Who's Who in China (3rd edition)/Yang Pao-ling

Mr. Yang Pao-ling

楊約签字为基

Mr. Yang Pao-ling was born in Soochow in 1887. He first studied at the Anglo-Chinese College, Shanghai. From 1896 to 1901 he studied at the Anglo-Chinese College, Soochow, and from 1901 to 1905 he attended the Soochow University. After having left school, Mr. Yang taught at the Cheng-chih Middle School, Chekiang. His desire to pursue higher education abroad led him to take an official examination at Nanking in summer of 1907, which was held by then Viceroy Tuan Fang for the purpose of selecting the best educated Chinese youths to send to America to be educated. Mr. Yang passed the examination successfully and was subsequently sent to the United States as a government student. Mr. Yang arrived in America in October 1907. For two years he studied civil engineering at Cornell University. From 1909 to 1911 he attended Purdue University where he graduated with the degree of C. E. During his stay in America, Mr. Yang was once President of the Cosmopolitan Club. He was very popular with both the Chinese and the American students and was twice elected to preside over the Chinese Students' Summer Conferences. Mr. Yang returned to China in September 1911, one month before the outbreak of the Revolution at Wuchang which resulted in the establishment of the Republic. Upon this outbreak, Mr. Yang at once plunged himself into the political whirlpool. He first acted as war correspondent for the China Press and then as the field manager of the Red Cross workers in and near Wuchang. Later he was appointed by Li Yuan-hung, the Revolutionary Commander, Chief Secretary to the Foreign Office at Wuchang. At the request of Chang Chien, the greatest industrial captain in China, Mr. Yang undertook the survey of the Huai River and the Grand Canal in 1912. He spent the year 1913 as Dean of the Civil Engineering Departiment in the Hunan Institute of Technology at Changsha. At the suggestion of Minister Chang Chien of Agriculture and Commerce, the National Conservancy Bureau was founded in Peking in December 1913. The first man Mr. Chang invited to assist him in this new Bureau of which he was the First Director-General was Mr. Yang, whose ability as a river engineer had already been well known to him. Mr. Chang appointed Mr. Yang as the Technical Expert of the Bureau in charge of a Department. In that capacity, Mr. Yang rendered valuable service in connection with the organization of the various conservancy works and survey schemes in the country. He played an important part in the preliminary negotiations of the Grand Canal Project between the Chinese government and the Siems Carey Company which resulted in the signing of a loan contract in 1918. Following the great flood visiting the North China in 1917, Mr. Hsiung Hsi-ling, the Director General of the Flood Relief and Conservancy, selected Mr. Yang as his principal technical assistant. A Commission for the Improvement of the River System of Chihli was organized in March 1918. It is composed of one President and six members, three nominated by the Diplomatic Body and three by the Chinese government. Mr. Yang was representing the National Conservancy Bureau. This position he is still holding. Upon the organization of the Grand Canal Improvement Board in the spring of 1918. Mr. Yang was appointed a i member of the Engineering Department. Mr. Yang is one of the founders of the Association of Chinese and American Engineers which was formally organized in Peking in November 1919. He was its Second Vice-President from November 1919 to April 1922 and its First Vice-President from April 1922 to October 1923. In 1921 Mr. Yang was a Director of Chinese Institute of Engineers, of which he is still a member. In spring 1921 Mr. Yang was delegated by the National Conservancy Bureau, in response to the public desire to improve the Yangtse, to make a preliminary investigation of the conditions of that river. In December 1921 Mr. Yang accompanied the noted British engineer Mr. F. Palmer on an inspection trip on the Yangtse. A joint report was submitted by Mr. Palmer, Mr. H. von Heidenstam, chief engineer of the Whangpoo Conservancy and Mr. Yang. A Yangtse River Commission was formed in December 1921 and Mr. Yang became a member of this Commission. In the beginning of 1922 the Commission appointed a Committee to take charge of the technical investigations. This committee consisted of seven members, four Chinese and three foreigners. Mr. Yang was one of the Chinese members. Since November 1922 Mr. Yang has been Acting Chairman of the Yangtse Technical Committee. In May 1922 Mr. Yang was appointed Co-Director of the Tientsin Telegraph Administration but he declined. About the same time he, in cooperation with a number of prominent persons, both Chinese and foreigners, founded the Chinese Engineering and Development Company. Mr. Yang has been its executive secretary and treasurer. In August 1922 when Mr. Kao Lin-wei became Minister of Finance Mr. Yang was appointed Advisor to the Minister. In May 1923 he was awarded the Second Class Chiaho and in October 1923 the Second Class Ta-Shou Pao-Kuang Chiaho Decoration. Besides being Principal Technical Expert of the National Conservancy Bureau, Member of the Chihli River Commission, Member of the Yangtse Technical Committee and Acting chairman of the same, Mr. Yang is also Advisor to the Kiangsu Grand Canal Improvement Board and of the Woosung Port Development Works. Mr. Yang's address is No. 1, Hung An Li, Ex-Austrian Concession, Tientsin.