Mei Yiqi or Mei Yi-chi (; 29 December 1889 – 19 May 1962),

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 ...

Yuehan (), was a

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

politician, physicist and educator, who served two separate terms as

Ministry of Education of the Republic of China The Ministry of Education (MOE) (; Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: ''Kau-yuk Phu'') is the ministry of the Republic of China (Taiwan) responsible for incorporating educational policies and managing public schools. Organizational structure Political departmen ...

, from 1948 to 1949 and from 1958 to 1961. He was President of National Tsinghua University between 1931 and 1948, making him the university's longest serving president.

Biography

Mei was born in

Tianjin Tianjin (; ; Mandarin: ), alternately romanized as Tientsin (), is a municipality and a coastal metropolis in Northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It is one of the nine national central cities in Mainland China, with a total popul ...

on 29 December 1889, to a merchant family. His father Mei Bochen () was a small merchant. His

ancestral home An ancestral home is the place of origin of one's extended family, particularly the home owned and preserved by the same family for several generations. The term can refer to an individual house or estate, or to a broader geographic area such as a ...

Wujin District Wujin District (; postal: ''Wutsin'') is a district under the jurisdiction of Changzhou in Jiangsu province of the People's Republic of China. In 2005 Wujin was ranked as 8th in the top 100 best cities and counties in mainland China. History In ...

Changzhou Changzhou ( Changzhounese: ''Zaon Tsei'', ) is a prefecture-level city in southern Jiangsu province, China. It was previously known as Yanling, Lanling and Jinling. Located on the southern bank of the Yangtze River, Changzhou borders the provin ...

Jiangsu Jiangsu (; ; pinyin: Jiāngsū, Postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Kiangsu or Chiangsu) is an Eastern China, eastern coastal Provinces of the People's Republic of China, province of the China, People's Republic of China. It is o ...

Province. In 1904, at the age of 15, he attended Nankai School, becoming a student of

Zhang Boling Chang Po-ling (; April 5, 1876 – February 23, 1951) was a Chinese educator who, with Yan Xiu, founded Nankai University and the Nankai system of schools. Biography Chang Po-ling was born in Tianjin in 1876 during the last years of the Qi ...

. He secondary studied at Baoding Higher School. In August 1909, he was sent to the U.S. as one of the first group of

Boxer Indemnity Scholarship Program The Boxer Indemnity Scholarship Program () was a scholarship program for Chinese students to be educated in the United States, funded by the . In 1908, the U.S. Congress passed a bill to return to China the excess of Boxer Indemnity, amounting to ...

students. He received his bachelor's degree from the

Worcester Polytechnic Institute '' , mottoeng = "Theory and Practice" , established = , former_name = Worcester County Free Institute of Industrial Science (1865-1886) , type = Private research university , endowme ...

. He returned to China after graduation in 1914 and worked in Tianjin Youth Association. In Autumn of that same year, he moved to National Tsinghua University, where he was elected President of National Tsinghua University in 1931. In December 1948, he was appointed

, but having held the position for only one year. After the defeat of the Nationalists by the Communists in

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 ...

in 1949, Mei relocated 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 ...

. In July 1958, he was appointed Ministry of Education again, and concurrently served as President of National Tsing Hua University in

Hsinchu City Hsinchu (, Chinese: 新竹, Pinyin: ''Xīnzhú'', Wade–Giles: ''Hsin¹-chu²'') is a city located in northwestern Taiwan. It is the most populous city in Taiwan Province not among the special municipalities, with estimated 450,655 inhabi ...

. In February 1962, he was elected an academician of the

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 ...

. On 19 May 1962, he died of cancer at National Taiwan University Hospital, 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 ...

Personal life

Mei married Han Yonghua () in 1919 in

. The couple had one son and four daughters: Mei Zutong (), Mei Zufen (), Mei Zuyan (), Mei Zubin () and Mei Zushan ().

Works

* * *

Memorials

Mei was highly praised by teachers and students of

Tsinghua University Tsinghua University (; abbreviation, abbr. THU) is a National university, national Public university, public research university in Beijing, China. The university is funded by the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China, Minis ...

, "Mei Yiqi is the President of Tsinghua University forever." () Mei was buried in

National Tsing Hua University National Tsing Hua University (NTHU; ) is a public research university in Hsinchu City, Taiwan. National Tsing Hua University was first founded in Beijing. After the Chinese Civil War, the then-president of the university, Mei Yiqi, and other ...

campus, his tomb was named "Garden of Mei" ().

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mei, Yiqi 1889 births 1962 deaths Tianjin Nankai High School alumni Worcester Polytechnic Institute alumni Educators from Tianjin Presidents of Tsinghua University Republic of China politicians from Tianjin Physicists from Tianjin Deaths from cancer in Taiwan Chinese Civil War refugees Taiwanese Ministers of Education Education Ministers of the Republic of China Members of Academia Sinica