Huang Wanli

Huang Wanli (simplified Chinese: 黄万里; traditional Chinese: 黃萬里; pinyin: Huáng Wànlǐ; 20 August 1911 − 27 August 2001) was a Chinese hydrologist. Huang was a professor at Tsinghua University from 1953 till 2001.

Huang was born in Chuansha County, Jiangsu (now Pudong, Shanghai) on 20 August 1911, the third of six sons of Huang Yanpei and Wang Jiusi (Chinese: 王纠思). In 1924, he enrolled in Wuxi Industrial School. He entered Tangshan Jiaotong University (now Southwest Jiaotong University) in 1927 and graduated in 1932. After college, he worked as an apprentice engineer in Huangzhou-Zhejiang Railway. In 1934, Huang went to the United States. He received a master's degree from Cornell University in hydrology in 1935 and a doctor of engineering degree from University of Illinois in 1937.

In 1945, Huang became an engineer in China's Ministry of Water Resources. He was the chief engineer and head of the Gansu Water Conservancy Bureau from 1947 till April 1949. He was an adviser of Northeast China Water Conservancy Administration in September 1949. He taught at Tangshan Jiaotong University in June 1950, and he was transferred to Tsinghua University in 1953.

In 1957, Huang was labeled a "Rightist" and persecuted by Mao Zedong for his criticism of the Sanmenxia Dam on the Yellow River. Then he was sent to the Poyang Lake, Jiangxi to work, and was transferred back to Tsinghua University in 1974, at that time, the students of Tsinghua University paraded him through the streets and beat him in public. Huang was rehabilitated by the Tsinghua University Party Committee on February 26, 1980.

On August 27, 2001, Huang died in Qinghua Garden of Tsinghua University.

Huang was married to Ding Yujuan (Chinese: 丁玉隽), daughter of Ding Weifen (丁惟汾), a founding father of Kuomintang. They had six children:

• Son Huang Guanhong (Chinese: 黄观鸿)
• Son Huang Ertao (Chinese: 黄二陶)
• Son Huang Luchun (Chinese: 黄鲁淳)
• Daughter Huang Qieyuan (Chinese: 黄且圆)
• Daughter Huang Wuman (Chinese: 黄无满)
• Daughter Huang Xiaolu (Chinese: 黄肖路)