Liao Chongzhen (; 25 May 1898 – 12 September 1971), also known as Chan Sung Liu, was a Chinese government official and president of the College of Agriculture at Sun Yat-sen University. He witnessed the establishment of the Republic of China and Sun Yat-sen and other revolutionary held meetings at his father's home. Liao's family played an instrumental role in the modernisation of education in China. He was appointed to director of the Department of Sericulture under the Kuomintang (KMT), achieving a great improvement of agriculture through Guangdong province.The Rise and Fall of Guangdong Silk Industry: http://news.dayoo.com/history/201008/24/88669_13685663.htm Liao Chongzhen and the silk industry: http://www.gzzxws.gov.cn/gzws/gzws/ml/39/200809/t20080917_8868.htm Many dams. bridges and irrigation canals in Guangdong province were named by him. During his lifetime he was also a prominent member of the Baháʼí Faith doing many translations from Bahá'u'lláh's and 'Abdu'l-Bahá's writings into Chinese.
Birth and family background Liao Chongzhen was born in Canton (now Guangzhou) on 25 May 1897. He was the fourth of ten children.
His grandfather Liao Xin Tiang 廖莘田 and his elder brother were orphans in the mid 19th century. They roamed the streets of Guangzhou, where some Christian proselytizers had set up feeding stations for the hordes of suffering humanity displaced by war and misrule of the Manchus. At age 14, he converted to Christianity. He was self-educated. He became a doctor of Chinese medicine, a Baptist minister fluent in English, and an admirer of democracy. He had one son, Liao Deshan 廖德山.
Liao Deshan became also a Baptist minister and earned the license of Christian practice as a medical doctor from the Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese (the forerunner of the University of Hong Kong) in 1892. There he met Sun Yat-sen. Notably, of their class of 12 students, he and Sun were the only two who graduated.HK university. (2002). Growing with Hong Kong: the University and its graduates: the first 90 years. , .Singtao daily. 28 February 2011. 特別策劃 section A10. Sun Yat-sen Xinhai revolution 100th anniversary edition.South China morning post. Birth of Sun heralds dawn of revolutionary era for China. 11 November 1999. Sun Yat-sen played an instrumental role in the overthrow of the Qing dynasty and was appointed to serve as Provisional President of the Republic of China, when it was founded in 1912. When Liao Deshan and Sun Yat-sen returned to Guangzhou, Liao's home became a meeting place for the revolutionaries and Liao became one of the founders of Kuomintang.Blog about Liao Fengen: http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_48c39e9b010142dz.html Liao Deshan believed in universal suffrage, advocated the equality of the sexes, education of women, unbinding women's feet, and abolishing polygamy. He, along with Sun and others, went into exile in Japan in 1908, when the Manchus came after them. In 1890 he found the Pui Ching Middle Schools 培正中學 which is still a thriving institution in Hong Kong and Macau, which insisted on excellence in both Chinese and Math, way ahead of his time. Two Nobel Prize winners in physics were students there. He, unusual in his time, or any time, actually practiced what he preached. When he was a young doctor during the 1880s and 1890s, he went from village to village, offering medical care. When the peasants couldn't pay him, they often asked what they could do for him. He asked if they would allow him to unbind their daughters' feet. Quite often, the peasants allowed him; even though it was dangerous to go against age-old customs, because he had saved lives and spared them pain. When his eldest daughter asked why he was so adamant in unbinding women's feet, he replied: "Because women pass their pains onto their children." Liao Deshan originated the slogan: 'Save China through education'. He had one wife, and 10 children. Three sons and seven daughters, none of the girls had bound feet, which was rare during the last days of the Qing dynasty. He was employed at Lingnan University 嶺南大學 as a doctor and physiology professor. in exchange for his services he asked his children to be studying there for free. Then, through his connection with the churches in New England, he managed to have almost all his children (his last daughter reached maturity after the passing of her father so was not able to do further studies) to be university educated.
A family dedicated to education All Liao Chongzhen's sisters were outstanding people who dedicated their lives to 'Change through education' and all studied at Lingnan University 嶺南大學(Guangzhou 廣州), (the number in parentheses after their name indicates the order of birth):Rich by three generation, private blog: http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_a331f5dc0102v3we.html
廖奉獻 (Liao Fengxian) (1) was educated at the College of Wooster and at Wellesley College got a Master in education at Columbia University and was one of the earliest women who went to graduate school.Memories of Principal Zhong Ron: http://www.gzzxws.gov.cn/gzws/gzws/ml/24/200809/t20080912_7388.htm She was instrumental in opening up Chinese universities to women. After she came back to China she served as first dean of the Women's College of Lingnan University.
廖奉恩 (Liao Fengen) (2) was the first Chinese woman who went to Smith College and also got a Master in education from Columbia University. When she returned to Guangzhou she served as Soong Ching-ling (Madame Sun Yat-Sen)'s English secretary; then she served as vice-principal of 廣州執信中學 Zhixin High SchoolGuangdong Education: http://www.gzzxws.gov.cn/gzws/gzws/sqfl/dgmsq/200809/t20080917_9058.htmZhixin Middle school memories: http://www.stlhedu.net/xs/x2.htmlGuangdong Government: http://www.gzzxws.gov.cn/gzws/gzws/ml/di77j/201307/t20130729_31731.htm in 1924 and principal from 1937. She served also on the board of directors of Lingnan University from 1926.Alumni Association of South China Agricultural University: Liao Fengen helped translating Martha Root in her visit to Canton in 1924. On 11 April 1924 she wrote to Martha Root:
"I want to assure you that during your brief visit in Canton you have sown seeds for the Baháʼí Cause which, in due time, will bring forth a thousand folds. You have certainly given a new impetus to my religious life. I have found in the Baháʼí teachings that something which I have hitherto sought for in vain. I find that it satisfied both the requirements of the intellect and the longings of the heart. The Baháʼí movement appeals to me in that it is a movement for the doing away of all kinds of prejudice, which is so detrimental to all kinds of thinking both spiritually and intellectually and for the ushering in of the new era of universal brotherhood through the spirit of good will."
廖奉基 (Liao Fengji) (3) after studying at Lingnan University and UK she moved to study her master at Bryn Mawr College in 1918. She was the first Chinese to enter Bryan Mawr. In 1925 she founded 粵華中學 (Yuet Wah College), and she served as its president for over 20 years.
廖奉靈 (Liao Fengling) (6) when was a child was presented by her mother to Dr. Sun Yat-Sen, he stroke her head and said: "You will grow up to do great things for the country."My mother: Liao Fengling: http://www.gzzxws.gov.cn/gxsl/rwcq/200809/t20080912_7383_1.htmA life for education: http://www.gzzxws.gov.cn/gxsl/rwcq/200809/t20080917_8716.htm She studied at the University of Michigan, where she met Martha Root. In 1931, on her way back to China she stopped in Yokohama, Japan, where she met Agnes Alexander, Keith Ransom-Kehler and some Japanese friends. Agnes Alexander recalls:
"While her steamer was in port in Yokohama, Miss Liu came to Tokyo and spent a night with us. It was an especially happy occasion, as it was the evening when we held a Baháʼí meeting and a spiritual unity was made between this Chinese young woman and the Japanese friends".
She was he first Chinese president of Concordia College for women (廣州市協和中學),Concordia School: http://www.gdzsxx.com/zxx/school/xx/49172.html which in 1937 was ranked by the Ministry of Education as one of the top nine secondary schools in the country and had a 100% rate of students passing the entry examinations to Chinese Universities. In January 1939 she wrote to Martha Root to say she was now in charge of a normal school with 300 students, and that she often thought of Miss Root and her "inspiring personality and of the Cause you are trying to promote and spread throughout the world". After difficult times during the Cultural Revolution, her life of service in education continued and she served as deputy director of the city department of education. She also served as a member of the municipal Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference Standing Committee,Guangzhou Government: vice chairman of the city Democratic Foundation and as president of the Guangzhou Children's Welfare Association. In 1976 was the head of the reform in English teaching in Guangzhou. An award bearing her name has been created in Guangzhou, the 'Liao Fengling award' for outstanding teaching as well a kindergarten bearing her name.Awards: http://edu6.teacher.com.cn/tkc135a/kcxx/jsjj.htmLiao Fengling kindergarten:
廖奉潔 (Liao Fengjie) (8) also studied at the University of Michigan and worked in Hong Kong and Macau Pui Ching Middle School.
Finally, the youngest sister,
廖奉貞 (Liao Fengzhen) (10) studied at the Sun Yat-Sen University and after her studies founded an orphanage.Education in Guangdong: http://www.gzzxws.gov.cn/gzws/cg/cgml/cg10/200808/t20080825_3702_1.htm
Liao Chongzhen had also two brothers,
廖崇聖 (Liao Chongshen) (7) who became a famous journalist and served as editor of Central Daily News, the KMT's official paper and then moved to US, where he worked for Voice of America for the remaining part of his lifeThe eve of the liberation of media in Guangzhou: http://www.gzzxws.gov.cn/gzws/gzws/fl/wjwt/200809/t20080917_9118.htm
廖崇國 (Liao Chongguo) (9) who became a renowned ophthalmologist
and one sister Liao Fengging (5) who died at age 25 in Canton.
Education years At age 18 Liao Chongzhen attended Lingnan University (Guangzhou) as all his other siblings did. He was a sportsman, he participated in the 2nd and 3rd Far Eastern Games (the precursor of the Asian Games) in Shanghai 1915 and Tokyo 1917, in volleyball and track & field, winning a gold medal in volleyball.Guangdong Sports History: http://www.tyj.gd.gov.cn/shengzhi/docc/yundongjs/disanjie6.htm In 1919 he sailed from Hong Kong to San Francisco to study agriculture at Cornell University in the United States.
Encounter with the Baháʼí Faith At Cornell, at age 21, Liao Chongzhen first came in contact with the Baháʼí Faith and it made a deep impression on him. The Baháʼí Faith had a great impact on Liao's life. He was introduced to the Faith by Mirzá Fádl's Mázindárání and Roy Wilhelm on 10 October 1920. In 1921 he became a Baháʼí.The Baháʼí World vol. 5: http://bahai-library.com/usnsa_bahai_world_5
Return to China and first positions In 1923 he returned to Canton, to work in the mining and forestry bureau. From 1933 he served as head of the Guangdong Bureau for the improvement of sericulture achieving great results.Baháʼí country notes: China, by Graham Hassall, 1997: http://bahai-library.com/hassall_notes_china The location of his work was Shunde where he rejuvenated the silk industry.Current Agricultural problems – Author: Liao Cheng Zhong, 1946, Publisher: China: Minguo 35; Standard University Library He was also the Guangdong's representative at the First National Congress in Canton 1924.
Martha Root's visits In 1924 Liao Chongzhen arranged a meeting between the renowned Baháʼí journalist Martha Root and Dr. Sun Yat-sen, in which he served as interpreter. Liao Chongzhen later reported that: “...Dr. Sun Yat-Sen heard and read about the Baháʼí Faith and also declared that it was highly relevant to the needs of China".