CHANG CHIEN

born July 1, 1853, Haimen, Kiangsu Province, China died Aug. 24, 1926, Nant'ung, Kiangsu Pinyin Zhang Jian a leading social reformer and industrial entrepreneur in early 20th-century China. Chang received a traditional Confucian education and, at the age of 41, he passed the top level of the civil service examination. The following year China was defeated in the Sino-Japanese War, and Chang retired from office to develop industry in his native prefecture and make it an example of modernization for all of China. With government encouragement and tax benefits, he built the famous Dah Sun Cotton Mill, which became the only private mill in China operating at a profit. He expanded this enterprise to include a flour mill, an oil mill, shipping lines, a distillery, and a machine shop. Concerned about the welfare of his workers, he built schools, roads, parks, orphanages, medical clinics, libraries, and a home for the aged. After a short trip to Japan in 1903 he became an ardent advocate of constitutionalism and, in 1909, was elected president of the Provisional Assembly of Kiangsu. After the Republican Revolution of 1911, he served as minister of agriculture and commerce in the new government.