Y.P. Mei

Chinese philosopher (Mei Yibao, 1900-1996), Tianjin-born, University of Chicago PhD (1927), who taught philosophy at Yenching University in Beijing from 1928 and served as its acting president and chancellor (1942-46) while the university operated in wartime exile at West China Union University in Chengdu. He was an early English-language interpreter of the classical Chinese philosopher Mozi (Motse), publishing The Ethical and Political Philosophy of Motse (1929) and Motse, the Neglected Rival of Confucius (1934). After fleeing mainland China in 1949 he taught at a string of American universities — Chicago, Indiana, Cincinnati, Princeton, Oberlin, Bowdoin, and Wabash — before settling as visiting professor of Oriental Studies at the University of Iowa in 1953.

Matters to this vault as the figure at the center of a still-open corroboration question: Pierre F. Goodrich's own foundation credits a 1950-51 meeting with Mei at Wabash College, through their mutual China Institute of America connection, as formative — but that specific meeting and Goodrich's 1948-65 trustee dates rest only on Liberty Fund's own account. Two independent institutional records (Wabash College's own honorary-degree list and a University of Iowa archival finding aid) confirm Mei really was at Wabash right around the claimed year, without confirming the meeting itself. See question-corroborate-goodrich-mei-wabash-meeting.

References

• claim-goodrich-china-institute-of-america-trustee-met-mei-at-wabash
• claim-wabash-1951-honorary-degree-list-confirms-mei
• claim-university-of-iowa-archive-places-mei-at-wabash-post-1949