Who's Who in China (3rd edition)/Pien Yin-ch'ang

Mr. Pien Yin-ch'ang

下密昌字月庭

Mr. Pien Yin-ch'ang was born at Tientsin, Chihli, in 1870. In the Ching Dynasty, he held the post of Senior Secretary of the Board of Works and also of the Board of Justice. In the first year of the Republic of China (1912), Mr. Pien was elected associate director of the General Chamber of Commerce of Tientsin. Upon the organization of the Tientsin Chinese Merchants Volunteer Corps following the establishment of the Republic, he was made its commanding officer. He was also a member of the executive committee of the Tientsin Red Cross Society. In 1913, the United Chamber of Commerce of Chihli was formed, and at the inaugural meeting which was held in Peking in March, he was elected the chairman of its executive committee. A few months later he was appointed President of the Panama Exhibition Participation Committee. In January 1913 Feng Kuo-chang became acting Civil Governor of Chihli when Mr. Pien was appointed one of his counsellors. In July 1913 he was made an Advisor to the Civil Governor's Office when Liu Je-tseng was Governor of Chihli. The special work assigned to him was the flood relief of the Metropolitan district and of the province proper and in the carrying out of it he showed wonderful power of organization. In 1916 when the Lao Hsi-kai affair (the French authorities tried to seize Lao Hsi-kai from China) took place, and the indignation of the people was highly worked up a society known as the Association for the Protection of China's Sovereignty and Territory was organized and Mr. Pien was elected president of that society. In 1917, Mr. Pien was appointed by the Ministry of Finance as a special deputy for the investigation of taxation conditions of Chihli in connection with the matter of tariff revision. Mr. Pien was elected in 1918 a member of the New Parliament which was convoked in August that year and dismissed in 1920. In November 1919 he was elected President of the General Chamber of Commerce, Chihli. This position he is still holding. In the early part of 1920 he received a considerable amount of public attention in consequence of the demand of the Japanese Consul General at Tientsin for Mr. Pien's removal from the presidency of the Chamber of Commerce because of his anti-Japanese attitude as was shown in his interest in the boycott movement. Mr. Pien was awarded he Third of Chiaho in 1919; the Second Class Chiaho and the Second Class Tashou Chiaho in 1920; the Second Class Paokuang Chiaho in 1922; and the Second Class Tashou Paokuang Chiaho Decoration in 1923.