Tzu Chen Chao

CHAO, Tzu Chen (Zhao Zichen). b. Deqing, Chekiang, China, 1888; d. Beijing, 21 November 1979. From a Buddhist family, he was educated by Christian missionaries at the Methodist Dongwu University, Soochow. He was baptized in 1908. He undertook further study at Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee (1914-17; MA, BD). Returning to China, he taught at his old university before moving to Peking (now Beijing) in 1926 as Professor of Theology at Yenching University. He was Dean of the School of Religion from 1928 until 1952, apart from a period in 1942 when he was imprisoned during the Sino-Japanese war. Under Mao Zedong he was dismissed in 1952, in spite of having participated in the...