Who's Who in China (3rd edition)/Lu Chih-i

Mr. Lu Chih-i

呂志伊字天民

Mr. Lu Chih-i was born at Szu-mao Hsien, Yunnan province, in 1880. When a youth he was given a thorough education in Chinese. In 1896 he became a Licentiate or B. A. In the summer of 1904 he went to Japan where he first studied at the Hung Wen Academy taking the normal course and then he joined Waseda University studying Political Economy. It was about the time the Revolutionary Society Tung Ming Hui was organized and Mr. Lu joined it when he was in Japan where the headquarters of this secret society were situated. Upon his return to China, he was made Chief of the Yunnan branch of the Tung Ming Hui. At the same time he was editor of the magazine Yunnan, and the Yunnan Daily, both of which were advocating drastic reform in China. In the winter of 1908 Mr. Lu went to the western part of Yunnan via Burma on an attempt to start the revolution. Finally the plot failed and many of his colleagues were arrested and decapitated. He fled to Rangoon where he became editor-in-chief of the Kuang Hua Daily and Progress. In the winter of 1910 Mr. Lu made another attempt in western Yunnan but it was frustrated by the occupation of the Pima district by British troops. In the spring of 1911 he participated in the uprising in Canton. Upon the failure of the movement, he went to Shanghai and became an editor of the Ming Lieh Pao. October 10, 1911, the First Revolution broke out at Wuchang, near Hankow. Yunnan was not slow to respond and Mr. Lu became Secretary and Councillor of the Tutu, Military Governor, of Yunnan. In the following months a Provisional government took form at Nanking. All the provinces that had declared independence sent its representatives to Nanking to participate in the organization of the government. Mr. Lu was the representative from Yunnan. On January 1, 1912, Dr. Sun Yat-sen was inaugurated as the Provisional President of the Republic at Nanking. Mr. Lu was appointed Vice-Minister of Justice. He resigned from this post in March 1912 when the Provisional government was removed to Peking and Yuan Shih-kai succeeded Sun Yat-sen as Provisional President. Then Mr. Lu became chief of the Shanghai branch of the China Tung Ming Hui and also chief editor of the Ming Kuo Hsin Wen. In the autumn of 1912 he went to the South Sea Islands to establish branches of the Tung Ming Hui. In the Spring of 1913 Mr. Lu 'was elected by the Provincial Assembly of Yunnan to be a Senator of the First National Assembly. This Parliament was inaugurated in April 1913 and subsequently he was elected a member of the Constitution Drafting Committee. In June 1916, after the death of Yuan, Parliament was reconvoked and Mr. Lu became a Senator again. After the second dissolution of the Parliament in June 1917 by President Li Yuan-hung, yielding to the demands of the militarists, Mr. Lu went to Canton to join the constitutional government. In August 1917 these members of the Parliament assembled at Canton and convoked the Extraordinary Parliament. In 1918 Mr. Lu was concurrently a Councillor of the Military government. In the winter of 1920 he became concurrently Vice-Minister of Justice of the Military government. In the summer of 1921 Dr. Sun Yat-sen was elected by the Extraordinary Parliament the President of China, Mr. Lu was appointed Vice-Minister of Justice and at the same time acting as Minister. In the autumn of 1922 the First Parliament was reconvoked at Peking by President Li Yuan-hung, and Mr. Lu found himself in the Senate again. He left Peking, however when President Li was ousted. He has joined the Southern leaders again and he is now travelling between Canton and Shanghai.