Who's Who in China (3rd edition)/K'ung Hsiang-hsi

Mr. H. H. Kung

孔祥熙字庸之

(K'ung Hsang hsi)

Mr. H. H. Kung, was born at Taikunsten, Shansi. He is the 75th direct descendant of Confucius. He was sent to America in 1901 by Viceroy Li Hung-chang for Western education. In 1906 he obtained the degree of B. A. at Oberlin Colleg The following year he received the degree of M. A. from Yale University. Mr. Kung returned to Shansi in 1907, where he organized the Shansi Oberlin Memorial College, of which he has since been president. He is an active Christian and is chairman of the Y. M. C. A. in Taiyuanfu. During the first revolution in 1911 he became the civil and military head of the Taikuhsien district, and kept that rich historic banking center in order. Mr. Kung is adviser to the "model Governor" Yen Hsih-shan, of Shansi, and a leading promoter in the industrial development of his native province. He is on the directorate of many banks both in Shansi and elsewhere. During the great famine in 1919 he helped to organize the Chinese Foreign Famine Relief Committee in Shansi, sitting also on the Famine Relief Road Commission. He was instrumental in bringing about the construction of roads in the province of Shansi by the Red Cross Famine Relief Committee. In June 1922, Mr. Kung was appointed a member of the Joint Sino-Japanese Commission to settle the details for the rendition of Shantung to China. He served on this Commission with much credit. He was awarded the Third Class Chiaho in January 1923, the Third Class Wenfu in May 1923, and the Second Class Wenfu in September 1923. Aside from his activities in official circles, Mr. Kung has been successful in business, dealing in coal and pig-iron. He is really more of an industrialist than a politician. Mr. Kung is a close friend of Sir John Jordan, and American Ministers at Peking, Dr. Reinsch, Dr. Tenney, and Mr. Crane. Mrs. Kung is the elder sister of the wife of the late Dr. Sun Yat-sen, the President of South China.