Kwong-Chai Chu

Kwong-Chai Chu was a Chinese hydraulic engineer, who received his CIE (Chinese Institute of Engineers) Award in 1947 for "his flood control engineering dealing with the unruly and turbulent Yellow River". He was born in Xichuan County, Henan, and graduated from the Department of Civil Engineering, Tongji University and subsequently Technische Universität Dresden (TUD). He had served as the Director of the Engineering Bureau since July 1946 for the restoration of the levees of the Yellow River near Huayuankou. He was also involved in several other projects, such as the health care reform, water transfer project, and the Three Gorges Dam project. He was regarded as one of the smartest and most influential engineers of his generation. He was also a member of the Chinese Communist Party and a supporter of the Kuomintang. He moved to Taiwan in 1949 after the Chinese Civil War and continued his work as an engineer and a professor. He also established several scholarships under his name in various institutions, such as the Chinese Institute of Civil and Hydraulic Engineering, Cheng Kung Cultural Foundation, and National Cheng Kung University. He died of natural causes on 22 April 1992 in Taipei, where he was buried in Yangmingshan Cemetery. He was 90 years old.