Who's Who in China (3rd edition)/Yang Hsuan-ch'eng

Mr. Yang Hsiun-chen

楊宣誠字樸園

(Yang Hsuan-ch'eng)

Mr. Yang Hsiun-chen was born in the city of Changsha, Hunan, in 1889. He went to Japan to study when he was very young, and while in Japan took a course in Navy, graduating from the Naval Gunnery School and the Navy Torpedo School in Tokyo. When the first Revolution broke out in Wuchang in 1911 he returned China and was forthwith appointed Officer-in-Charge of the guns of the Tsu Tai gunboat of the Revolutionary Navy. The next year, 1912, Mr. Yang was selected by the Hunan government to be sent to the United States to study. He spent about three years in America, studying political economy. Upon the completion of his education in America, he returned in 1915, when he was appointed professor of the Hunan Normal College. In 1916 he was appointed First Secretary of Foreign Affairs to the Governor of Hunan. In 1917 his services were needed by China in Siberia, where he went as a Lieutenant of the China Expeditionary Army to Siberia. After serving two years in the Siberian expedition during the world war, he returned to Changsha in 1919 taking up his foriner post as First Secretary of Foreign Affairs. In 1921 when the self-government of Hunan was organized upon the completion of the Hunan Provincial Constitution, he was made the Councillor of Foreign Affairs for the province. The appointment was first through election in the Changsha Provincial Assembly, and was subsequently approved by the Governor of Hunan, in accordance with the Hunan Constitution. This position he has been holding since the appointment. Mr. Yang is the youngest member of the Hunan Executive body of seven. He is very popular among the Hunanese due to his able management of diplomatic affairs of Hunan.