Prior to 1905, there were no Chinese engineers in China! All of the major projects were done by foreigners. The first engineering project designed and managed by Chinese engineers was in 1905, when American educated Zhan Tien-You 詹天佑 headed the building of Jing-Zhang railroad 京張鐵路 connecting Peking 北京 ( now Beijing ) and Chang-Jar-Ko 張家口 (now Zhang-Jia-Kou). 


Recognizing the need for engineers to help modernize China, more students were sent abroad to study science and engineering. In 1917, the Chinese Institute of Engineers (CIE – 中國工程師學會) was founded in US by a group of able, dedicated and far-sighted Chinese engineers. These charter members were graduate students from American colleges and/or were receiving practical training in American railroads and industries.

The CIE merged with Chung-Hwa Engineers (中華工程師學會- founded in 1910) in August 1931, at a combined engineering convention held in Nanking.  The headquarters was then relocated to Nanking 南京, the national capital. The post merger enrollment reached 2,169 members. 

The organization remained active during the World War II in Chongqing (重慶), re-established the convention in 1938, and formed chapters in Kunming, Chengdu, Guiyang, Lanzhou, Guilin and Chongqing. During the period of Japanese invasion of China, the engineers provided the needed technical services to the government to defend China.

The Taiwan CIE-ROC was re-established in March 1950. On the occasion of the 50th anniversary in 1960 (adopted the founding date of Jan 1910 of the Chung-Hwa Engineers), and membership count was more than 3000.

The CIE-NY was re-activated as an independent entity in July 1953 in New York City by a number of accomplished engineers in the U.S. The CIE-NY and CIE-ROC co-founded the Modern Engineering and Technology Seminar (METS) in 1966. The cooperation among the engineers in ROC and USA successfully helped the country in establishing the infrastructure for industrialization, promoting industrial research and development of advanced technologies. Over the years, the METS has introduced many advanced technologies to the ROC and set up the stage for the Taiwan microelectronics miracles. 

In light of the success of the METS, in 1993 the CIE/USA established another bi-annual seminar series, SATEC (Sino-American Technology and Engineering Conference), with the People's Republic of China, with the same objectives as METS.
CIE / USA – San Francisco Bay Area Chapter
The CIE/USA National Council, a federation organization of CIE/USA, was established in 1986 with the Greater New York and San Francisco Bay Area Chapters as its founding chapters. In the following years, the National Council was expanded to include Seattle Chapter, OCEESA Chapter, Dallas-Fort Worth Chapter and New Mexico Chapter. 

The CIE/USA – San Francisco Bay Area Chapter (CIE/USA-SF) was established in 1979 and Dr. Ta-Lin Hsu served as the founding president.  CIE/USA-SF is a non-profit and non-political organization serving engineers and students in San Francisco Bay Area enginnering community.  The missions of CIE/USA-SF are to promote technological advancement, networking, and communicating among engineers and scientists, and to promote well-being of engineering community.

CIE/USA-SF holds year-round events including CIE/USA-SF Annual Conference, Asian American Engineer of the Year (AAEOY) Award, Annual Short Courses at San Jose State University, technical group seminars, etc.

CIE/USA-SF technical groups:
Civil Engineering
Electronic Design Technology
Electrical Engineering & Computer Science
Electronic Packaging and Manufacturing Committee
Bio-Medical Engineering
Clean Technology
Internet Technology

The full version of CIE history

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