Mr. L. T. Yuan was born at Ningpo, Chekiang province, in 1879 from a very humble family. He had to struggle very hard to obtain his education which he began in a mission school in his native place at an early age. After making excellent records while receiving his preliminary education, he was supported and sent by the United Methodist Mission of Ningpo to St. John's University, Shanghai, where he was graduated in the year 1904. He then returned to Ningpo to serve the above-mentioned Mission as the vice-principal and Head Master in the English Methodist College and residing Pastor of one of the chapels of the Mission for a period of eight years. During the first revolution Mr. Yuan was appointed by the Military government of Ningpo as the deputy chief of Foreign Affairs and Communications. In 1912, he joined the staff of the Hankow-Canton-Szechuen Railway which position he resigned shortly before the second revolution. Then he joined the Commercial Press of Shanghai. Since 1914 he has devoted his time partly to commercial interests and partly to public welfare of the country. He was invited by the board of directors of the Ningpo-Shaohsing Steam Navigation Co. Ltd. of Shanghai in the autumn of 1921 to succeed Y. J. Zah, as the general manager of the company. Besides his regular work, Mr. Yuan is serving as director of the following public bodies of Shanghai: General Chamber of Commerce, the Ningpo Association, the Young Men's Christian Association, the World's Students Federation, the Chinese and Foreign Famine Relief Committee, the Chinese Anti-Kidnapping Society, and the Chinese Rate-Payers' Association. In the fall of 1923 he was elected to serve as a member of the Chinese Advisory Committee of the Shanghai Municipal Council.
