The Chronicle of LING Dao-yang: The Commemoration on the 130th Anniversary of Mr. LING Dao-yang's Birthday

Mr. LING Dao-yang was a distinguished forester and educator in China. As a forester, he was a pioneer of China forestry, occupied a unique position in the forestry history in China, and made a historic contribution to the Chinese forestry development. He was born in a Christian family on December 18, 1888 in Buji village of Xinan County, Guangzhou City. His forestry footprints had been throughout the Republic of China (From 1912 to 1949) since he studied the Forestry as his major at Yale University in 1912. He returned to China and dedicated to Chinese forestry after he got his Master's degree in 1914, and participated in the formulation of the first China Forest Law in the same year. He firstly advocated to establish China Arbor Day in 1915 and was appointed as the director of the Forestry Department of Nanking University in 1916. Then, in the next year, he initiated and established the China Forest Society in 1917. He was appointed as the director of the Forest Service Bureau of the Qingdao Commercial Port Government Office in 1922, and proposed the professional terms such as water and soil conservation in 1940. He served as a professor successively at Nanking University, Qingdao University, Peking University, and National Central University. Mr. LING Dao-yang, playing varied roles of a forester, educator and government official, was the epitome of Chinese forestry, made his historic contributions to fo restry advertising, forestry education, forest administration, forestry practices, and other aspects. As an educator, he was a prominent practitioner of education in Hong Kong as well. From the beginning of 1949, he devoted himself to the education in Hong Kong. He once served as the Dean of Chung Chi College and United College, CUHK, and finally received an Honorary Doctor of Laws from the University of Massachusetts in 1957. As the chairman of the preparatory establishment of CUHK in 1963, he imparted knowledge and cultured people, and his kindness benefited posterity, and was praised by the world. He emigrated to U. S. in 1980 and departed this world on August 2nd, 1993 at his 105 years age. It is rare to have such pioneering and surpassing characters as Mr. LING Dao-yang in the history of Chinese forestry. Furthermore, it is uneasy for us to understand him if we did not read the Bible.