Who's Who in China (3rd edition)/Lu Tsung-yu

Mr. Lu Tsung-yu

陸宗輿字潤生

Mr. Lu Tsung-yu was born at Hai-ning Hsien, Chekiang Province, in 1875. He graduated from the Waseda University, Japan. In 1905 Mr. Lu attended the Imperial Examination for returned students and obtained the degree of Chu-jen. He was subsequently made an expectant secretary of the Grand Secretariat or State Department. In August 1905 the Imperial government sent five high officials, Prince Tsai Tse, Tai Hung-tze, Hsu Shih-ch'ang, Tuan Fang and Shao Ying, on a mission to study the constitutional conditions of the different foreign nations. Mr. Lu was with the mission as Second Class Councillor. Upon the return of the mission to Peking in September 1906, Mr. Lu was appointed a Junior Secretary of the Board of Police. When Hsu Shih-ch'ang became Viceroy of Manchuria in May 1907, he took Mr. Lu with him. While in Manchuria Mr. Lu was first Director of the Manchuria Salt Bureau and later its Director-General. He stayed there until March 1919 when he returned to Peking with Viceroy Hsu who was then appointed President of the Board of Communications. In 1909 Mr. Lu received two appointments, as a Member of the Constitutional Laws Investigation and Compilation Bureau and Chief Inspector of the Bank of Communications. From the latter mentioned position he was soon promoted to be vice-president of the Bank, For a time he was a Councillor of the Board of Finance. Lu Tsung-yu, director of the Chinese-Japanese Exchange Bank is a native of Haining-hsien, Chekiang. He is partly responsible for the Japanese loans which China concluded in 1917 and 1918. During the Tsing dynasty, Mr. Lu received the second literary degree through public examinations. Upon receipt of the degree, he went to Japan to pursue a short course, in political science. Through his ability in entertaining officials of the hour, Mr. Lu received quick promotions. Before long he became Assistant Proctor in the Government Council. In the summer 1910 Mr. Lu was appointed by an Imperial Edict a Member of the Imperial Advisory Council which had been established in January 1907 at the suggestion of the aforementioned mission. He was still holding the 1909 appointments. In 1911, before the outbreak of the First Revolution, Mr. Lu was appointed Chief of the Bureau of Printing and Engraving in the Cabinet. In January 1912 before the abdication of the Manchu Throne he was appointed by Prime Minister Yuan Shih-kai the Junior General Secretary of the Board of Finance. In March 1912 Yuan Shih-kai, who had just been elected President of the Republic by the National Council at Nanking, appointed Mr. Lu the Vice-Director of the Board of Finance which later changed into Ministry of Finance. In September 1912 Mr. Lu was appointed Financial Advisor to the President. In 1913 he was elected a Senator of the First National Assembly which was formally inaugurated in Peking in April that year. In December 1913 he was appointed Chinese Minister Plenipotentiary to Japan. The significance of this appointment was generally believed to be that President Yuan sent him to Japan to work for the recognition of the monarchical government of China. He was considered one of the important officials of the monarchical movement of Yuan Shih-kai. Yuan Shih-kai died on June 6, 1916. Mr. Lu tendered his resignation from the Ministership on June 30, 1916. He remained in Japan for some time and returned to China. Shortly afterwards he became interested in Chinese-Japanese co-operation in the industrial development of China. He was accountable for the formation of the Chinese-Japanese Exchange Bank, of which he was appointed a Chinese director. It is believed that the bank does not have any Chinese capital. As a director of the bank, Lu Tsung-yu has contracted many loans from Japan for the Chinese militarists in the North. Through his Japanese influence, he was appointed in 1919 director of several Chihli mines.