Luo Jialun (; December 21, 1897 - December 25, 1969), was the former Chinese Minister of Education, historian, diplomat and political activist. A noted scholar, he was one of the leaders of the

May Fourth Movement The May Fourth Movement was a Chinese cultural and anti-imperialist political movement which grew out of student protests in Beijing on May 4, 1919. Students gathered in front of Tiananmen to protest the Chinese government's weak response ...

in 1919. Subsequently, being distinguished as President of various prestigious Chinese universities in the interwar period. In the fall of 1946 he was appointed by the Nationalist Government as China's first Ambassador to India, a full year before India gained sovereignty from the United Kingdom/British Empire. His tenure as Ambassador saw the escalation of the

Chinese Civil War The Chinese Civil War was fought between the Kuomintang-led Nationalist government, government of the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic of China and the forces of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Armed conflict continued intermitt ...

and subsequent retreat to Taiwan, of the Nationalist Forces under Chiang Kai-Shek, from whom the Indian Government withdrew diplomatic recognition, according it instead to the victorious Communists under Mao Zedong. Luo remained in India till 1952 when he rejoined his family on Taiwan, where they had retreated with the Nationalists. He continued to live there in his retirement. On May 29, 2018, the asteroid 204711 Luojialun was named in his honor. In January 2022, the University of Michigan received a calligraphy collection valued at $12 million as a donation from Jialun's family, making it the largest art donation in the university's history to date

Biography

Luo Jialun was born on December 21, 1897, in Jiangxi to a moderately prosperous family. An industrious and precocious student, he graduated from Peking University in the arts, and subsequently undertook intensive research work in history and philosophy at Princeton, Columbia, London, Berlin and Paris Universities. Returning to China he assumed a prominent role in the "''Literary Revolution of 1918'' and subsequent ''

in 1919'' where as through his editorship of the respected journal ''The Renaissance''. Joining the University of Peking he rose to become professor of history in 1926. In 1928 he was appointed President of

Tsinghua University Tsinghua University (THU) is a public university in Haidian, Beijing, China. It is affiliated with and funded by the Ministry of Education of China. The university is part of Project 211, Project 985, and the Double First-Class Constructio ...

serving until 1930.

References

Educators from Jiangxi 1897 births 1969 deaths Politicians from Nanchang National University of Peking alumni Princeton University alumni Columbia University alumni Alumni of the University of London Humboldt University of Berlin alumni University of Paris alumni Presidents of Tsinghua University Presidents of National Central University Presidents of Nanjing University Republic of China politicians from Jiangxi Kuomintang politicians in Taiwan 20th-century Chinese historians Chinese Civil War refugees Taiwanese people from Jiangxi Historians from Jiangxi {{China-diplomat-stub