Although the great figures of the R.O.C. may not have elected Hu Shih to office, he was one of the greatest thinkers, diplomats, and writers of modern China. His scholarly influence encompasses the fields of literature, history and philosophy as well as science, politics and democracy. An advocate of linguistic and cultural modernization, Hu was also a key figure in China’s revolutionary era.

His fluency with the ideas of Western modernism was thanks to his winning of a scholarship to study in the U.S., funded by the Qing empire. He obtained a master's and Ph.D. in the U.S. When the Republic of China was founded, he first served as ambassador to the U.S., then led Peking University and Academia Sinica.

He had 36 honorary doctorates by the end of his life, and was once tipped as a likely candidate for president of the R.O.C. His refined but focused manner, extensive contacts and many awe-inspiring romantic partners all lent glamour to his public image. Some of his affairs emerged publicly only much later. Today on Taiwan History, let’s explore the life of Hu Shih.