Background
Mr. Char Kwang-ki was born in Shanghai, China in 1889.
Mr. Char Kwang-ki was born in Shanghai, China in 1889.
From 1901 to 1908 Mr. Char studied at the St. John’s University, Shanghai. He was the winner of the gold medal in an essay contest in 1907 and was editor of St. John’s Echo in 1908.
With government support Mr. Char went to America in 1908 and studied civil engineering at Cornell University where he graduated in 1912 with the degree of Civil Engineer. He was elected to Sigma Xi in April 1912 and was second vice-president of the Cosmopolitan Club 1911-1912.
Mr. Char returned to China in 1912. The first professional position he held in China was that of assistant engineer of the Pukow Commercial Port during 1912 and 1913.
Mr. Char was professor of Civil Engineering in St. John’s University 1913-1914, assistant engineer of the Szechuan-Hankow Railway, I-Chang Section in 1914-1915, assistant engineer of the Nanking-Hunan Railway in 1916, Secretary and Engineer of the Chu-Ching Railway in 1917-1920.
From May 1921 to January 1922 Mr. Char was secretary to the Minister of Communciations in Peking. While in that capacity he was sent to Washington in the winter of 1921 as a technical expert of the Chinese Delegation to the Pacific Conference. He was given the Third Class Chiaho in June 1922. Since his leaving Peking in 1922 he was connected with the Shanghai Office of the Chung Foo Union Banking Corporation.