Zhou Ren (; 5 August 1892–3 December 1973) was a Chinese materials engineer and metallurgist. He was an educator and one of the founders of the

Science Society of China The Science Society of China (, 1915-1960) was a major science organization in the modern history of China. It was initiated by Chinese students at Cornell University in 1914, including P.C. King, H. C. Zen, Zhou Ren, Hsingfo Yang and later re ...

, a major science organization in the 20th century before the establishment of the Communist State. He was 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 ...

and the

Chinese Academy of Sciences The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS); ), known by Academia Sinica in English until the 1980s, is the national academy of the People's Republic of China for natural sciences. It has historical origins in the Academia Sinica during the Republ ...

. He was also a delegate to the 1st,

2nd A second is the base unit of time in the International System of Units (SI). Second, Seconds or 2nd may also refer to: Mathematics * 2 (number), as an ordinal (also written as ''2nd'' or ''2d'') * Second of arc, an angular measurement unit ...

and

3rd National People's Congress The 3rd National People's Congress () was in session from 1964 to 1975. It held only one session in the ten years. The session was held from December 21, 1964, till January 4, 1965. The Congress elected the state leaders: *President of the Peop ...

Biography

Early life and education

Zhou was born in Jiangning County,

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 ...

, on August 5, 1892. After graduating from the Jiangnan Higher School, he arrived in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

in 1910 at the age of 18 to begin his education at

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

Ithaca, New York Ithaca is a city in the Finger Lakes region of New York, United States. Situated on the southern shore of Cayuga Lake, Ithaca is the seat of Tompkins County and the largest community in the Ithaca metropolitan statistical area. It is named a ...

Republic of China

He returned to China after graduation and worked as an engineer in a construction company under the recommendation of Shi Liangcai, the chief editor of ''

Shen Bao ''Shen Bao'', formerly transliterated as ''Shun Pao'' or ''Shen-pao'' (), known in English as ''Shanghai News'', was a newspaper published from 30 April 1872 to 27 May 1949 in Shanghai, China. The name is short for ''Shenjiang Xinbao'', Shenjian ...

''. He was a professor of Nanjing Higher Normal School from 1917 to 1979. In 1919 he was hired as the chief engineer of Sichuan Steelmaking Plant, serving until 1921. In 1922, he moved to

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 ...

as dean of

National Chiao Tung University National Chiao Tung University (NCTU; ) was a public research university located in Hsinchu, Taiwan. Established in 1896 as Nanyang Public School by an imperial edict of the Guangxu Emperor, it was one of China's leading universities. After th ...

, he remained there until 1927. After a short period (1927–1928) of teaching students at

National Central University National Central University (NCU, ; Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: ''Kwet-li̍p Chung-yong Thài-ho̍k'', Wade–Giles: ''Kuo2 Li4 Chung Yang Ta4 Hsüeh2'' or ''中大'', ''Chung-ta'') is a public research university with long-standing traditions based in Taiwa ...

, he went to the

, where he served as director of Institute of Engineering. Zhou was elected a fellow of the Academia Sinica in 1948.

People's Republic of China

Zhou remained in China after the defeat of the Nationalists over 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 ...

. After the founding of the Communist State, Zhou successively served as president of Laboratory of Engineering Experiment of

(CAS), Institute of Metallurgy and Ceramics of CAS, Shanghai Metallurgy Institute, Shanghai Institute of Silicate Chemistry and Engineering, and Shanghai University of Science and Technology. He became an academician of the

in 1955. In 1966,

Mao Zedong Mao Zedong pronounced ; also romanised traditionally as Mao Tse-tung. (26 December 1893 – 9 September 1976), also known as Chairman Mao, was a Chinese communist revolutionary who was the founder of the People's Republic of China (PRC) ...

launched the ten-year

Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a sociopolitical movement in the People's Republic of China (PRC) launched by Mao Zedong in 1966, and lasting until his death in 1976. Its stated goal ...

, Zhou suffered

political persecution Political repression is the act of a state entity controlling a citizenry by force for political reasons, particularly for the purpose of restricting or preventing the citizenry's ability to take part in the political life of a society, thereby ...

in the massive socialist movement, the

Red Guards Red Guards () were a mass student-led paramilitary social movement mobilized and guided by Chairman Mao Zedong in 1966 through 1967, during the first phase of the Cultural Revolution, which he had instituted.Teiwes According to a Red Guard lead ...

searched his house and confiscated his property. They put Zhou in isolation and under investigation, where he was mistreated and tortured. Zhou died on December 3, 1973, aged 82.

Personal life

Zhou married Nie Qibi (; 1901–1990), the youngest daughter of Nie Jigui (; 1855–1911), an official and the son-in-law of

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 ...

statesman, military general, and

Confucian Confucianism, also known as Ruism or Ru classicism, is a system of thought and behavior originating in ancient China. Variously described as tradition, a philosophy, a Religious Confucianism, religion, a humanistic or rationalistic religion, ...

scholar

Zeng Guofan Zeng Guofan, Marquis Yiyong (; 26 November 1811 – 12 March 1872), birth name Zeng Zicheng, courtesy name Bohan, was a Chinese statesman and military general of the late Qing dynasty. He is best known for raising and organizing the Xiang A ...

(1811–1872). The couple had two sons and a daughter. Zhou's elder sister Zhou Jun () was the third wife of

Cai Yuanpei Cai Yuanpei (; 1868–1940) was a Chinese philosopher and politician who was an influential figure in the history of Chinese modern education. He made contributions to education reform with his own education ideology. He was the president of Pek ...

, an exceptional educator, esperantist, president of

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 ...

, and founder of the Academia Sinica.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zhou, Ren 1892 births 1973 deaths Chinese metallurgists Cornell University alumni Educators from Nanjing Engineers from Jiangsu Members of Academia Sinica Members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences Scientists from Nanjing Victims of the Cultural Revolution