Ting Sung Kih — CEM Connections

Ting Sung Kih
1. 1919 CEM Reunion (LaFargue Collection) 2. 1936 CEM Reunion (LaFargue Collection)
Pinyin & Chinese characters	Ding Chongji 丁崇吉
Variant Spellings & Other Names	Ting Shing Ki American nickname: "Ningpo Ting"¹
Other Chinese Name(s)	Ting I Hsien (Ding Yixian) 丁艗仙²
Detachment	2
LaFargue No.	37
Date of Birth	21 May 1861³
Place of Birth	Dinghai 定海, Zhejiang
Age at Departure for US	13 (Lunar Calendar)³
Date of Death	1942
Place of Death	Shanghai
Place(s) of Residence in US	Holyoke, MA
American Host Family/ies	Hervey S. & Nancy Lucretia (Beach) Dickerman, Holyoke, MA⁴
School(s), with dates	Holyoke High School, 1876-1880
Notable Activities/Awards in School
College/University, with dates	Harvard College, 1880-81
Notable Activities/Awards in College
Degree/Diploma Obtained (date)
First Assignment in China	Fuzhou Naval School, then Torpedo section of Dagu 大沽 Forts, 1881-84
Later Positions	1885: Reporter for Shanghai Courier《上海信使晚報》; Clerk, Shanghai Customs Office. 1908: Acting Deputy Commissioner and Assistant Statistical Secretary, Shanghai Customs Office. Ting was the first Chinese to achieve this position in the Imperial Customs Service; he retired after 42 years in the ICS. ca. 1936: Manager of the family business, Kin Chong and Co. 锦章号. Assisted by fourth son Ding Yisheng 丁益生.
Employment Sector(s)	Navy; Journalism; Customs Service; Business
Final Rank, if in Gov't Service
Father's Name	Ding Zhangshou 丁长绶
Mother's Name
Wife/wives	Twice married
Family Relations w/ other CEM Students
Children's Names	7 children from 1st wife; 2 sons from 2nd wife: Ding Zhihua 丁志华, b. 1926; Ding Zhisheng 丁志生, b. 1931 Ding Jinsheng 丁金生 attended Hong Kong University Ding Linsheng 丁联生 sent to college in U.S.A. Ting financed his nephew Ding Hanbao 丁汉保 at Jiao Tong University 交通大学 and graduate studies at Cornell University, Ithaca, NY.
Descendants	"He enjoys the distinction among the C.E.M. boys of having raised the largest family. At present [ca 1939] this family consists of a wife, a daughter, 6 sons, 4 daughters-in-law, 12 grandsons, 11 grand-daughters, 2 great-grand-sons and 2 great-grand-daughters, all in good health."⁵
Other
Notes and Sources	Sources: Yung Shang Him (1939), 24; Yung Shang Him (10/1939), 248; Ding (2005), 1-5. Additional data from: Li Renjuan 李仁娟, 舟山定海北門丁家的發跡 ("The Ding Family Fortunes of Dinghai Beimin") in 舟山日報, 02 March 2010. http://www.shipcity.com.cn/article/2010/0203/article_2214_1.htm (Accessed 05 Jan 2012). 1. Qian & Hu (2003), 81, Qian & Hu (2004), 93 2. Written 丁艗先 in student name list compiled by Won Bing Chung (Wen Bingzhong 温秉忠 II, 36); 丁艗仙 on photograph of 1936 CEM reunion. 3. Although the Chinese sources give Ting Sung Kih's age as "14 sui 岁" at departure from China, implying birth in the year gengshen 庚申 (1860), the record preserved in the Harvard archives of Ting Sung Kih’s entrance to Harvard College in 1880 (reproduced in Qian & Hu (2003), 106, and Qian & Hu (2004), 114) notes his date of birth as “21 May 1861,” which corresponds to Xianfeng 11.4.12 (year xinyou 辛酉) in the lunar calendar. His age at departure for the U.S. on 12 June 1873 would have been 13 sui 岁 by the lunar calendar, or 12 years old by Western reckoning. 4. Rhoads (2011), Table 5.1, p. 52. Ting Sung Kih appears to have resided with the H. S. Dickerman family, his original American hosts, in Holyoke, MA, until he left to attend Harvard University in Cambridge, MA. Similarly, Ting's housemate, Wong Liang Ting (Wang Liangdeng 王良登 II, 60), resided with the Dickerman family until leaving to attend Phillips Exeter Academy in Exeter, NH. The U.S. Census records of June 1880, identifying both as "boarder students" in the Dickerman household, note only their residence before the end of June 1880. 5. Yung Shang Him (1939), 24; Yung Shang Him (10/1939), 248 (NB: “…4 sons…” in this printing of Yung’s text).