Mr. Ku Chung-hsin was born at Ting Hsien, Chihli Province, in 1874. He studied Chinese under the famous literate Wu Ju-lung, the founder of the Tung-ch'eng School. In 1900 Mr. Ku attended the Chihli Provincial Examination granted by Imperial Grace, and came out first on the list, receiving the title of Yu Kung or Senior Licentiate thus qualifying to be admitted to the metropolitan competition. Having passed the metropolitan examination he was given the qualification to be a magistrate. However, he did not take up any magistrate's post because soon after he entered the Imperial University of Peking. In 1901 Dr. Ku went to Japan to study in Waseda University where he was later graduated. Upon his return to China he became a teacher in the High Normal School of Chihli. Subsequently Mr. Ku became the private secretary to Governor Tseng of Chihli where he rendered great assistance in establishing not less than eight courts. After the outbreak of the first Revolution in October 1911, Mr. Ku represented the-Chihli Provincial Assembly, then known as Tze-i-chu, at Wuchang and Nanking to assist in the organization of the new government. He was on the committee to draft the Provisional Constitution. He was also a member of the National Council in Nanking which elected Dr. Sun Yat-sen as the Provisional President. On the Manchu abdication in February 1912, Sun Yat-sen resigned in favor of Yuan Shih-kai, who accepted the Provisional Constitution drawn up by the National Council at Nanking. The Council was then transferred to Peking to act as the Legislature until the inauguration of the new, two-chamber National Assembly. The Parliament or National Assembly was formally inaugurated in April 1913. Mr. Ku was a member of the Lower House and also on the Constitution Drafting Committee. In January 1924 the National Assembly was dissolved by Yuan Shih-kai who had previously proscribed the Kuomintang as a seditious organization, unseated all the members of the two Houses belonging to that Party, thereby depriving the Legislature of a legal quorum. Mr. Ku, being a prominent Kuomintang member, fled to Shanghai the winter of 1913 and at once started the magazine True Opinion and the daily paper Chung Hua Hsin Pao to oppose Yuan Shih-kai. In Peking, two years of absolute rule by Yuan Shih-kai followed and then his monarchical project was launched. However, in December 1915 a revolt, organized by the late General Tsao Ao, broke out in Yunnan. Mr. Ku was appointed the official representative at Shanghai for the revolting organization, in which capacity he rendered no small service in overthrowing Yuan Shih-kai. Yuan Shih-kai died in June 1916 and Li Yuan-hung became President. In July Mr. Ku was appointed Minister of Agriculture and Commerce in Marshal Tuan Chi-jui's Cabinet. At the same time he was appointed Director-General of the National Conservancy Bureau. In June 1917 he resigned from the ministership. In August 1922 Old Parliament was reconvoked and Mr. Ku became an M. P. again. In December he was awarded the First Order of Tashou Chiaho. In February 1923 Mr. Ku was appointed Director General of the Bureau for the Preparation of Redeeming Railway. Mr. Ku is noted for his scholastic ability, having written many books among which are: “Essays on Politics" in 20 volumes, “Some Aspects on the Development of Agriculture and Commerce” in one volume, “Ku's Bassays and Poems”, “Explanations on the Constitutions drafted in the Temple of Heaven," and "A History on the Infanthood of the China Republic.”
