Who's Who in China (3rd edition)/Kao En-hung

Mr. Kao En-hung

高恩洪 字定庵

Mr. Kao En-hung was born at Peng Hai Hsien, Shantung Province, in 1875. He studied in the Temple Hill College, Chefoo. He completed his studies at King's College, London, where he remained for six years. Returning he was first attached to the Chinese Amban in Tibet from 1907 to 1909. He was next appointed Secretary to ex-President Hsu Shih-chang who was at that time director-general of the Tientsin-Pukow Railway. Later he became secretary to the Governor of Mukden, who was no other than Mr. Tang Shao-yi. In 1910 Mr. Kao was transferred to the Board of Communications, then known as Yuchuan Pu, and in 1912 he was appointed secretary to the Szechuan-Hankow Railway Administration and concurrently director of the telegraph office in Hankow. In 1914 Mr. Kao was made director of the Szechuan-Tibet Telegraph Adininistration, with headquarters at Chengtu, and in 1916 he was appointed director of the Department of Telegraph Materials in Shanghai. In September 1920 Mr. Kao was given the concurrent position of a member of the Counselor's Hall in the Ministry of Communications. In February 1921 he was awarded the Third Order of Chiaho. In May 1922 Mr. Kao was appointed Acting Minister of Communications. In June 1922 he was ordered to act concurrently as Minister of Education. In July 1922 he received the First Order of Tashou Chiaho, and in October 1922 the First Order of Tashou Paokuang Chiaho. He held the post of Acting Minister of Communications until January 1923 when he retired to private life. Mr. Kao's name has been registered as candidate for the post of Minister Plenipotentiary to a foreign country. In March 1924, Mr. Kao was appointed Director General of the Administration of Kiaochow Trading area. Owing to Mr. Kao's close affiliation with the Chihli party, he was dismissed from his position late in 1924, when the Chihli forces were defeated by the Anfu-Fengtien faction, in the war which began September 1, 1924. In December he was kidnapped by the militarists and since that time has been detained in Tsinanfu, the capital of Shantung province, and Tientsin. Early in 1925 he was offered his release but refused to accept without an apology and a statement from the Peking government, completely exonerating him from any charge of misconduct while in office as Governor of the Tsingtao Special Administrative Area.