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 1917-1923, 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 1993, 1995 and 1997 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 Yat-Sin.

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 China.

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 dignity and work ethics; 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, and creative; 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 forgiving to the other; 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 membership of 80. The key members were:

陳體誠 CHEN Te-Cheng
President 1917-1919

張貽志 CHANG E. G.
Vice President 1917-1918

First Convention Aug 1918 at Cornell University.

吳承洛 WU Chen-Lor
Vice President 1919-1920
President 1921-1922
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 1921-1922-1923

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
1924-1925 President
1930 Vice President in Nanking

淩鴻勛LING Hung-Hsun
1924-1925 Vice President
1937 (Kweiyang) Convention Chairman
1940 Institute Chairman
1951-1952 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
1926-1927 Vice President

茅以昇MAO Yi-Sheng
1926 Grand Reunion Chairman

Grand Reunion with Chung Hwa Institute of Engineers Aug. 1926 in Peking

陳立夫CHEN Li-Fu
1927 Convention Chairman
1940 Chairman

Aug 1927 Convention in Shanghai

胡庶華HU Shu-Hua
1929-1930 President

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 College; 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 1936-1939 and then 1944-1947 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 1926-1927 (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, 1940-1970 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 stories like this one; 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 was

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 surveying; 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 and natural disasters; 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..