Chiang Fu-tsung (; 12 November 1898 – 21 September 1990),

courtesy name A courtesy name (), also known as a style name, is a name bestowed upon one at adulthood in addition to one's given name. This practice is a tradition in the East Asian cultural sphere, including China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam.Ulrich Theobald ...

Weitang, was a Chinese educator and politician of the

Republic of China Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northeast ...

Life

Chiang was born in a Catholic family in

Haining () is a county-level city in Zhejiang Province, China, and under the jurisdiction of Jiaxing. It is in the south side of Yangtze River Delta, and in the north of Zhejiang. It is to the southwest of central Shanghai, and east of Hangzhou, the p ...

Zhejiang Zhejiang ( or , ; , also romanized as Chekiang) is an eastern, coastal province of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Hangzhou, and other notable cities include Ningbo and Wenzhou. Zhejiang is bordered by Jiang ...

, China, towards the end of the

Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...

. He was a maternal cousin of the

wuxia ( ), which literally means "martial heroes", is a genre of Chinese fiction concerning the adventures of martial artists in ancient China. Although is traditionally a form of historical fiction, its popularity has caused it to be adapted f ...

novelist Louis Cha. He graduated from

Peking University Peking University (PKU; ) is a public research university in Beijing, China. The university is funded by the Ministry of Education. Peking University was established as the Imperial University of Peking in 1898 when it received its royal charter ...

in 1923 with a degree in philosophy, and obtained a government scholarship to study

library science Library science (often termed library studies, bibliothecography, and library economy) is an interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary field that applies the practices, perspectives, and tools of management, information technology, education, and ...

at Berlin University and graduated in 1930. In 1933, Chiang started the National Central Library in

Nanjing Nanjing (; , Mandarin pronunciation: ), alternately romanized as Nanking, is the capital of Jiangsu province of the People's Republic of China. It is a sub-provincial city, a megacity, and the second largest city in the East China region. T ...

and oversaw its move to

Chongqing Chongqing ( or ; ; Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), Postal Romanization, alternately romanized as Chungking (), is a Direct-administered municipalities of China, municipality in Southwes ...

during the

Second Sino-Japanese War The Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) or War of Resistance (Chinese term) was a military conflict that was primarily waged between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. The war made up the Chinese theater of the wider Pacific Th ...

. On 1 August 1940, he was appointed as its first director. Between 1940 and 1941, he organised funding for the purchase of rare manuscripts and books collection preservation from collectors in

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

to protect them from looting by the Japanese during the war. The library was moved back to Nanjing between 1945 and 1946 after the end of the war. In 1948, the Nationalist government moved the library, along with its core collection of about 130,000 volumes of rare manuscript books, to

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

following its defeat by the Communists in the

Chinese Civil War The Chinese Civil War was fought between the Kuomintang-led government of the Republic of China and forces of the Chinese Communist Party, continuing intermittently since 1 August 1927 until 7 December 1949 with a Communist victory on m ...

. On 23 April 1949, when Communist forces occupied Nanjing towards the end of the Chinese Civil War, Chiang left mainland China and went to

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

before eventually settling down in

Taipei Taipei (), officially Taipei City, is the capital and a special municipality of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Located in Northern Taiwan, Taipei City is an enclave of the municipality of New Taipei City that sits about southwest of the n ...

, Taiwan. In 1951, Chiang became a professor in the National Taiwan University. About three years later, he was appointed as the director of the National Central Library again after the library was rebuilt in Taipei. In September 1965, he became

Director of National Palace Museum The National Palace Museum (; Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: Kwet-li̍p kù-kiung pok-vu̍t-yèn), is a museum in Taipei, Republic of China (Taiwan). It has a permanent collection of nearly 700,000 pieces of Chinese artifacts and artworks, many of which wer ...

in Taipei. A year later, he was reassigned to be the director of the National Central Library. In 1974, he was elected to

Academia Sinica Academia Sinica (AS, la, 1=Academia Sinica, 3=Chinese Academy; ), headquartered in Nangang, Taipei, is the national academy of Taiwan. Founded in Nanking, the academy supports research activities in a wide variety of disciplines, ranging from ...

, the

national academy A national academy is an organizational body, usually operating with state financial support and approval, that co-ordinates scholarly research activities and standards for academic disciplines, most frequently in the sciences but also the humanit ...

of Taiwan. In 1983, he resigned from the National Palace Museum and was appointed national policy adviser to

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

Chiang Ching-kuo. Chiang died on 21 September 1990 in Taipei.

References

* Mission of National Central Library: http://www.ncl.edu.tw/ct.asp?xItem=149&CtNode=232&mp=5 * NCL Special Collection: http://www.ncl.edu.tw/ct.asp?xItem=991&ctNode=553&mp=5 * Collection Highlights: http://www.ncl.edu.tw/lp.asp?ctNode=553&CtUnit=206&BaseDSD=7&mp=5

External links

National Central Library Rare Books: 国家图书馆馆藏善本古籍
{{Authority control Politicians of Taiwan Politicians from Jiaxing Republic of China politicians from Zhejiang 1898 births 1990 deaths Educators from Jiaxing Academic staff of the National Taiwan University Taiwanese people from Zhejiang National University of Peking alumni