Distinguished Professor, Georgetown University
John Young was born on March 6, 1920 in Tienjin, China. That year, his father was appointed a diplomat of China to be stationed in Japan so he was kept by his grandmother in Tienjin. When he reached school age, he was taken to Tokyo to join his parents and studied in Japanese schools all the way up to graduation from the Tokyo Imperial University in 1942.
Resentful against the Japanese aggression and then killing of many innocent Chinese civilians, he escaped from Tokyo, crossed the war zones, finally reaching Chongqing, the wartime capital of China, after three months of traveling. Immediately thereafter, he joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China. His main job there was to prepare for post-war matters, including Japanese war crimes, settlement of territorial questions, war reparations, restitutions, revision of the Japanese Constitution, democratization of Japan, land reform, and related matters. He was also assigned to encourage anti-war Japanese who had escaped to China and Japanese prisoners of war to be organized and fight against Japanese aggression. He had the rare occasion to interpret for Mao Zedong and Kaji Wataru, a leader of the anti-Japanese aggression group. Right after the Japanese surrender, he accompanied the American team of lawyers and military officers, together with a few Chinese government officials, to fly all over China to collect evidence for the Allied Military Tribunal set to try Japanese war crimes in Tokyo. Subsequently, in 1946 he was assigned to Washington, DC, to serve as a member and Secretary of the Chinese Delegation to the Far East Commission, charged with establishing occupation policy on Japan and reconstruction designs for post-war Japan. All nations who fought against Japan participated in this endeavor, until the Commission was dissolved in 1951.
After he resigned from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs he was invited by Georgetown University to teach Japanese language, culture and history. Concurrent to teaching at Georgetown University, he earned a Ph.D. degree from Johns Hopkins University. He then moved to the University of Hawaii, Seton Hall University, and finally was called back to Georgetown University before joining the Committee of 100 staff and serving the committee as its Executive Counselor.John Young was born on March 6, 1920 in Tienjin, China. That year, his father was appointed a diplomat of China to be stationed in Japan so he
was kept by his grandmother in Tienjin. When he reached school age, he was taken to Tokyo to join his parents and studied in Japanese schools all the way up to graduation from the Tokyo Imperial University in 1942. Resentful against the Japanese aggression and then killing of many innocent Chinese civilians, he escaped from Tokyo, crossed the war zones, finally reaching Chongqing, the wartime capital of China, after three months of traveling. Immediately thereafter, he joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China. His main job there was to prepare for post-war matters, including Japanese war crimes, settlement of territorial questions, war reparations, restitution, revision of the Japanese Constitution, democratization of Japan, land reform, and related matters. He was also assigned to encourage anti-war Japanese who had escaped to China and Japanese prisoners of war to be organized and fight against Japanese aggression. He had the rare occasion to interpret for Mao Zedong and Kaji Wataru, a leader of the anti-Japanese aggression group.
Right after the Japanese surrender, he accompanied the American team of lawyers and military officers, together with a few Chinese government officials, to fly all over China to collect evidence for the Allied Military Tribunal set to try Japanese war crimes in Tokyo. Subsequently, in 1946 he was assigned to Washington, DC, to serve as a member and Secretary of the Chinese Delegation to the Far East Commission, charged with establishing occupation policy on Japan and reconstruction designs for post-war Japan. All nations who fought against Japan participated in this endeavor until the Commission was dissolved in 1951.
