected a Member of Representative of the new or "Tuchuns" Parliament. Subsequently he was chosen as one of the three representatives to attend the International Parliamentary Conference of Commerce held in Belgium. In 1920, after the Anfu-Chihli war which resulted in the overthrow of the Anfu Faction, the Parliament was dissolved. Subsequently Mr. King was appointed a Secretary of the Cabinet which position, however, he did not hold. In May 1915 he was conferred the Second Order of Paokuang Chiaho and in January 1920 the Second Order of Tashou Chiaho. In October 1922 Mr. King received the Third Order of Wenfu. In 1922 he was appointed again to be a secretary of the Cabinet and held this position until January 1923. In March 1923 he was appointed Councillor of the Bureau of Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs, which position he is today holding. Mr. King is a recognized authority on Chinese antique arts, such as paintings and porcelains and a highly accomplished artist himself.