Who's Who in China (3rd edition)/Liu Chih-chou

Mr. Liu Chih-chou

劉治洲字定五

Mr. Liu Chih-chou was born at Feng-hsiang Hsien, Shensi Province, in 1883. He was graduated from the School of Science at Sharghai. Subsequently he taught in the Middle School of his native district for three years. Upon the outbreak of the First Revolution in October 1911, Mr. Liu organized a volunteer corp in his district and declared the independence of Feng Hsiang and the adjacent districts in defiance of the Manchu authority. In 1912, the first year of the Republic, Mr. Liu was elected a member of the Shensi Provincial Assembly. At the same time he taught in the Shensi Academy, Sianfu. In 1913 Mr. Liu was elected a Member of the Lower House of the First Parliament which was convoked in Peking in April 1913 and dissolved by Yuan Shih-kai in January 1914. From April 1914 to the spring of 1916 Mr. Liu was connected with the National Oil Administration as field manager of the prospecting party digging wells in the northern region of Shensi. From August 1916, when the First Parliament was reconvoked after the death of Yuan Shih-kai, to June 1917 when it was again dissolved, Mr. Liu was in Peking occupying his seat in Parliament. Subsequent to the second dissolution of Parliament, he went in company with large numbers of M. P. s first to Shanghai and then to Canton where in August 1917 the Extraordinary Parliament was convoked. Mr. Liu remained with the Southern government, holding various positions in the administrative offices in addition to being a member of the Extraordinary Parliament, until the end of 1920 when the Cheng Hsueh Hui faction lost their power in Canton, Mr. Liu was then a member of that faction. Subsequently Mr. Liu went to Shensi and very soon joined General Wu Pei-fu's camp at Loyang as a Counsellor. Je was taken into high confidence by General Wu and he rendered valuable service in the latter's campaign against Fengtien in the summer of 1922. The First Parliament was reconvoked in July 1922, and Mr. Liu returned to the Lower Flouse again. In December 1922 he was appointed Vice-Minister of Agriculture and Commerce. In February 1923 he was given a concurrent post as President of the Commission for the Drafting of Laws governing industry and commerce. In March 1923 Mr. Liu was awarded the Second Class Wenfu Decoration and was given another concurrent position as Member of the Commission for the Study of Mongolian Questions. In July 1923 he was relieved of the Vice-Ministership. Since that time he has been living in Tientsin.