Hu Chuan (Chinese: 胡傳; original name: Hu Shan, 胡珊; courtesy name: Tiehua, 鐵花; alias: Dunfu, 鈍夫) was born in Anhui province, 1841. He was a scholar and an official of the Qing Imperial Court. He came from a tea merchant family in Huizhou. During his youth, he studied excessively while helping out with his family's business. In 1881, he traveled alone to the Northeastern region of China and was later involved in politics. He assumed civil positions in Guangdong, Hainan, Zhengzhou, and Jiangsu. In 1890, He returned to his hometown and married Feng Shundi (馮順弟), who was 17 years old at the time. The following year, the Chinese philosopher and scholar, Hu Shih, was born. In 1892, Hu was appointed the chief commissioner to Taiwan where he oversaw all cultural and military affairs. He stayed in Taiwan for three years until the First Sino-Japanese War broke out in 1894 during which Taiwan was ceded to Japan. He later died in Xiamen, at the age of 55.

Hu Shih (pinyin: Hu, Shi; Wade Giles: Hu, Shih; Traditional Chinese: 胡適; Simplified Chinese: 胡适; original name: Hongxing, 洪騂; courtesy name: Shizhi, 適之) was born in Shanghai, 1891. In 1910, he began studying abroad at Cornell University, and received his BA in philosophy and literature in 1914. He later attended Columbia University and studied philosophy under Professor John Dewey. Hu Shih soon became Dewey's translator and helped with his 1919-1921 lecture in China. He later devote his life to the advocacy for pragmatic changes. After returning to China, Hu became the one of the leaders during the May Fourth Movement and the New Culture Movement. He was the main advocate for the use of written vernacular Chinese in contrast to the obsolete classical Chinese. He also made contribution to redology (the study of a classical novel, the Dream of the Red Chamber). From 1938 to 1942, he was an ambassador to the U.S. He served as the chancellor of Peking University between 1946 and 1948. In 1957, he served as the president of the Academia Sinica. He died in Taipei, 1962 at the age of 70.