Who's Who in China (3rd edition)/Ch'en Shih-li

Mr. Ch'en Shih-li

陳時利字如林

Mr. Ch'en Shih-li was born at He-chiang Hsien, Szechuan province, in 1875. He was a law graduate and began his official career in 1896 as a member of the Ping Pu, then the Board of War. In 1899 Mr. Ch'en was given the rank of Expectant Secretary of the Ping Pu and in 1900 he was given on the recommendation of the Viceroy of Szechuan the rank of Taotai and was subsequently sent to Kuangtung for appointment. In 1901, at the recommendation of the Viceroy of Chihli, Mr. Ch'en was appointed by a special Imperial Decree a Court Director of the Fourth Order. In 1903 he was given an appointment on the Board of Commerce. In 1905 he became Director of the East Police Bureau of the Outer City of Peking. In 1906 he was appointed Councillor-in-Chief to the Outer City Police Administration. In February 1907 Mr. Ch’en was appointed Chief Secretary of the same administration. Five months later he became Chief of the Couter City Police. In 1908 he was made a member of the Councillors' Bureau in the Ming Chen Pu, then the Board of the Interior and concurrently the directorship of the Metropolian Secret Service. In July 1909 Mr. Ch'en was ordered to wait for appointment as Military Deputy-Lieutenant-Governor. In May 1912, the First Year of the Republic, Mr. Ch’en was appointed Chief of the Police Department in the Ministry of the Interior. In May 1913 he received the additional post of legal councillor to the President. About the same time he was given the Fourth Order of Chiaho. In October 1915 Mr. Chen was appointed to another concurrent position as Chief of the Local Police Training Institution. In September 1916 he was ordered to act as Chief of the Department of Rites and Ceremonies. In January 1917 he became chief of the Department of Civil Engineering in the Ministry of the Interior. In February he was awarded the Third Order of Chiaho. In August he was ordered to hold concurrently the post of the proctor of the Directorate of the Metropolitan Municipal Administration. In December he received the Fourth Order of Paokuang Chiaho. In January 1918 Mr. Ch'en was appointed resident director of the Municipal Administration, still holding other posts in the Ministry of the Interior. In March he was honored with the Second Order of Chiaho and in December, the Third of Wenfu. In February 1919 Mr. Ch'en was appointed a councillor of the Alien Property Administration Bureau. In May he received the Second Order of Tashou Chiaho. In March 1920 Mr. Ch'en was decorated with the Second Order of Wenfu. In July he was given another position in the Councillors' Hall of the Ministry of Communications. In the same month he was appointed Advisor to the Municipal Administration. In October he assumed the post of chief in charge of the Works Department in the Famine Relief Administration. A month later a Commission was called in the Ministry of the Interior for the study of famine relief measures and Mr. Ch'en was made one of its members. In December he was appointed Co-Director of the Famine Relief Bond Bureau. In February 1921 Mr. Ch'en was conferred the Second Order of Tashou Paokuang Chiaho. In December he was invited by the Civil Governor of Anhui to be his High Advisor. In February 1922 Mr. Ch'en was appointed executive member of the Yangtze River Commission and in March became chairman of the Yangtze Technical Committee under that Commission. In November 1922, Mr. Ch'en was removed from the posts that he had been hitherto holding in the Ministry of the Interior, which he had continuously served since 1907. In April 1923 Mr. Ch'en was reinstated in the Ministry of the Interior and given the former post of Chief of the Department of Civil Engineering. This post he is still holding.