Jerome Ch'en (; October 2, 1919 – June 17, 2019) was a Chinese-Canadian historian.

Early life and education

Ch'en was born as Ch'en Chih-jang in

Chengdu Chengdu; Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: ; Chinese postal romanization, previously Romanization of Chinese, romanized as Chengtu. is the capital city of the Chinese province of Sichuan. With a ...

Sichuan Sichuan is a province in Southwestern China, occupying the Sichuan Basin and Tibetan Plateau—between the Jinsha River to the west, the Daba Mountains to the north, and the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau to the south. Its capital city is Cheng ...

Republic of China Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

in October 1919. He was educated at Tianjin

Nankai University Nankai University is a public university in Tianjin, China. It is affiliated with the Ministry of Education of China. The university is part of Project 211, Project 985, and the Double First-Class Construction. Nankai University was establ ...

National Southwestern Associated University The National Southwestern Associated University was a national public university from 1938 to 1946 based in Kunming, Yunnan, China. It was formed by the wartime incorporation of National Peking University, National Tsinghua University, and Nat ...

Kunming Kunming is the capital and largest city of the province of Yunnan in China. The political, economic, communications and cultural centre of the province, Kunming is also the seat of the provincial government. During World War II, Kunming was a Ch ...

during the Anti-Japanese War and at the

London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), established in 1895, is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the University of London. The school specialises in the social sciences. Founded ...

(LSE), which he attended funded by a

Boxer Indemnity Scholarship The Boxer Indemnity Scholarship Program was a scholarship program for Chinese students to be educated in the United States, funded by the Boxer Indemnities. On May 25, 1908, the U.S. Congress Senate and House of Representatives passed the Joint ...

and where he studied under

Friedrich Hayek Friedrich August von Hayek (8 May 1899 – 23 March 1992) was an Austrian-born British academic and philosopher. He is known for his contributions to political economy, political philosophy and intellectual history. Hayek shared the 1974 Nobe ...

Academic career

In the 1950s, Ch'en worked for the Chinese Service of the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

. Before emigrating to Canada he was a Reader in history at the

University of Leeds The University of Leeds is a public research university in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It was established in 1874 as the Yorkshire College of Science. In 1884, it merged with the Leeds School of Medicine (established 1831) and was renamed Y ...

for a number of years. He was

Professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...

of Chinese History at

York University York University (), also known as YorkU or simply YU), is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's third-largest university, and it has approximately 53,500 students, 7,000 faculty and staff, ...

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

, Canada from 1971 to 1987. He was the director of the University of Toronto/York University Joint Centre of Asia Pacific Studies (JCAPS) from 1983 to 1985.

Honours

Ch'en was made a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Canada The Royal Society of Canada (RSC; , SRC), also known as the Academies of Arts, Humanities, and Sciences of Canada (French: ''Académies des arts, des lettres et des sciences du Canada''), is the senior national, bilingual council of distinguishe ...

in 1981. In 1984, he was named

Distinguished Research Professor Professors in the United States commonly occupy any of several positions of teaching and research within a college or university. In the U.S., the word "professor" is often used to refer to anyone who teaches at a college of university level at ...

at York.

Death

Ch'en died in

St. Catharines St. Catharines is the most populous city in Canada's Niagara Region, the eighth largest urban area in the province of Ontario. As of 2021, St. Catharines has an area of and 136,803 residents. It lies in Southern Ontario, south of Toronto ac ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

, Canada in June 2019 at the age of 99.Jerome Ch'en Obituary
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Selected publications

* ''Yuan Shih-ka̕i, 1859-1916: Brutus Assumes the Purple'' (George Allen & Unwin, 1961). *''The Highlanders of Central China: a History 1895 – 1937'' *''Mao and the Chinese Revolution'' *''The Military-Gentry coalition—the Warlords Period in Modern Chinese History'' *''China and the West: Society and Culture 1815 – 1937'' (Hutchinson, 1979) Ch'en also edited: *''Great Lives Observed: Mao'' Some of his works have been translated into Chinese or Japanese.

References

External links

Jerome Ch'en archives
at the

Clara Thomas Archives and Special Collections Clara may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Clara'' (2018 film), a Canadian sci-fi drama * ''Clara'' (2019 film), a Ukrainian animated fantasy film * ''Clara'' (TV series), a German TV series * Clara the Cow, mascot of the Greek TV show '' P ...

York University Libraries York University Libraries (YUL) is the library system of York University in Toronto, Ontario. The four main libraries and one archives contain more than 2,500,000 volumes. History The first York library opened in 1961 at Glendon College and ...

Toronto, Ontario Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

Jerome Ch'en Resource Centre for East Asian Studies
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chen, Jerome 1919 births 2019 deaths 20th-century Canadian historians 21st-century Canadian historians Academics of the University of Leeds Alumni of the London School of Economics Boxer Indemnity Scholarship recipients Canadian male non-fiction writers Canadian sinologists Chinese emigrants to Canada Chinese expatriates in the United Kingdom Chinese sinologists BBC people Educators from Sichuan Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada Historians from Sichuan Chinese historians Nankai University alumni National Southwestern Associated University alumni Writers from Chengdu Academic staff of York University