1. Wu Ting-fang was a Chinese calligrapher, diplomat, lawyer, politician, and writer who served as Minister of Foreign Affairs and briefly as Acting Premier during the early years of the Republic of China.
16 Facts About Wu Ting-fang
1. 2.
Wu Ting-fang studied at the Anglican St Paul's College, in Hong Kong where he learned to read and write in English.
3.
Wu Ting-fang studied law in the United Kingdom and was called to the bar at Lincoln's Inn.
4.
Wu Ting-fang returned to Hong Kong in 1877 to practise law.
5.
Wu Ting-fang served under the Qing dynasty as Minister to the United States, Spain, and Peru from 1896 to 1902 and from 1907 to 1909, having started out as legal adviser and interpreter to powerful diplomat and viceroy Li Hongzhang.
6.
Wu Ting-fang's idea is to draft a new criminal code, and put both into force at the outset in the open ports.
7.
Wu Ting-fang reformed the governmental structure for the administration of justice, ending the traditional combined approach.
8.
Wu Ting-fang supported the Xinhai Revolution of 1911 and negotiated on the revolutionaries' behalf in Shanghai.
9.
Wu Ting-fang served briefly in early 1912 as Minister of Justice for the Nanjing Provisional Government, where he argued strongly for an independent judiciary, based on his experience studying law and travelling overseas.
10.
Wu Ting-fang served briefly in 1917 as Acting Premier of the Republic of China.
11.
Wu Ting-fang joined Sun Yat-sen's Constitutional Protection Movement and became a member of its governing committee.
12.
Wu Ting-fang advised Sun against becoming the "extraordinary president" but stuck with Sun after the election.
13.
Wu Ting-fang then served as Sun's foreign minister and as acting president when Sun was absent.
14.
Wu Ting-fang died shortly after Chen Jiongming rebelled against Sun in 1922.
15.
Wu Ting-fang believed that a non-flesh diet would prolong his life and he would live over a hundred years.
16.
Wu Ting-fang gave speeches on vegetarianism and authored an article "How I Expect to Live Long", published in November 1909 for the Ladies' Home Journal.