Background
Mr. Chu was born at Tzechow, Sichuan, China in 1895.
Mr. Chu was born at Tzechow, Sichuan, China in 1895.
He went to Europe in 1908 and studied in Belgium, England and Germany. He studied at the University of Glasgow in 1911 and graduated in 1916 with two Bachelor of Science degrees, one in naval architecture and one in mechanical and civil engineering.
Chu Mo-cheng returned to China in 1916 and became mechanical engineer in the industrial research bureau of Sichuan (Szechuen). He was an adviser to the Government arsenal at Chengtu and later professor of mechanical engineering and English in various colleges at Chengdu (Chengtu), Changsha and Ningbo (Ningpo).
He became an executive secretary of the industrial department of the Y.M.C.A. at the request of the National Committee Y.M.C.A. in 1921 and in this capacity made a through study of Chinese labor conditions and started a series of efforts to bring about a reform. Then Mr. Chu helped establish industrial departments in 14 city Y.M.C.A.'s in China.
Chu Mo-cheng made a tour of the world in 1923 under the direction of the National Committee Y.M.C.A. to investigate labor conditions and organizations in Europe and America and as a result he became an ardent advocate of protective social legislation, education of workers, the cooperative movement and the improvement of the housing and social conditions of the working class.
Mr. Chu was made a labor manager of the Commercial Press, Shanghai in 1927 and was appointed secretary of English, French and German in Gen. Chiang Kai-shek's headquarters and made a colonel in the National Army in 1928 and rendered conspicuous service in putting China's side of the Tsinan Incident before the world. Then he was appointed director of the department of labor in the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Labor in 1928 and he was China's chief delegate to the 12th session of the International Labor Conference at Geneva in 1929 where he aroused sympathy among the 31 nations represented over China's demand that industries carried on by foreign nationals in China who enjoyed extraterritorial privileges should be subject to China's labor laws.
Chu Mo-cheng was again named a delegate to the 14th session of the International Labor Conference at Geneva in June, 1930 and also China's chief delegate to the World Power Conference at Berlin the same month. Besides this he served as director of the department of labor in the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Labor and a member of the projects commission and legal commission of the same Ministry.
He was a technical expert attached to Dr. H. H. Kung's Industrial Mission to Europe and America, 1932-1933, general secretary of the Association for Economic and Social Advancement in Shanghai and member of the Rickshaw Board of the Shanghai Municipal Council, since 1934.