Page:Twentieth Century Impressions of Hongkong, Shanghai, and other Treaty Ports of China.djvu/760

752 by the Norwegian Government as a Knight of the First Class of the Order of St. Olav, in the same year.

Mr. J. O. Neill, Vice-President of the French Municipal Council, and president du Cércle D'Escrimé de Tientsin, was formerly in the French Navy. When he came to China in 1898 he held the rank of Sub-Lieutenant; in 1899 he was promoted Lieutenant, and in 1906 he retired on completion of the required period of service. He then commenced to deal in real estate, and, being the owner of considerable property in Tientsin, he founded, in the following year, a company styled the Société Franco-Belge de Tientsin, of which he is now the managing director.

Mr. O. Kleemann, President of the Club Concordia and of the German Association, was born on March 6, 1872, at Bad-Oeyn-hausen, Westphalia, and received his education at Herford Gymnasium, Germany. His first business experience was obtained at Bremen, but when his term of army training in the Pioneer Battalion at Minden was completed he came to China and entered the service of Messrs. Droste & Walte at Tientsin. Subsequently, when Mr. Walte dissolved partnership with Mr. Droste, Mr. Kleeinan became a part proprietor in the undertaking and business was carried on for eight years under the style of A. Walte & Co. Mr. Kleeman, however, severed his connection with the firm in January, 1908. During his twelve years' residence in Tientsin he has taken an active interest in public affairs and has filled several positions of prominence in social and commercial circles.

Mr. G. E. Five, who is in charge of the Native Customs sub-office at the Tientsin Settlement Railway Station, first came to Tientsin in 1899. He was present during the Boxer troubles in 1900 and in the following year was appointed to the In-door Staff of the imperial Chinese Maritime Customs service in Shanghai. Before being transferred to his present post he was employed successively at Lungchow, in the Kwangsi Province, and at Chinkiang, in the Yangtsze Valley.

Mr. M. D. Batouieff is a large property owner in Tientsin, an agriculturist, and a prominent member of the Russian Municipal Council. He holds several decorations—the Legion d'Honneur, the Order of Stanislaus, Second and Third Class, and the Order of St. Anna. Born in Kazan in 1852, he was educated at the Commercial College there. In 1878 he went to Kalgan, and fourteen years later moved to Tientsin, where he established himself as a tea merchant. He extended his business as time went on, and now carries on an extensive import and export trade, and a forwarding agency for goods proceeding to and through Mongolia, one of his chief lines being wool.

Mr. O. E. Meyer, manager of the firm of Messrs. von Duering, Wibel & Co., Tientsin, was born on May 21, 1878, at Langenhagen, Holstein, Germany. After receiving his education at Eutin Gymnasium, Germany, he entered the service of Messrs. Hesse, Newman & Co., in Hamburg in 1897. In February, 1901, he came out to Hongkong for the firm of Siemssen & Co., in whose employment he remained until May, 1904, when he went home on leave. In January, 1906, he returned to the East, having been appointed manager of the Tientsin branch of Messrs. von Duering, Wibel & Co., and in November of the following year he was empowered by that firm to sign per pro. Mr. Meyer is a keen sportsman, and delights in big-game shooting.

Mr. J. MacDonald, than whom few men are better known in Tientsin, has had a most interesting career both as soldier and civilian. He was born in 1843 in County Down, and was educated at the British Barracks School and College, Hongkong. At an early age he was attached to the 59th Foot, and was with that regiment during the latter part of the occupation of Canton by the Allied Forces in 1857. In 1860 he was appointed senior officer to the Bittern, and was present at the taking of the Taku Forts by Admiral Hope, at the engagements of Chang Wha Wan and Tung Chow, and at the taking of Peking. Upon retiring from the Service in 1862 he joined the Chinese Army, and was with General Ward until the latter's death. General Gordon held a high opinion of Mr. Macdonald, and appointed him A.D.C. to his body-guard. Leaving the Chinese Army in 1869 Mr. MacDonald joined the Imperial Maritime Customs, and four years later commenced business on his own account as auctioneer and merchant. He has now built up a prosperous business, and, together with his sons, is interested in the firm of Messrs. J. Macdonald & Co., carriage builders, live cattle contractors, timber and wool merchants, general and commission agents.

Mr. Sun Chung Ying, a son of the late Mr. Sun Huan Son, traces his descent in a direct line from the imperial family of Sun, which flourished during the dynasty of the Hans, the reigning house in China about two thousand years ago. His grandfather, Mr. Sun Shou Jen, was one of the richest men in Nanking. Born in 1863, at Ju Kow, Kiangsu Province, Mr. Sun Chung Ying was educated at Tientsin Torpedo and Naval School, and entered the service of Messrs. Jardine, Matheson & Co., as an interpreter in 1886. Two years or so later he was appointed compradore to Messrs. H. Mandl & Co., Chinese Government contractors, and eventually became a shareholder in the business. In 1900 he was commissioned by the French Government to dispose of the salt they captured in Tientsin. Later, he joined Mr. L. Bielfeld in founding the firm of Bielfeld & Sun, contractors to the Chinese Government. The partnership was dissolved in February, 1908, and Mr. Sun Chung Ying was appointed advisor on Chinese affairs to the Russo-Chinese Bank at Tientsin.

Mr. Sun is well known for his practical philanthropy. He started a famine fund in Chihli some fifteen years ago, and was one of the originators of a large home where the children of Chinese parents are bought and cared for. The need for this arose out of the custom common in China of parents selling their children in order to maintain themselves, and the establishment of the home has done a great deal towards ensuring that these children do not fall into bad hands. If desirous of doing so parents may regain possession of their children when they become better off; but if a child remains unclaimed after a certain time steps are taken to see it properly started in life. During the cholera epidemic in 1901 Mr. Sun was instrumental in raising funds for the erection of ten cholera hospitals with fifty beds each, and thereby in saving the lives of many of his fellow countrymen. Mr. Sun is advisor to the Board of Commerce, acting chairman of the Tientsin City Waterworks,