Background
Mr. Chang Hung-lieh was born at Ku Shih Hsien, Henan province in 1887.
Mr. Chang Hung-lieh was born at Ku Shih Hsien, Henan province in 1887.
Mr. Chang began study at the age of seven under a private tutor and continued when he was grown when he took the old style examination. In 1906 he went to a private middle school in Kaifeng, later entering the Provincial College at the same place, where he finished the course four years later.
In 1921 Mr. Chang joined the Revolutionary Army which helped to make China a republic. He was elected a member of the Henan Assembly in 1912. He resigned to take the competitive examination for study in America. He was successful and went to America the following year. For two years he studied at Baldwin-Wallace College, Berea, Ohio, where he received his B. S. degree. He then studied at Oberlin. Next he went to the University of Illinois where he received his B. A. degree in 1917 and his M. A. in 1918.
In 1919 Mr. Chang returned to China to help build up an educational system. Mr. G. H. Lee having resigned the presidency of the Government Preparatory School at Kaifeng to accept other work, Mr. Chang was in August 1919, elected to the office.
In 1923 he was able to get the Honan Assembly to change the nature of the school into a university for the entire province. Chung Chow University was its new name and Mr. Chang its President. Largely through his influence the school was put on a permanent basis of provincial taxation, a strong faculty was selected of both Chinese and foreigners and several modern buildings were going up on a campus suited and plotted for the future expansion sure to come.
In 1924 Mr. Chang wrote an important article on Chinese-Japanese Relations which was published widely in America.