Eugene Chen
| Eugene Chen | |
|---|---|
Eugene Chen
|
|
| Born |
July 2, 1878 San Fernando, Trinidad |
| Died | 20 May 1944 (aged 65) Shanghai, China |
| Resting place | Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery, Beijing |
| Political party | Chinese Nationalist |
Eugene Chen (Chinese: 陳友仁; pinyin: Chén Yǒurén) (July 2, 1878, San Fernando, Trinidad – 20 May 1944, Shanghai), known in his youth as Eugene Bernard Achan, was an overseas Chinese lawyer who in the 1920s became Sun Yat-sen's foreign minister. He was known for his success in promoting Sun's anti-imperialist foreign policies.
Chen's father, Chen Guangquan, was known as Joseph Chen or Achan. He is of Hakka ancestry from Meizhou district (present Meixing). After taking part in the Taiping Rebellion against the Manchu dynasty, he fled to the French West Indies where he met his wife, Mary Longchallon (Marie Leong), also a Chinese immigrant. Chen, as well as the Longchallon family, had been required by the French authorities to accept the Catholic faith as a condition of immigration.
Eugene was the oldest of Chen Guangquan and Mary Longchallon's three sons. Both parents of Eugene Chen were Chinese immigrants to Trinidad. His wife Aisy was of African and French blood.
After attending a Catholic school, St Mary's College, Trinidad, Chen qualified as a barrister and became known as one of the most highly skilled solicitors in the islands. The family did not speak Chinese at home; and, since there were no Chinese schools, he also did not learn to read Chinese. It was later said of him that his library was filled with Dickens, Shakespeare, Scott, and legal books, that he "spoke English as a scholar"; "except for his color, neither his living nor his habits were Chinese".
Chen eventually left the island to live in London, where he heard Sun Yat-sen speak at a rally against the Manchu government in China. Sun persuaded him to come to China and contribute his legal knowledge to the new Republic in 1912. Chen took the Trans-Siberian Railroad, and shared the journey with Wu Lien-te, a physician born in Malaysia. Learning that Chen had no Chinese name, Wu suggested "Youren" as the equivalent of "Eugene".
...
Wikipedia