Chu Shih-Ming (1902-1965, Class of 1926, Mechanical Engineering) was a native of Hunan Province. Graduating from Tsinghua Preparatory School in 1922, Chu matriculated at MIT, where he received a BS in Mechanical Engineering in 1926, with a thesis on “An investigation of bolt failure on account of a ‘poor fit’.” Following MIT, he attended the Norwich Military College and the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Chu returned to China in 1927, where he began a long career in military and diplomatic service under the Kuomintang government, eventually rising to the rank of Lieutenant General in the Chinese Army. Chu’s early career included the following positions: Instructor at the Whampoa Military Academy in Guangdong; Chief of Operations Section for the 46th Nationalist Army during the Northern Punitive Expedition; Dean, Army Communications and Engineering School; Commander of Peace Preservation Corps of Zhejiang Province; and Chief of Department, General Staff Office.[1] In 1937, Chu was appointed aide-de-camp to Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek’s and also began his diplomatic career, serving as military attaché at the Chinese Embassy in the Soviet Union. Returning to China in 1939, Chu was appointed Chief of Department, Main Office of the National Military Affairs Commission, and then as director of the Department of Intelligence and Publicity, Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In 1941, Chu was sent as a military attaché to the Chinese Embassy in Washington DC, and he served as Chiang Kai-shek’s interpreter at the Cairo Conference in November 1943. Returning to China, Chu continued to work closely with Chiang, serving as a military advisor at the Department of Military Affairs. In 1945, Chu headed the Chinese Delegation to the Allied Council for Japan at the United Nations. He returned to the United States once again in 1947, serving as chief of the Chinese Military Liaison and Technical Commission. Chu was presented with the US Legion of Merit in 1948, for “for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services to the Government of the United States from February to September 1945.”[2] In 1949, Chu was transferred to Tokyo as Head of the Chinese Military Delegation to Japan. Chu continued to live in Japan after his retirement, and he died in Tokyo in 1965.[3] Chu was married to Grace Zia Chu (Xie Wenqiu, 1899-1999), a native of Shanghai and a graduate of Wellesley College (Class of 1924) whom he had met during his student years at MIT. Madame Chu began her career as an instructor of physical education at Ginling College in Nanjing, but later went on to gain acclaim as an instructor of the Chinese culinary arts in New York. Madame Chu was the author of several books, including The Pleasures of Chinese Cooking (1962), and was hailed as the “First Lady of Chopsticks.”
[1] [Who’s Who in China], The China weekly review, 1939, Chinese Students Directory, 1931, Technique, 1925, Bridge, 153-154.
[2] http://valor.militarytimes.com/recipient.php?recipientid=400078
[3] New York Times Obituary, Chinese Students Directory, Bridge, 153-154, [Who’s Who in China], Baidu