Background
Mr. H. H. Kung was bom at Taikunsten, Shanxi. He was the 75th direct descendant of Confucius.
Mr. H. H. Kung was bom at Taikunsten, Shanxi. He was the 75th direct descendant of Confucius.
Mr. Kung was sent to America in 1901 by Viceroy Li Hung-chang for Western education. In 1906 he obtained the degree of B. A. at Oberlin College. The following year he received the degree of M. A. from Yale University.
Mr. Kung returned to Shanxi in 1907 where he organized the Shanxi Oberlin Memorial College, of which he was since president. He was an active Christian and is chairman of the Y. M. C. A. in Taiyuanfu.
During the first revolution in 1911 he became the civil and military head of the Taikuhsien district, and kept that rich historic banking center in order. Mr. Kung was adviser to the “model Governor” Yen Hsih-shan of Shanxi and a leading promoter in the industrial development of his native province. He was on the directorate of many banks both in Shansi and elsewhere.
During the great famine in 1919 he helped to organize the Chinese Foreign Famine Relief Committee in Shansi, sitting also on the Famine Relief Road Commission. He was instrumental in bringing about the construction of roads in the province of Shanxi by the Red dross Famine Relief Committee.
In June 1922 Mr. Kung was appointed a member of the Joint Sino-Japanese Commission to settle the details for the rendition of Shantung to China. He served on this Commission with much credit. He was awarded the Third Class Chiaho in January 1923, the Third Class Wenfu in May 1923 and the Second Class Wenfu in September 1923.
Aside from his activities in official circles, Mr. Kung was successful in business, dealing in coal and pig-iron. He was really more of an industrialist than a politician. Mr. Kung was a close friend of Sir John Jordan and American Ministers at Peking, Dr. Reinsch, Dr. Tenney and Mr. Crane. Mrs. Kung was the elder sister of the wife of the late Dr. Sun Yat-sen, the President of South China.