Editing H. H. Kung (section)

===Early life===
[[File:Taigu Kong Xiangxi Jiuju 2013.08.27 09-37-13.jpg|thumb|left|The Kung family residence in [[Taigu County]], [[Shanxi|Shanxi Province]]]]

Kung was born during the late [[Qing dynasty]] into a prosperous banking and trading family in [[Taigu County]], [[Shanxi|Shanxi Province]], where he attended a mission school in spite of his family's doubts. He then attended North China Union College in [[Tongzhou District, Beijing|Tongzhou]], near [[Beijing]], where he took courses in mathematics, physics and  chemistry, subjects which were not offered in traditional Chinese schools. Upon hearing of the [[Boxer Rebellion|Boxer]] attacks, he returned to Taigu, but his family prevented him from leaving the house. After the [[Taiyuan Massacre]], which included members of the [[Oberlin Band (China)|Oberlin Band]], he carried letters from several of the murdered missionaries to Beijing by hiding them between the layers of his cloth shoes. Returning to Taigu, by using the powers of the [[Boxer Indemnity]], he distributed relief to the families of those killed, buried the dead, and confiscated the estate of a family which had supported the Boxers.<ref>Carl Jacobson, "H. H. Kung: Strengthening China through Education and the 'Oberlin Spirit'" [http://www.oberlin.edu/library/digital/shansi/bios.html]</ref>

In the summer of 1901, [[Luella Miner]], a missionary and Oberlin graduate, arranged for Kung to travel to Oberlin for further study. Upon landing in [[San Francisco]], however, because of the [[Chinese Exclusion Act]], Kung and his companion were locked up for several weeks before the Chinese Consul-General posted bond, and they were then not allowed to go to Oberlin for another year. Their railway passage took them into Canada, but only by strong intervention from an Ohio congressman{{who|date=June 2018}} were they allowed to re-enter the United States. Kung graduated from Oberlin in 1906, then proceeded to take a master's degree in chemistry from [[Yale University]].<ref>Jacobson, "H. H. Kung."</ref>

After completing his education abroad, Kung returned to his home province in China. During the 1911 [[Xinhai Revolution]], Kung mobilized forces in support of [[Yan Xishan]], helping Yan to overthrow the authority of the Qing imperial government in Shanxi. After 1911, Kung became one of Yan's most trusted advisors, and Yan was soon recognized as the military governor of Shanxi by [[Yuan Shikai]], and effectively controlled Shanxi until 1949, when the [[Communist Party of China|Communists]] took control of mainland China. Kung's influence on Yan's thinking from 1911 onward was significant, and was a major factor in Yan's subsequent determination to modernize Shanxi. The reforms that Yan subsequently conducted won Yan widespread acclaim, and Shanxi gained a reputation during the [[Warlord Era]] as being the "Model Province".<ref>Gillin 22, 45</ref>

After 1911, Kung helped to establish Ming Hsien, a complex of Christian schools in Taigu on the land Kung had acquired through the Boxer Indemnity. Kung became principal, and married Han Yu-mei, a fellow graduate of the North China Union College, who died of tuberculosis. In 1913, he met [[Soong Ai-ling]], one of the [[Soong sisters]], and married her the following year. Supporters in Oberlin established the [[Oberlin Shansi Memorial Association]], to which Kung made regular and substantial contributions.<ref name="Boorman">"H.H. Kung," Howard Boorman, ed. ''Biographical Dictionary of Republican China'' (New York: Columbia University Press, 1968) Vol II pp. 264-65.</ref>

In 1922, Shanxi experienced a serious famine. Kung worked closely with the [[American Red Cross]] and missionary organizations like [[American Mission Board]] and the [[China International Famine Relief Commission]] to deliver relief supplies and to improve Shanxi's infrastructure to make the delivery of relief easier. According to foreign members of the Famine Relief Commission, the collective efforts of all involved were successful in preventing what otherwise would have been an "appalling calamity", and by 1923 conditions in Shanxi returned to normal.<ref>Gillin 37</ref>

In the summer of 1926 Kung returned to the United States; during this trip he represented China at the [[Sesquicentennial Exposition|Philadelphia Sesquicentennial]] celebrations, and Oberlin bestowed Kung an [[Legum Doctor|LL.D]]. degree.<ref>{{Cite magazine |date=1927-01-24 |title=Education: Great-Grandson 72 |language=en-US |magazine=Time |url=https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,786707,00.html |access-date=2023-01-14 |issn=0040-781X}}</ref>