Ding Wenjiang

Ding Wenjiang (Chinese: 丁文江; pinyin: Dīng Wénjiāng; March 20, 1887 – January 5, 1936), courtesy name Zaijun (在君), was a Chinese essayist, geologist, and writer active especially in the Republic of China. He was once a member of the Board of Directors of Private Nankai University and Professor of the Department of Geology in National Peking University. In his own time, his name was transcribed as either V.K. Ting, or Ting Wen-chiang. Ding was born into a wealthy family in Taixing, Jiangsu Province. He went to study in Japan in 1902, and later studied in Britain, majoring in zoology and geology. In 1911, Ding graduated from the University of Glasgow. After returning to China, he taught at Nanyang Public School (now Shanghai Jiao Tong University) in Shanghai. In 1913, Ding became the geological section chief in the Mining Administrative Bureau of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, and went to Shanxi and Yunnan, conducting geological and mineral exploitation. Together with Wong Wen-hao (Weng Wenhao in pinyin), Ding was also the founder of China's new National Geological Survey, where he collaborated closely with foreign scholars such as Johan Gunnar Andersson in training the first generation of Chinese geologists (Fiskesjö and Chen 2004; Fiskesjö 2011, Shen 2014). In 1921, Ding became the general manager of the Beipiao Mining Company, and founded the Chinese Geological Society.