CIE 2000 Flash Back
Benjamin K. Cheng
About the Author
Benjamin K. Cheng is currently CEO of ABC Digital Electronics, Inc. Ben was
the 73 CIE President, 1971 CIE Service Award Recipient, and
currently servs as a member of the CIE-USA/GNYC board.
Brief History
Prior to 1905, there were no Chinese engineers in
China! All of the major projects were done by foreign engineers. The first
engineering project designed and managed by Chinese engineers was in 1905, when
American educated Zhan Tien-You 詹天佑
headed the building of Jing-Zhang railroad 京張鐵路 connecting Peking 北京 ( now Beijing ) and
Chang-Jar-Ko 張家口
(now Zhang-Jia-Kou).
Recognizing the need for engineers to help modernize China, more students were
send abroad to study science and engineering. In 1917, the Chinese Institute of
Engineers ( CIE ) was founded in US by a group of able, dedicated and
far-sighted Chinese engineers. These charter members were graduate students
from American colleges and/or were receiving practical training in American
railroads and industries. Early membership totaled about 80. When the majority
of these members returned home to serve their country, the main organization
moved to China with them, and their remaining counterparts in America became a
chapter.& This status remained through two world wars until 1949.
During , the CIE headquarters was located in Shanghai, while chapters
in Beijing and Tienjin were established. The first convention was held in
Shanghai on 1923. Membership by then grew to 350. Membership growth reached
1500 in 1930.
The Chinese Institute of Engineers merged with Chung-Hwa Engineers (founded in
1910) in August 1931, at a combined engineering convention held in
Nanking.& The headquarters was then relocated to Nanking 南京, the national capital. The
post merger enrollment reached 2,169 members.&
The organization remained active during the second world war in Chungking,
re-established the convention in 1938, and formed chapters in Kuming, Chengdu,
Kweiyang, Lanchou, Kweiling and Chungking. During the period of Japanese
invasion of China, the engineers provided the needed technical services to the
government to defend China.
The Taiwan CIE-ROC was re-established in March 1950. On the occasion of the
50th anniversary in 1960, (adopted the founding date of Jan 1910 of the
Chung-Hwa Engineers ) membership count was more than 3000.
The CIE-NY was re-activated as an independent entity in July 1953 in New York
City by a number of accomplished engineers in the U.S. Subsequently the
institute was registered in the State of New York in 1963 as the Chinese
Institute of Engineers, New York, Inc., a tax-exempt non-profit organization.
The CIE-NY and CIE-ROC co-founded the Modern Engineering and Technology Seminar
( METS ) in 1966. The cooperation among the engineers in ROC and USA
successfully helped the country in establishing the infrastructure for
industrialization, promoting industrial research and development of advanced
technologies. Over the years, the METS has introduced many advanced
technologies to the ROC and set up the stage for the Taiwan microelectronics
miracles.&
The CIE/USA National Council, a federation organization of CIE/USA, was established
in 1986 with the Greater New York and San Francisco Bay Area Chapters as its
founding chapters. In the following years, the National Council was expanded to
include Seattle Chapter, OCEESA Chapter, Dallas-Fort Worth Chapter and New
Mexico Chapter.&
One of CIE/USA’s most significant activities over the years has been
the continuation of the Modern Engineering and Technology Seminar (METS),
co-sponsoring the bi-annual events with CIE/ROC. In light of the success of the
METS, in 1993 the CIE/USA established another bi-annual seminar series, SATEC
(Sino-American Technology and Engineering Conference), with the People's
Republic of China, with the same objectives as METS. The
SATEC conferences were successful and well received.
The SATEC is holding its fourth Conference in 1999, while the METS had held its
17th Seminar in 1998.
Objectives
The charter of the Chinese Institute of Engineers, a scientific and
educational organization, is for the establishment and improvement of the
Chinese engineering infrastructure and technical capability, subsequently
improving the living standard of the Chinese people.
It was true then in 1917, and it is still valid today. An article of the
constitution in the ROC Chapter ( circa.1970 ) best captures the objectives of
the Institute.
“ The objectives of the Institute shall be the
advancement of the science and profession of engineering, and the promotion of
development of the engineering projects through the joint services of the
members of the engineering professions.”&
The 1990 constitution amendment of CIE-USA is less ambitious but more
succinctly stated:
“ CIE is a scientific and educational organization. The
objective of CIE is to promote communication among engineers and scientists who
are interested in the well being of the Chinese engineering community in the
U.S. and the industrialization of China.”
The 1970 CIE/ROC Handbook also listed eight guiding principles which have been
observed by many great engineers and scientists before us.& These
principles, as translated in the following, together with the Institute
objectives, very well reflects the CIE organization in the 20th Century.
中國工程師信條 The Guiding Principles
1. Follow the Chinese national policy in building up
the economy, technology infrastructure and implement the industrialization of
China as set forth by the founding father of the Chinese Republic, Dr. Sun
&& & 遵從國家之國防經濟建設政策，實現 國父實嶪計劃。
2. Recognize that national gain is above all personal rewards, contributing
selflessly to the improvement of the country and the engineering community in
&& & 認識國家民族之利益高於一功，願犧牲自由貢獻能力‧
3. Help China to become an industrialized country, with self supporting
capability to provide all major industrial resources.
&& & 促進國家工業化，力謀主要物資之自給。
4. Develop standards for industrialization , supporting the needs of both civil
and defense developments.&
&& & 推行工業標準化，配合國防民生之需求。
5. Maintain professional dig work hard for a good course,
not for personal recognition nor for financial gain.
&& & 不慕虛名，不為物誘，維持職業專嚴，遵守服務道德。
6. Be practical, pursue excellence and appreciate accomplishments
as a team.
&& & 實事求是，精益求精‧努力獨立創造，注重集體成就。
7. Have courage in taking responsibilities, be loyal to your job, sincerely
give full cooperation to your colleagues.
&& & 勇於任事，忠於職守，更須有互切互磋親愛精誠之合作精神。
8. Be critical to oneself but fo try to live a simple,
efficient, orderly and practical life style.& &
&& & 嚴以律己，恕以待人並養成整齊樸素，迅速確實之生活習慣。
The Members
Tracing the history of the Institute in this Century, one can find
all the superstars in the Chinese engineering community from the CIE records
together with the story of the evolution of the Chinese society toward
modernization and the progress of steady technological advancement throughout
the years.& It may be interesting for us to view the events
chronologically and the members associated with the events in roughly each
quarter century.
First Superstar
At the turn of the century, the downfall of the last feudalistic
empire - Ching Dynasty had begun, the society was on the verge of corruption.
Learning from the heartbreaking experiences of defeat from the various
conflicts with the foreign powers ( particularly the Opium War ) , the
government realized that China had a lot of catch-up to do with respect to the
western technology in order to survive.& They sent a large group of young
pre-college students to the U.S. (because the American government was more
friendly and sincere to the Chinese) to learn the language and then enroll in
the colleges for science and technology.& Next, the Ministry of Commerce
was established to oversee the development of railroads, telegraph, postal
services and ship building as well as shipping (路電郵航).& Two technical
colleges were founded in 1896, the Nanyang College (南洋公學) in Shanghai and the
Beiyang college in Beijing. The funding of the Nanyang schools was shared by
the Shanghai-Peking Railroad (京滬鐵路)
and the Shanghai Telegraph Office (上海電報局).
The Beiyang college was likewi se supported by mining and ship building
agencies for the training of technical supporting personnel.
Our first superstar is Zhan Tian-you 詹天佑,
one of the young teenagers from the first group of exchange students. At the
age of twelve, he attained the Seaside Institute for Boys in West Haven,
Connecticut in 1872, and attended Hillhouse High School in West Haven. He was
admitted to the Yale University in 1878 and& graduated with a degree in
railroad/civil engineering in 1881. He returned to China after graduation and
work for seven years in the Bureau of Ships, taking the responsibility to train
technicians and mapping of the Chinese Sea Coasts. In 1888 he began to work as
railroad engineer in a number of small railroad constructions and established a
reputation to earn an honor as member of the Royal Academy of Engineers in
England. In 1905, while Russia and England were having a dispute as to who had
the ‘right’ to fund and build the railroad connecting Peking北京and Chang-Jar-Kou 張家口; the Ching government
decided to build it without having to borrow money from foreign country and
keep the expected operating profit at home. Mr. Zhan was appointed as chief
engineer in 1905 to head the construction of the railroad, he was appointed as General
Director for the project as well in the following year. It was the first
railroad built by a Chinese Engineering team. The road spanned 202 kilometers (
350 miles ) on a hilly terrain. It required four tunnels, the longest one is
thirty five hundred feet under the Great Wall. He successfully completed the
road in less than four years and within budget. The original budget was seven
million two hundred twenty nine thousand ( Chinese ) ounces of silver, the
actual expenditure was only six million ninety three thousand ounces. &
Mr. Zhan founded the Chung-Hwa Engineers 中華工程師會 in 1911, the year that the
Republic of China was found. In 1913, he merged the Chung Hwa Engineers with
the Railroad Engineers Union 路工同人共濟會
and Chung-Hwa Engineering Society 中華工學會. A
convention was held in Hankow, Hupei. The key members of the Associations were:
詹天佑 ZHAN Tian-You& 顏德慶 YEN Teh-Cheng
徐文涓 HSU Wen-Journ& 吳& 健 WU Jin& &
The organization moved to Peking in 1914 and change the name to Chung-Hwa
Institute of Engineers 中華工程師學會.
Mr. Zhan served as chairman of the organization since its founding until 1918.
He died in April 24, 1919 on the job as the superintendent ( Minister ) of
Communication, at the age of 59.
The Other Superstars
At the age of 15, Hung-Hsun Ling 凌鴻勛 enrolled into the
preparatory school of the Nanyang College in 1910.& He graduated as the
first in his class in railroad/civil engineering in 1915.& Upon
graduation, he and his classmate, the number two student in the graduating
class, Te-Cheng Chen 陳體誠
were selected by the Ministry of Communication 交通部 to go to the U.S. for
three years of practical training. The training was sponsored by the American
Bridge Co., a subsidiary of the U.S. Steel Corporation. Their training program
called for the participation in factory, machine shop, design and on-site
supervision. They had the opportunity to travel and work in Philadelphia, New
York City, Boston and Chicago etc. and met with their Chinese fellow student
contemporaries. There were about three hundred Chinese students in the east
coast of the United States, many of them were sponsored by the Ching-Hwa
scholarship fund. The fund derived from the compensation Ching Dynasty paid to
the U.S. Government upon defeat in the 1900 War when the United Army of eight
countries ( Great Britain, Russia, France, Germany, United States of America,
Japan, Italy, Austria ) defeated the Ching Army. The U.S. Government used the
fund to set up scholarships in the U. S. and assist education institutes in
China - for the cause of humanity. The Chinese students in that era were all
outstanding young men, intelligent, energetic and potential community leaders.
The time was right to give birth to a professional organization whose members
would help to shape the building of China in the decades to come. &
The Chinese Institute of Engineers was founded in July 1917, with an initial
mem-bership of 80. The key members were:
&& & & & & 陳體誠 CHEN Te-Cheng &
& & President
&& & & & & 張貽志 CHANG E. G. & &
& & & Vice President ,
First Convention Aug 1918 at Cornell University. & & &
&& & & & & 吳承洛 WU Chen-Lor & &
& & & Vice President ,
&& & & & & & & & & &
& & & & & & & & & & &
& & & & & & & & & President
&& & & & & & & & & &
& & & & & & & & & & &
& & & & & & & & & Convention
Chairman Aug 1927 in Nanking
&& & & & & 侯德榜 HOU Tek-Bong& &
& & 1919 Convention Chairman
Second Convention Aug. 1919 at Rennselaer Polytechnic Institute
&& & & & & 周 琦 CHOU Chi & &
& & & & & & & 1920 Convention Chairman
&& & & & & & & & & &
& & & & & & & & & & &
& & & & & & & & & Vice President
1928 (in Nanking)
Third Convention Aug. 1920 at Princeton University.
&& & & & & 劉錫祺 LIU Shih-Chi& &
& & & & & Vice President 23
&& & & & & 楊承訓 YANG Cheng-Shuen 1921
Convention Chairman
Fourth Convention Sep 1921 at Lake-Village School
&& & & & & 李熙謀 LEE Shee-Mou& &
& & & 1922 Convention Chairman
Fifth Convention Sep 1922 at Cornell University again
&& & & & & 周明衡 CHOU Ming-Hun &
& 1923 President
Sixth Convention July 6, 1923 (first in Shanghai)
&& & & & & 徐佩璜HSU Pei-Huang& &
&& & & & & & & & & &
& & & & & & & & & & &
& & & & & & & & & 1930 Vice
President in Nanking&
&& & & & & 淩鴻勛LING Hung-Hsun &
Vice President
&& & & & & & & & & &
& & & & & & & & & & &
& & & & & & & & & 1937 (Kweiyang)
Convention Chairman
&& & & & & & & & & &
& & & & & & & & & & &
& & & & & & & & & 1940 Institute
&& & & & & & & & & &
& & & & & & & & & & &
& & & & & & & & &
Chairman (in Taiwan)
Second Convention Jul 1924 in Shanghai
&& & & & & 錢昌祚CHIEN Chong-Jer&
& & 1925 Convention Chairman at Hongchow
&& & & & & 李垕身LI Hou-San & &
& & & & & & 1926 President
&& & & & & 薛次莘XUE Zeh-Zin& &
Vice President
&& & & & & 茅以昇MAO Yi-Sheng & &
& & & 1926 Grand Reunion Chairman
Grand Reunion with Chung Hwa Institute of Engineers
&& & & & & & & & & &
& & & & & & & & & & &
& & & & & & & & & Aug 1926 in
&& & & & & 陳立夫CHEN Li-Fu & &
& & & & & 1927 Convention Chairman
&& & & & & & & & & &
& & & & & & & & & & &
& & & & & & & & & 1940 Chairman
Aug 1927 Convention in Shanghai
&& & & & & 胡庶華HU Shu-Hua & &
&& & & & & 徐恩曾HSU Ung-Jung & &
& & & 1929 Vice President
Aug 26, 1931 Convention in Nanking. Merger of Chinese Institute of Engineers
and Chung Hwa Institute of Engineers.
From 1931 to 1936, annual conventions were held every year. The convention
sites rotated every year to facilitate the participation of the local chapters,
in the following orders: Nanking 南京,
Tientsin 天津,
Wuhan 武漢,
Chi-nan 濟南,
Nan-ning 南寧,
Hangchow 杭州.&
The Sino-Japanese war broke out in July 1937, the original scheduled convention
in Tai-yuen 太原
was canceled, instead, a general membership meeting was held at Chungking 重慶 on October 8, 1938. The
general meeting set-up the priority of the national engineering projects and
established many more chapters in the interior western Chinese cities such as
Kunming昆明,
Chengdu 成都,
Kweiyang 貴陽,
Lanchow 蘭州,
Kweiling 桂林
and Hangyang 衡陽to
coordinate those projects.
The Early CIE Award Recipients
Mr. Hung Hsun Ling 淩鴻勛
had to cut short on his practical training in the American Bridge Co. at the
end of 1917 on account of his father passed away. Since his return to China he
had served in many technical and educational positions such as the acting
president of the Nanyang C President of the Chiao-Tung University (the
successor of the Nanyang College) and as the Chief Engineer of the
Hangkow-Canton Railroad. He took the job on the long delayed railroad
construction and completed the planned connections. For that achievement he
received the top CIE honor, the Engineers’ Medal award in 1937.
Later on in 1951, he was instrumental in the re-establishment of the CIE
activities in Taiwan. In 1957, he lead the Chiao-Tung University alumni in
re-establishing the Chiao-Tung University in Hsinchu with Dr. Shee-Mou Lee,
another active CIE member as the Dean of the Electronics department. Dr. Ling
retired from the Chinese Petroleum Corporation as the Chairman of the Board in
1976. He passed away in August 15 1981 at the age of 86. He was a true
dedicated engineer, educator and industrialist, true to the guiding principles
of a CIE member.
Mr. Te-Bong Hou 侯德榜
majored in chemical engineering, returned to China, served in the industry and
received the Engineers’ Medal in 1936 for his contribution in the development of
Ammonia Sulfate Processing Plant.
Dr. Mao Yi-Sheng 茅以昇 received the CIE Engineers’
Medal for his accom-plishment in the building of the famous
Qiantang River Bridge 錢塘江大橋 in
Zhejiang 浙 江
Province.& He also served as co-dean of the Chiao Tung University,
Tangshan College 唐山交通大學
since 1921 until his retirement. Dr. Mao received his Masters’
Degree from the Cornell University and the recipient of the
Fuertes Medal. He received the Ph.D. Degree in civil engineering from the
Carnegie Institute of Technology, his doctoral dissertation “Secondary
Stresses in Bridge Tress” becomes the Mao’s Law. A
serious scholar, during his student years in America, he filled 200 note
books detailing his work and observations. Those note books are now the
treasured collection of the Southwest Jiao Tong University 西南交通大學 in Chengdu 成都.& & &
Mr. Yue-Chi Sun 孫越琦, a
mining engineer, received the Engineers’ Medal in 1942 for his
success in oil mining at the Yuimon mine 玉門油礦.
Mr. Yong Fu Tsang 曾養甫,
Minister of the Communications, president of CIE
received the Engineers’ Medal in 1944 for his contribution in airport building and
maintenance during the war. He served as the Minister throughout the war years.
Mr. Bing Yuen Gee 支秉淵,
Executive Director 1932, received his Engineers’
Medal in 1943 for his mechanical engineering achievement in Diesel
engine and various mechanical designs.
Mr. Kwong-Chai Chu 朱光彩 received his Engineers’
Medal for his flood control engineering dealing with the
unruly and turbulent Yellow River.
From 1936 to 1947, only seven such Engineers’ Medal were awarded to
these out-standing engineers. They were the engineers of the second quarter of
the 20th century.
The Early Engineers
The early engineers are most likely civil engineers, they are most
likely working for the Ministry of Communication. It is not surprising that the
early leaders of the CIE were officers from the Ministry. The Nanyang
University/Chiao-Tung University, being a primary engineering school, produced
a large number of CIE members. From the group of early members, you may find
more heavyweights such as:
Mr. Te-Cheng Chen 陳體誠,
CIE’s first president, returned to China in 1920, served as Civil
Engineer in the Ministry of Communication (Transportation) specialized in
highway building, his contribution toward the defense was significant.
Mr. Kung Lee 李 鏗,
Pao-Ling Fang 馮寶齡,
Chun-Yin Shen 沈仲寅,
Li Hou-San& 李垕身,
structure engineers, whose designs changed the skyline of Shanghai. The
cooperative effort of Lee, Fang and Shen made possible the intricate structure
of the Sun Yat Sin Memorial Hall 中山紀念堂 in
Canton. It was a unique memorial for the founding father of the Republic of
China. Mr. Lee Kung graduated from the Cornell University in 1918 and received
a Masters’ degree. His paper on structure analysis was so
outstanding that one item was named as the “Lee Kung’s Law” by the
faculty. Another outstanding student was his classmate Lo Yin 羅 英, who later on served as
the chief engineer for the Qiantang River Bridge 錢塘江大橋. &
From MIT, you will find educators such as Dr. Xue Zeh-Zin 薛次莘, vice President
(Civil Engineering Department Chairman, Chiao-Tung University), Prof. Hsu Ming
Choy 徐名材, Chiao-Tung University.
Dr. Shee Mou Lee 李熙謀,
CIE President 1964, Convention chairman 1922, (Dean, Chiao-Tung University,
during the war in Chungking and later in Taiwan). The Cornell graduates,
had the Mao’s Law and Lee Kung’s Law, the students in
MIT were not too far behind, Dr. Yu-Hsiu Ku, 顧毓琇 received a Masters’
degree in 1926, discovered the “Ku-variable” in operational
calculus. He received his Ph.D. in 1928. In the later year, he presented the
Ku-method in nonlinear analysis, and the Ku’s rules in Feedback
Theory, and has been recognized as the leading engineer-mathematician. He
served as CIE Vice President from 1947 to 1948. He was the CIE-NY achievement
award recipient in 1959. He is the 97 years old professor emeritus of the
University of Pennsylvania. He is also the only professor who has received the
distinction as honorary professor for all five Chiao-Tung/Jiao-Tong
Universities (Shanghai, Xian, Northern, Southwest and Hsinchu). Another
outstanding member of CIE from MIT, also the CIE-NY achievement award recipient
1959, was Dr. Lan-Jen Chu 朱蘭成,
an authority on microwave and electromagnetic wave propagation, MIT just kept
him in the faculty until his retirement in the 1970’s.
During world war II, he served in the MIT Radiation Laboratories, contributed
brilliantly in Radar research and development.
CIE - World War II
The Sino-Japanese War lasted for eight years. Those were the darkest
days in this century for the people in China in general and the engineers in
particular. Engineers are trained to build for the improvement of the society.
War destroyed that in the name of strategy in order to advance and win. The
most heart breaking example was the first long bridge designed and built by
Chinese engineers, the Qiantang River Bridge 錢塘江大橋 in Zhejiang province. The
1,453 meter bridge project started in August 1933, with a budget of 5.1 million
silver dollars and construction schedule of 30 months. Against all odds and obstacles
it was completed in September 1937. The Japanese invasion already started in
1937. For three months, the government fully utilized the road to transport
valuables and strategic materials to the western parts of country. The battle
grounds were getting closer and closer to Hangchou, and on December 23rd , Dr.
Mao received an order to destroy the bridge thoroughly so that the Japanese
army could not use it to advance their army. The bridge was flatten to the
water bed by the men who spent four years of their life to build it. The three
short months of bridge utilization time for a project of such& magnitude
was probably a world record. Dr. Mao carried the engineering design and data
with him to Kweiyang and then Chungking through out the war years, hoping that
one day, they will return and build it again. ( Their prayers were answered,
they did rebuild the bridge after the war. ). There were many similar
unpleasant s nevertheless, in the shadow of war and
devastation, shortage of productive manpower and resources, the Chinese
engineers managed to hold on until the American advanced technology help to
defeat the Japanese at the end.&
In 1938, the Japanese troops occupied almost all of the coastal cities in
China. Supplies from the Allies, can only be transported by air, by flying over
the Camels’ Hump through the Himalayas. A highway
connecting between Burma and Yunnan Province was urgently needed. The road was
being built, but under the constant bombing by the Japanese Air Force, and the
adverse working condition of this construction through forests and jungles.
Many engineers and workers gave their life to the project.&
Dr. Hung-Hsun Ling 淩鴻勛,
being a railroad man, drew the assignment to complete a railroad from Kweiling 桂林 through Liu-Chow 柳州 to Nan-ning 南寧 and then crossed the
border to Indo-China 安南, a
move to connect China to the outside world even the harbors were occupied by
the Japanese Army. The Japanese strategists also were very much aware of that.
Air raids on the construction began with daily bombing by Japanese aircraft
from the carrier mooring in the Tonkin Bay, the task became a mission
impossible. By focusing on the northern sections, the Hangyang 衡陽 to Kweiling 桂林 to Liu-chow 柳州 connections were made on
December of 1939. Started from January 1938, after two full years of
constructions, and mobilization of over 600,000 workers, the railroad was
finally completed. Ultimately, the Japanese navy opened up a new front in south
China and invaded Nan-ning, but the railroad helped the movement of the Chinese
Army to block the advance of the Japanese and won several battles afterward.
Dr. Ling was then transfer to the Northwest in 1940, taking care of all
Northwest highway maintenance and site planning for a railroad connecting
Tien-sui 天水,
Kansui 甘肅
and Chengdu 成都,
Szechuan 四川.
While military and engineering maneuvers were going on in the south and
southwest China, the northwest highway connections were developing too. At the
beginning of the war, the USSR and Chinese governments executed a friendly loan
agreement that Russia will supply to China, over the years, 1000 medium size
Jeep with certain strategic materials, trucking in from Sin-Jiang 新疆 province. To avoid
publicity, and subsequent bomber attacks from the Japanese Army, the code name
for those vehicles was wool cargo cars. The initial highway and associated
facilities were built to accommodate the shipping of those Jeeps, and then
became one of the rear branch of the northwest highway system and the backdoor
of China to the world via Russia. & &
Dr. Ling continued to serve on this assignment until January 1945 when he
appointed to serve as Vice Minister 次長 of
the Ministry of Communications 交通部.
He completed his sixteen years of field services, with construction of more
than 1000 kilometers of new railroad built, 4000 kilometers in planning and
and administrated the maintenance of 5000 kilometers of highway.
Another engineering accomplishment was the building and maintenance of a
highway between Kweiyang and Chungking. The Wu River flows across the Kweichow
province. The first major construction therefore is the Wu Rriver Bridge, a 55
meter spans on two towers of 31 meter height. It took five days to travel
through this road by modified trucks. In order to conserve gasoline for
defense, most of the long haul trucks had to undergo modification to convert
the gasoline power plant to one that used charcoal as an alternate fuel. The
conversion rendered the vehicle less powerful, while creating an awful
pollution to the environment. Nevertheless, it was a needed,, practical, and effective
solution in an era when a slogan of survival was “A
drop of gasoline is a drop of blood.”.&
Besides, the drivers might not be able to get gasoline in some area but one
could always be able to purchase charcoal in any remote village. The charcoal
running vehicle was considered as one of the ingenious engineering
implementation then - although it is bordering ridiculous as we see it
today!& The terrain of this region is generally rocky and mountainous. On
the borders between the Kweichou 貴州
and Szechuan 四川
provinces, the highway has to climb a mile high Kweichou mountain and then drop
down to the basin of Szechuan. There were seventy two switch-backs in one of
the stretch. Within each switch-back, the elevation of the roadway varied
hundreds of feet from the lowest to the highest points. The driver not only had
to maneuver the vehicle along the serpent like curves, but the steep ups and
downs put his ability to make the most out of the under-powered engine to test.
This highway and its sister highway from Kunming 昆明 to Kweiyang 貴陽 were the two major
strategic highways of southwest China in that period, and yet, they were so
dangerous and vulnerable to travel. The continuing maintenance and improvement
works were a great challenge to the civil engineers of that era.
The electrical power engineers were perpetually overloaded with the problems of
overloading of engines and generators. The radio engineers had to work hard day
in and day out, focusing on pushing the ranges of the radio transmission for
military intelligent telecommunications. Aeronautical engineers invented
detachable spare fuel tanks made out of bamboo and sealed with tung-oil to
extend the flying ranges of the fighter planes and bombers. There were many
more stories like the above mentioned implementation and improvisations. Those
were a major part of the trials and tribulations of the engineers in a
handicapped war.&
The working condition was bad, the pay was bordering minimum, the inflation was
hurting everyone, but the spirits were high, most of the engineers attended to
their assignments diligently, and abided by the guiding principles as stated
earlier at the beginning of this article.&
During the time when Mr. CHEN Li-Fu 陳立夫, (
CIE Convention Chairman in 1927 and Chairman/President of CIE in 1940) was
appointed to be the Minister of Education, he and a number of far-sighted
educators, convinced the government to provide loans to the college students
and exempt them from military duty in order to preserve the resource of
technical personnel of the future. Many of the students supported by this
wartime policy also earned scholarships to be trained abroad after the war. A
high percentage of the CIE-NY members in the 1960’s
shared the same experiences. After several changes of government
agencies, changes of currencies, exchange rates, plus the inflation factors, no
one knows how much each student has to pay back and to which agency the loan
has to be paid! After these students completed their training and financially
secured, some of them found ways to pay back indirectly by participating
voluntary in various government sponsored engineering projects. It was due to
such obligations and aspirations that the early members of CIE-NY chartered the
METS in 1966 and later on the formation of SATIC in 1993.
CIE Post WWII
After the V-J day (victorious against Japan) in 1945, China was in
the period of post war consolidations, no CIE annual convention was organized
until 1948. The first post war convention was held in Taipei and well attended,
CIE chairman that year was the model engineer/professor Dr. Yi-Sheng Mao 茅以昇, with Dr. Y. H. Ku 顧毓琇 and F. J. Sah 薩福鈞 as vice chairmen. A good
number of engineers and technical management team drew the assignment working
in Taiwan, taking over the Japanese government owned industries and utilities.
It was unfortunate that immediately after the World War II ended, the civil
conflict in China developed into a full scale civil war. In 1949, the
government of the Republic of China (ROC) and her army retreated to Taiwan
The activity of Chinese Institute of Engineers in mainland China was suspended
after 1949, however, the engineers continued to contribute in the courses of
rebuilding the infrastructure under the leadership of the government of the
Peoples’ Republic of China. Over the years, there have been ups and
downs in the rebuilding progress, influenced by many other factors such as man
made a but the end results in the long run were still
good. Railroad network was greatly expanded. Communication systems advanced.
Wuhan Bridge was built to connect the North and South China. The Qiantang River
Bridge 錢塘江大橋
and the Yellow River Railroad Bridge were re-built. Electrical power generation
was catching up to the demand of new industrial development. etc..