Background
Dr. D. S. Chen was born at Suzhou, Jiangsu Province in 1889.
Dr. D. S. Chen was born at Suzhou, Jiangsu Province in 1889.
During his youth Mr. Chen studied Chinese language and classics at home under guidance and direction of his father Yin S. Ohen, a renowned scholar. In 1904 Dr. Chen entered Suzhou University where he devoted much of his time and energy to the study and masteiring of the English language. Following the completion of the sophomore class in that institution in 1909 he came to Shanghai and engaged in literary pursuits.
Mr. Chen served as a compiler in the Chung Hwa Book Company for several years then acted as co-editor for the well-known Chinese magazine Ta Chung Hwa, edited by the noted statesman and scholar, Liang Chi-chao. At the same time his proficiency both in English and in Chinese enabled him to translate scores of books which have been widely read and the translations of which have won him much popularity.
In 1917 Dr. Chen became greatly interested in law and pursued his advanced education in the Comparative Law School of China, Law Department of Soochow University, where he made a painstaking study of the legal institutions of Western countries for three years. Upon the satisfactory completion of his course in 1920 he was given the degree of L.L.B. Following that summer, Dr. Chen went to America as a self-supporting student and there he took a post-graduate course in the University of Michigan. In 1921 he received a Doctorate of Jurisprudence and the next year was recipient of a Master of Arts degree in Political Science, his thesis was “The Principles of State Succession as Revealed by the Versailles Treaty,” which was very favorably commended by both the literary and judicial circles.
On account of his high legal attainments, Dr. Chen was recommended by the faculty of the University of Michigan as a University Fellow of that institution of learning and was awarded a prize amounting to $500 Gold - a distinction very seldom earned by any foreign student.
During his academic years in the United States Dr. Chen was noted for various activities. He was elected President of the Chinese Students’ Association in the University of Michigan and at the tinte of Washington Conference, he was appointed special correspondent in America by the Sin Wen Pao, one of the largest Chinese newspapers in Shanghai. His views as set down in the newspapers were far sighted and penetrating, and did much to arouse Chinese interest in the things transacted in the conference.
In the fall of 1922 Dr. Chen returned to China. His immediate arrival was accompanied by a request to accept the professorship of public law in the Comparative Law School, his Alma Mater. Besides practising law in Shanghai, Dr. Chen was also connected with the Shun Pao, serving in the capacity of a special editor. From time to time, he wrote articles dealing with present day problems which are widely read and often times reprinted by various Chinese newspapers throughout the country. Dr. Chen was one of four delegates who went to Peking during 1924 for the rendition of the Shanghai Mixed Court.