Wu Teh Yao

Wu Teh Yao (simplified Chinese: 吴德耀; traditional Chinese: 吳德耀; pinyin: Wú Dé Yào, 1915–17 April 1994) was a Chinese political scientist. He was an educator and a specialist in Confucianism and political science.

Wu Teh Yao 吳德耀
Born	1915
Died	17 April 1994(1994-04-17) (aged 78–79) Taipei, Taiwan
Occupation	Political scientist
Known for	Coauthor of Fenn-Wu Report on education in Malaysia

Education

Wu completed his senior school certificate at the Anglo-Chinese School in Penang at the age of seventeen. He was accepted into the Chung Ling High School, a well-known bilingual institution teaching in both Chinese and English, despite not knowing any Chinese, after an interview with the principal David Chen.^[1] After his graduation from Chung Ling in 1936, he was admitted to Nanking University (now known as Nanjing University) for a course of a Bachelor of Arts programs under Chen's recommendation.^[2] He later obtained a Master of Arts degree from Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, and a doctoral degree in political science from Harvard University in 1946.^[3]

He was an active athlete during his secondary school years. Furthermore, he represented Malayan Chinese at the National Sports Carnival, Shanghai, China, during the inter-war years.^[2]

Career

Academia

Wu joined the United Nations after obtaining his doctorate and participated in the drafting of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In 1951, he co-authored the Fenn-Wu Report on the Chinese education system in Malaysia.^[2]

He was President of Tunghai University in Taiwan between 1957 and 1971. From then until 1975 he was the head of the Political Science Department, University of Singapore. He was a Professor and the Dean of the College of Graduate Studies of Nanyang University from 1975 to 1980, and was acting vice-chancellor from 1976 to 1977. When Nanyang University and University of Singapore merged in 1980 to form the National University of Singapore, he was appointed Professor of Political Science.^[3] He retired in 1981.^[2]

Offices

Professor Wu was a founding director of the Institute of East Asian Philosophies, which was established by Goh Keng Swee in 1983 in the interest of studying Confucianism.^[3][4][5]

Retirement and death

After his retirement, Professor Wu, a modest person, lived in an HDB apartment in Jurong East, Singapore, and used taxis as his main form of transportation.^[6] He died on 17 April 1994 in Taipei, Taiwan, and a memorial service was held for him at the Presbyterian Church in Orchard Road, Singapore.^[6] A memorial lecture series was started in his name the following year, with the inaugural lecture delivered by the Confucian scholar Tu Weiming.^[7]