Dr. Shih gave the last full measure of devotion to his country and people and had nothing to regret. But his friends will always miss him tremendously. He was ever so affable and warmhearted to one and all. Though he might be sometimes stern and chiding, you knew it was for either your own good or that of the public. He would go to all lengths to help you if you only asked for it. By the full life he lived he has enriched the life of all those who had the rare privilege of knowing him on intimate terms or working with him as colleagues.
We members of the editorial and business departments of the Free China Review can speak with first-hand knowledge of Dr. Shih's character and temperament because most of us were his closest associates of many years' standing and some were even his lifelong friends. Though he was not a member of our editorial board, he gave generously of his time and advice to make the magazine a better publication that it would otherwise have been. His contributions to the growth of the Free China Review will always be gratefully remembered by those of, us who have now to carryon without the benefit of his friendly counsel.
Dr. Shih was a graduate of Tsing Hua College and received his B. A. and M. A. degrees from the University of Minnesota. He did further advanced work at Harvard and contributed many articles to learned journals published in China and the United States. He was the holder of an, honorary LL. D. degree from the University of Liberia. He was professor of Chinese diplomatic history, which he made his specialty, and concurrently head of the Department of Political Science of the National Wuhan University. It would be a boon to the academic world and especially to students of Chinese diplomatic history if his notes on that subject could be edited and published. But it would be a tragedy if they had not been taken out when the Chinese Communists overran the mainland in 1949.
It is characteristic of Dr. Shih's self-effacement that neither in the Who's Who section of the China Handbook nor in any other books of reference can any information on his biography be found. But his achievements, both scholarly and diplomatic, his urbanity, his sweet reasonableness, and, above all, his warmth of heart will live on in the memory of his friends and colleagues.
In Dr. Shih's death the country has lost a patriotic son, the academic world a distinguished scholar, his friends a sure and wise counsellor, and his family a loving husband and father. It is a grievous loss to everybody concerned.
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The autumn freshet came. Hundreds of streams flowed into the river. The main stream is so big that between the two shores and the islet on the river one cannot make out the difference between an ox and a horse. The River God was very much pleased and thought that all the beauty in the world rested in him alone. He flowed his way down east till he reached the North Sea. He looked east and saw no end of water. The River God turned his face around, looked at the sea and sighed: "I am like the one who has heard only one millionth of the truth and thought no one was like him." —Chuang Tse
Translated By Edward Y. K. Kwong