Life of Sun Hongzhe

Sun Hongzhe, courtesy name Kui Bai (Ku Bo) and nickname Hansong, was born in Wuxi, Jiangsu. After graduating from the Mechanical Department of Peiyang University, he studied in the UK and entered the Mechanical Department of the University of Edinburgh. During his stay in the UK, he met Sun Yat-sen, Wu Zhihui and others and became close friends. Mr. Sun Yat-sen developed the Tongmenghui in the UK. Sun Hongzhe was one of the first old members to join the Tongmenghui. He persuaded Wu Zhihui to join the Tongmenghui with the saying "If I don't go to hell, who will?" Sun Hongzhe also loved photography. Many precious photos of Sun Yat-sen, Wu Zhihui and others during their activities in the UK were taken by Sun Hongzhe.

After returning to China, Sun Hongzhe avoided the political arena and came to Tangshan to serve as deputy general manager of Jingfeng Railway Machinery Factory (now Tangshan Rail Passenger Vehicle Co., Ltd.) (the general manager must be British). Although Sun Hongzhe was not too involved in the political arena, he has always had an important influence in the Ministry of Transportation and the Ministry of Railways. Therefore, he was considered an important figure in the "New Transportation Department" in the political arena at that time. He was elected as an alternate assessor of the Railway Association and a director of the Rotary Middle School. Because his main positions—director of the Beijing-Fenghuang Railway Machinery Factory, director of the Beining Railway Bureau, and president of Tangshan University of the Ministry of Transportation—are all located near Tangshan, he is also nicknamed the "King of Tangshan."

In 1921, Ye Gongchuo planned to unify the schools under the Ministry of Communications into Jiaotong University, and sent Sun Hongzhe and Zhou Yichun to Shanghai Industrial College (the predecessor of today's Shanghai Jiaotong University and Xi'an Jiaotong University) to inspect and evaluate.

In 1924, he served as the president of Tangshan University (now Tangshan Jiaotong University, now Southwest Jiaotong University) of the Ministry of Communications. During his tenure, he established the Municipal and Sanitary Engineering Department. This was the first time in China to offer municipal planning, water supply and drainage departments. courses.

In 1926, he resigned as president of Tangshan University and was succeeded by Mao Yisheng.

In May 1928, after the victory of the Northern Expedition, he took over Tangshan University from the Ministry of Communications as a representative of the National Government and served as president again.

In 1930, he took office as a member of the Jiangsu Provincial Government and Director of the Construction Department. He hired Mao Yisheng as director of the Water Conservancy Bureau and fully supported Mao Yisheng in renovating the canal and Huaihe River.

In 1931, when there was a flood in northern Jiangsu, Sun Hongzhe took the initiative to take responsibility for it and tried his best to build dams to prevent floods. Unfortunately, the Huaihe River burst its banks and affected people. Sun Hongzhe made every effort to arrange disaster relief matters and took all the responsibilities on himself. "Director Mao is worthy of his duties. All flood disasters are the responsibility of my director," intending to protect Mao Yisheng.

In August 1932, he once again served as the president of Tangshan Jiaotong University (then known as Jiaotong University Tangshan Institute of Technology). At this time, the Japanese invaders became more and more aggressive in China and established a puppet government in eastern Hebei. Under the chairmanship of Sun Hongzhe, among the 22 counties in eastern Hebei, Tangshan Jiaotong University was the only one to fly the national flag, and it became a holy place in the hearts of the people in eastern Hebei. Sun Hongzhe tried his best to maintain the school until the July 7th Incident in 1937. He was filled with grief and anger and died of illness in Peiping.