Where Han An lived

Han An, a famous forestry scientist, was one of the pioneers of modern forestry in China. He was the first recipient of a master's degree in forestry among China students studying abroad, and was also the earliest government official in China who was a forestry scientist. He was the first to introduce the forestry situation of countries around the world to the Chinese people, suggested that the country should designate China's first Arbor Day, and took the lead in establishing seedlings and afforestation along the railway line. He presided over the establishment of China's first forestry scientific research institution-the Central Forestry Laboratory. He attached great importance to forestry scientific research and education, forest resource survey, tree naming and compilation, cultivated a large number of forestry talents, and made important contributions to modern forestry construction in China.

Han An, the word Zhuping. Born on January 17, 1883 in a peasant family in Xiqin Village, Chao County, Anhui Province. Due to his poor family life, Han An participated in labor such as cutting firewood and laying ducks at home as a child. I went to a short-term Mongolian museum in my hometown. At the age of 9, he moved to Wuhu with his parents. His father worked as a shop employee, and his mother washed clothes for the missionaries of the Second Street Gospel Church near her home to support her family. Han An attends free day school at Evangelical Church Primary School. Due to his hard work and excellent grades, at the age of 15, he was sent to Huiwen Academy (predecessor of Jinling University) founded by the American American-Israeli Society in Nanjing to continue his studies. Huiwen College is the earliest among the 13 colleges and universities established in China in the United States. It has liberal arts, medicine, Bible classes and affiliated middle schools. Han An first studied in the middle school, and after graduation, he entered the university's liberal arts and sciences. He relied on trivial tasks such as ringing the clock at school according to his schedule, working and studying part-time to meet food, accommodation, and tuition fees. Due to his Western education by American Dean J.C. Ferguson and others, he has a high level of English, a solid foundation in mathematics, physics and chemistry, and has also read many four books and ancient texts. In 1904, he achieved the best among the five graduates of the seventh class. He was summoned by Zhou Fu, Governor of Liangjiang, and awarded him a seventh-grade Beijing official certificate. After graduation, Han An was stayed in school to teach. Most of his lectures were English, mathematics, Gezhi (physics), and chemistry he learned in normal times. During his nine years at Huiwen, he used his summer vacation to work for two months at the Shanghai YMCA; another time he went to Jiujiangling, Jiangxi Province to assist Westerners in translating church books and selling books on behalf of them, and used the small amount he earned to subsidize the semester's pocket money. After staying in school to teach, he was once again sent to Japan to attend the World Youth Christian Conference, and he was deeply impressed by Japan's green mountains and clear waters. In 1907, Duan Fang, the new governor of Liangjiang, returned from an inspection tour in Europe and the United States. He recruited male and female students and sent them to study in the United States. Han An was admitted to the top of the 10 male students at the age of 25. In the summer of the same year, he entered the School of Arts and Sciences at Cornell University in New York, majoring in chemistry. He graduated with a bachelor of science degree in 1909. He wanted to learn another practical science so that he could make achievements after returning to China, so he decided to study forestry science and technology to change the poor mountains and rivers of his hometown. In 1911, he received a master's degree in forestry from the University of Michigan. This is the first China student studying abroad to obtain a master's degree in forestry. That year, revolutionary activities such as the anti-Qing Huanghuagang Uprising and the Wuchang Uprising broke out in the country, causing political turmoil and uncertainty. He thought that agriculture and forestry were closely related, so it was better to stay and further study advanced agricultural science and technology in the United States and serve the motherland, so he transferred to the University of Wisconsin to study agriculture for one year. In the summer of 1912, he left the United States and returned to Beijing, where the Revolution of 1911 had been won.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry of the Beiyang Government appointed Han An as the chief of the Mountain Forest Department of the Ministry (equivalent to the current position of section chief). At first, he assisted in editing the "Agriculture and Forestry Bulletin", but later he was assigned to serve as directors of the Jilin Forestry Bureau and the Forest Affairs Bureau of the three northeastern provinces."Due to the fact that the central and local governments had not separated powers and responsibilities, and there were no necessary equipment, personnel and funds, which made it difficult to achieve success." In 1913, he requested to be transferred back to Beijing and continue to serve as a supervisor in the Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce after the merger of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Industry and Commerce. In March 1914, at the invitation of the Philippine Forest Service, the Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce sent Han An to the Philippines for an inspection. It lasted for three months. Later, it issued an investigation report, describing in detail the organization and scope of responsibilities of various Philippine government departments and bureaus. In April 1915, Han An and W.F. Yu Fosi, forest consultant of the Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce and director of the Philippine Forest Service (Sherfesse) went to Nanjing, and together with J.H. Reisner and J. Bailie, professors of forestry at Jinling University, and Jin Bangzheng, president of Anhui First A Agricultural School, investigated the general situation of Anhui's mountains and forests. Later, in the investigation report, he recommended that the government advise landless people to undertake afforestation in barren mountains, and designate afforestation areas along both sides of the Jianghuai River and both sides of the Jinpu Railway in the province, build nurseries to raise seedlings, and distribute them to the people for self-planting at low prices or free. The forest created is owned by the recipient and protected by itself. This is exactly the same as the "whoever grows, whoever has it" policy set by the Ministry of Forestry of the Central People's Government.

In January 1916, the Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce established a Forestry Affairs Office to manage forest affairs across the country. One supervisor was appointed by Jin Bangping, the deputy director of the Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce, and two other members were appointed. It was stipulated that "those with strong forest knowledge and experience should serve as the meeting." She Foxi and Han An served as the meeting. In October of the same year, the chief of agriculture and commerce changed, and the Forestry Affairs Department was merged into the Agriculture Department. Han An 'an was appointed by the Ministry of Communications in 1918 and was transferred to the post of director of the Afforestation Office of the Beijing-Han Railway Bureau to establish seedlings and afforestation along the railway. He became close to General Feng Yuxiang here and worked together many times in the future. In 1922, Han An was invited by Jin Bangzheng, president of Beijing Agricultural College, to serve as academic director and director of the forestry department.

In 1924, Feng Yuxiang was appointed as the Northwest Border Defense Supervisor and successively appointed Han An as the director of the Industrial Department of the Chahar Special Zone, the director of the Industrial Department of the Suiyuan Special Zone and the General Office of Reclamation Affairs. He has made many contributions to forestry, agriculture and local industries in the two provinces and regions. In January 1926, Feng Yuxiang's "National Army" was jointly attacked by Feng's subordinates and direct warlords. Han An, as an interpreter, followed Feng through Kulun (now Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia) to the Soviet Union for two months. Later, Feng sent Han An to Guangzhou via Vladivostok to contact the Kuomintang to send troops to the Northern Expedition. After the matter, he returned to Shanghai as a liaison between the Northwest Army and the Soviet Consulate in Shanghai. Han An joined the China Kuomintang that year.

After the victory of the Northern Expedition, Han An 'an was appointed as a member of the Anhui Province Government and mayor of the provincial capital Anqing City in October 1927, and was appointed director of the Education Department in March of the following year. He renamed the Anhui Province Agricultural College to Labor Agricultural College to show the great glory of labor. In 1929, Han was transferred to the post of counselor of the government of Qingdao City, Shandong Province, and the following year he was appointed as director of the city's education. He soon resigned and went to Hankou, where he was employed as a consultant, counselor and planning for the agricultural and forestry affairs of the Pinghan Railway Bureau.

The National Government established the National Economic Commission in 1933 and set up a northwest office in Xi'an. The following year, Han An was appointed as the commissioner of the office and was promoted to director in 1936. He was responsible for organizing northwest water conservancy, health, highways, cooperatives, agricultural loans and other economic businesses. During this period, he actively appointed famous scientific and technological experts at home and abroad. He presided over the construction of water conservancy projects such as Jinghui, Luohui, Meihui, and Weihui; and built highways from Xi'an to Lanzhou, Hanzhong, Guangyuan, and Tianshui. In the same year, G. Fentzal, deputy director of the Forestry Bureau of Shaanxi Province and a German forestry scientist, died, and Han An was assigned to serve concurrently as a remaining post. When the Anti-Japanese War broke out in 1937, the Kuomintang and the Communist Party cooperated against Japan. Le Tianyu, chief of the Technical Section of the Forestry Administration, once accompanied Han Antong to the Eighth Route Army Office in Qixianzhuang, Xi'an, to contact and talk with Lin Boqu and other older revolutionaries, and planned to establish a forestry service branch in the Jiefang District of northern Shaanxi. It was not realized for some reason. The following year, the Northwest Office of the Economic Commission ended, and the Shaanxi Forestry Bureau was merged into the Agricultural Improvement Institute. Han An then left Shaanxi and entered Sichuan, where he was appointed as the chairman of the Agricultural Group of the Production Planning Committee of the Sichuan Province Construction Department.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry of the Chongqing National Government adopted the opinions of forestry circles for many years and decided in 1941 to set up China's first forestry experimental research center-the Central Forestry Laboratory. Han An was appointed director on the recommendation of Feng Yuxiang, Qian Tianhe, etc., and was established in Geleshan, Chongqing in July of the same year. The forestry department of the former Central Agricultural Laboratory was merged at the same time. At that time, it was in the difficult stage of the War of Resistance, with extremely difficult human, financial and material resources. Han An managed his business in a miserable manner and worked hard. After seven years of hard work, he finally took shape and achieved remarkable results, becoming the most glorious achievement in his life. At the end of 1948, Nanjing National Government agencies moved south one after another. Han An 'an resigned as director in January 1949 and was appointed as an adviser to the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, and Fu Huanguang was appointed director. In the same year, Han An moved his family to Xi'an. In 1950, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry of the Northwest Military and Political Commission appointed him as an engineer to provide advice and suggestions for northwest forestry. In 1953, the region was abolished and Han An resigned. He moved to Qingdao in 1956 and was elected as a member of the Shandong Province CPPCC. He has been unable to participate in CPPCC activities due to cerebral thrombosis. In the spring of 1959, he moved to Beijing to recuperate. In 1961, the encephalopathy recurred and died on January 31 at the age of 79.

Han An was determined to study forestry as early as the late Qing Dynasty. He entered the forestry administration department in the early years of the Republic of China and devoted his life to forestry construction. For 50 years, he was one of the pioneers of modern forestry excellence in China.

Han An came from a humble background, studied hard for more than ten years, and went abroad to study at public expense. He witnessed that "the mountains on both sides of the Yangtze River in China are all green, while Japan has no mountains but green water." Therefore, he set up a grand ambition to study forestry and green the motherland. He became the first forerunner to obtain a master's degree in forestry in China. He returned to China after completing his studies in the early years of the founding of the Republic of China. He was immediately recruited by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry of the Beiyang Government to hold an important position in the Mountain Forest Department. He was one of the earliest forestry officials in China at that time. He participated in the editing of China's first agricultural and forestry journal, the "Agriculture and Forestry Bulletin" published by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, and in early 1913 serialized his compilation of the article "General Trend of State-owned Forests in Countries in the World" in this journal. This was also the first scientific and technological document for China to introduce the general situation of forestry in various countries to China.

Arbor Day was first established in China in 1915. Zhou Ziqi, then chief of the Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce, adopted the opinions of Han An, Ling Daoyang, Pei Yili, and others, and believed that "tree planting in all European and American states has festivals, and the implementation of it across the country has achieved remarkable results." With the approval of the President, he made an order in July of the same year to designate Qingming Festival every year as Arbor Day. A tree planting ceremony is held on this day every year to promote afforestation. On the Qingming Festival on April 6, 1916, China's first Arbor Day celebration was held in Majinding, Xishan, Beijing. At the same time, local government agencies and schools at all levels across the country were required to carry out extensive afforestation on Arbor Day. This event is held every year as usual and lasted for many years. After that, it gradually became a formality and became a formality. It was still implemented continuously during the National Government period, but the date was changed to March 12 every year, and the name was changed to "Tree Planting Ceremony to Commemorate the Death of the Prime Minister." Every year, the ceremony is complete, but the results are minimal, and the original intention of the forest elders who advocated Arbor Day is almost lost.