Background
Dr. Yen Te-ching, better known as Strong Yen, was born at Shanghai in 1878.
Dr. Yen Te-ching, better known as Strong Yen, was born at Shanghai in 1878.
Dr. Yen studied at the Anglo-Chinese Softool, Shanghai during 1889-1893; at the Tung Wen College, Shanghai during 1893-1895; at St. Xaviers’ School, Shanghai during 1895-1896.
He went to America by way of Europe in 1896 to study with private support. From 1896 to 1898 he prepared for College at Episcopal High School, Virginia. He studied Engineering at the University of Virginia in 1898-1899 and at Lehigh University in 1899-1901, graduating from it with the degree of C. E. in 1901, being the first Chinese graduate from that institution. He was awarded a gold medal for excellence in mathematics in 1898. He was member of the Mandalin Club in 1899-1901 and was with Min. R. R. and Mining Company in the summer of 1900 and with the American Bridge Company and Pencoyd Steel Works in 1901-1902.
Dr. Yen returned to China in July 1902. From 1902 to 1904 he was connected with the Canton-Hankow Railway successively serving as assistant engineer, superintendent of grading, assistant district engineer and resident engineer. In 1904 Sheng Kung-pao who was then the director-general of Railways appointed him consulting engineering of the Imperial Railway Administration, Shanghai. In 1905 he joined the Shanghai-Nanking Railway as assistant engineer for the Chinkiang-Nanking Section.
Shortly afterwards, in 1905, Viceroy Yuan Shih-kai transferred him to the north for the construction of the Peking-Kalgan Railway. At first he was resident engineer of the railway and afterward a district engineer. He was in charge of the difiicult portion of the line which passes through the famous Nankow Pass. Four tunnels, the longest of which was over 3,000 feet and passed for a length of over 100 feet under the Great Wall at Pataling were built under his direction.
In 1906 after passing the Imperial Examinations for Returned Students he was awarded by Edict the degree of Doctor of Engineering. In the spring of 1909 he was sent to inspect railways in Jiangxi and Anhwei, after the inspection of which he proceeded to Ichang as assistant chief engineer of the Sichuan railway. The work on that railway was stopped by the First Revolution in 1911.
In the spring of 1912 Dr. Yen was appointed director of the Railway Department in the Provisional government at Nanjing. When the Ministry of Communications was regularly organized in Peking in May 1912 he became Councillor of the Ministry.
From July 1912 to January 1922 Dr. Yen held the post of managing director of the Canton-Hankow Railway, Hubei-Hunan Section. From 1919 to 1922 he was also in charge of the Han-I and I-Kuei sections of the Szechuan-Hankow Railway. From April to July 1919, he was detailed by the government to be Chinese representative on the Innter-Allied Technical Board. During his connection with that Board he made a tour of inspection from Harbin westward to Perm, beyond the Ural Mountains, in Russia. He was given the Second Class Tashou Chiaho in April 1920 and the Second Class Wenfu in October 1920. In November 1920 he was made a member of the Railway Finance Commission.
In January 1921 Dr. Yen left China on an official trip touring America and Europe to study the latest improvements in railway construction and operation with the object of adopting them in China. In September 1921 he was appointed Special Technical Expert of the Chinese Delegation to the Washington Conference. In January 1922 he was appointed Associate Director-General of the Hankow-Canton-Sichuan Railway. In February 1922 he was given the Second Class Paokuang Chiaho.
In March 1922 Dr. Yen was made a member of the Commission on Communication interests in connection with the Shandong negotiation. In June 1922 he was awarded the Second Class Tashou Paokuang Chiaho and also appointed Acting Councillor of the Ministry of Communications. In the same month he was detailed to be chairman of the Second Committee of the Sino-Japanese Joint Conference on Shantung Affairs. In July 1922 he received another concurrent position as member of the National Finance Discussion Commission and later was promoted to be the technical director of the Ministry of Communications.
In September 1922 he was ordered to be concurrently the Superintendent of the Bureau of the compilation of China’s Communication History. In January 1923 Dr. Yen was given the First Class Tashou Chiaho.
Dr. Yen was a charter member of the Chinese Institute of Engineers of which he was vice-president in 1915; director in 1916-1920; vice-president and president in 1923-1924. He was director of the Association of Chinese and American Engineers in 1920-1921 and its president in 1921-1923.