Peng Chun Chang

Peng Chun Chang also P. C. Chang (simplified Chinese: 张彭春; traditional Chinese: 張彭春; pinyin: Zhāng Péngchūn; Wade–Giles: Chang¹ P'eng²-ch'un¹) (1892 – 1957) was a Chinese professor, philosopher and playwright.

Biography

Born in China, he received his higher education in the United States, at Columbia University. He returned to China and became a professor at Nankai University in Tianjin. After the invasion of China by Japan in 1937, Chang joined the anti-Japanese resistance at Nankai University. When the Japanese arrived there he fled, dressed as a woman. He was engaged by the Chinese government to assist in promoting awareness in Europe and America of the Nanking Massacre.^[1] Chang later taught at the University of Chicago.

Chang became a full time diplomat in 1942, serving as China's representative in Turkey. He was an enthusiastic promoter of Chinese culture. While in Turkey he delivered lectures on the reciprocal influences and commonalities between Arabic and Chinese cultures, and on the relationship between Confucianism and Islam.^[1]

Chang resigned from the UN in 1952 because of a worsening heart condition and died in 1957.^[2]

Philosophy and activities on human rights

Chang has been described as a renaissance man. He was a playwright, musician, diplomat; a lover of traditional Chinese literature and music and someone who knew both Western and Islamic culture. His philosophy is known to be strongly based on the teachings of Confucius.

At the first meeting of ECOSOC he quoted Mencius stating that ECOSOC's highest aim should be to "subdue people with goodness."^[3] He also argued that many influential western thinkers on rights were guided by Chinese ideas. "In the 18th century, when progressive ideas with respect to human rights had been first put forward in Europe, translations of Chinese philosophers had been known to, and had inspired, such thinkers as Voltaire, Quesnay and Diderot in their humanistic revolt against feudalism," he told the UN General Assembly in 1948.^[4]

On the UDHR drafting committee, he served both as an effective Asian delegate and also as a mediator when the negotiations reached a stalemate. He served as Vice-Chairman of the original UN Commission on Human Rights and Republic of China delegate to committee and played a pivotal role in its drafting of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) of 1948.^[4]

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Glendon, p 133
2. ^ Glendon, p 211
3. ^ Mary Ann Glendon, A World Made New, Eleanor Roosevelt and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, p 33
4. ^ ^{a b} "Written out of history". SCMP. Dec. 9, 2008. http://www.scmp.com/portal/site/SCMP/menuitem.2af62ecb329d3d7733492d9253a0a0a0/?vgnextoid=b4ad4ffd2b61e110VgnVCM100000360a0a0aRCRD&ss=China&s=News. Retrieved 2008-12-16. 

External links

• Columbia Center for New Media Teaching and Learning Biography

Persondata
Name	Chang P. C.
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1892
Place of birth
Date of death	1957
Place of death