Background
Mr. Chen was native of Kwangtung. He was born in Trinidad, South America, in 1878.
journalist minister of foreign affairs public official
Mr. Chen was native of Kwangtung. He was born in Trinidad, South America, in 1878.
Chen Eugene received his legal education in England.
Following his graduation from university in England, he was admitted to the bar in London. After practising law for some years in West Indies, Mr. Chen returned to China in 1912 and acted as legal adviser to the Ministry of Communications, Peking. From 1914 to 1916 Chen Eugene took the position of a publisher and editor of the Peking Gazette.
In the course of his duties as such, he was arrested and imprisoned for his anti-Japanese writings denouncing certain sinister negotiations of the then Peking Administration with Japan in 1916. Nevertheless, Mr. Chen was pardoned and released in 1917. Then he left Peking for Shanghai, where he associated with Dr. Sun Yat-sen and other Southern Leaders. In 1917 Chen Eygene became a member of the diplomatic mission of the Southern Military Government to the United States.
Mr. Chen worked as an editor of the Shanghai Gazette, Shanghai, around 1918 to 1919. He was elected member of the Southern delegation, to Paris Peace Conference in 1919. After the conference, he travelled extensively in Europe, returning to China in 1920. Chen Eugene served as an adviser to the Southern Government from 1922 to 1924.
He was the founder and editor of the Min Pao ox the People Tribune, Peiping, in 1925 and was imprisoned by the Fengtien authorities for publishing the news of death of Chang Tso-lin in his paper. Chen Eugene served as an acting Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Nationalist Government at Canton, in 1926. Since 1927 Mr. Chen took up the post of a substantiated Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Nationalist Government, Wuhan.
After the split of Nanking and Wuhan factions, he was relieved of his post by the Nanking Government and has been residing in Europe since 1927. In 1928 Chen Eugene became an elected member of the Central Executive Committee of Kuomintang and of the Central Political Council. Mr. Chen resumed his office as Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Canton Opposition Government at the end of 1931. The following year (1932) he became a Minister of Foreign Affairs of the National Government. Later Chen Eugene joined the Fukien (Fujian) Independence Movement and became Minister of Foreign Affairs of the "People's Government" from 1933 to 1934. After collapse of the Movement, he lived in retirement.
Chen Eugene married Miss Chang Tsing-ying, daughter of Chang Chin-kiang, in France in 1930.