In 1902, Lei Haizong was born in Yongqing County,
Hebei Province. His father, Lei Mingxia, was a pastor of the local
Chung Hua Sheng Kung Hui. In 1910, he entered a church-run elementary school. In August 1917, he enrolled at Chongde Middle School in
Beijing. In May 1919, he participated in the
May Fourth Movement. In September, with church sponsorship, he transferred to the advanced division of Tsinghua School, entering directly into the second year. After graduating in June 1922, he passed a government-sponsored examination and, in September, entered the Department of History at the
University of Chicago, majoring in history with a minor in philosophy. In September 1924, he began doctoral studies under the supervision of
James Westfall Thompson. During this period, he associated with Liu Shaoyu, He Yunxuan, Wen Yichuan, and Zhang Jingyue, and took part in the Tsinghua Students Association in Chicago. He advocated democratic politics, opposed foreign intervention, and frequently wrote essays commenting on current affairs. In June 1927, he completed his dissertation
The Political Thought of Anne Robert Jacques Turgot, successfully defended it, and obtained his Ph.D. degree. In August, after returning to China, he was appointed associate professor in the Department of History at
National Central University in
Nanjing. In August 1929, he became department chair and also taught part-time at
Ginling Women's College. In February 1931, he was appointed professor in the Department of History at Ginling Women's College, and in July, concurrently served as a researcher at its Institute of Chinese Culture. In August, he moved to
National Wuhan University, where he served as professor in both the Department of History and the Department of Philosophy and Education. In July 1932, he resigned from
Wuhan University, and in September, he joined
Tsinghua University, working alongside
Jiang Tingfu. In August 1937, after the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japan, he left his wife and children to move south with the university to Changsha. In November,
Changsha Temporary University opened, with the College of Liberal Arts located at Nanyue Bible College; Lei succeeded Liu Chong as chair of the Department of History and Sociology. In December, after the fall of Nanjing, the university decided to relocate to
Kunming. Lei first returned to Changsha with the College of Liberal Arts, and later, together with
Jin Yuelin,
Ye Gongchao, and
Wu Youxun, went to Guangzhou and Hong Kong to procure educational supplies. In May, he became professor in the Department of History at the
National Southwestern Associated University and concurrently chair of the Department of History and Geography in the
Teachers College. In the same year, together with Lin Tongji, he participated in editing
Today’s Review under Qian Duansheng, and alternated with
Chen Hsueh-ping as editor-in-chief of
Contemporary Review. In April 1940, he co-founded the semi-monthly
Warring States Strategies in
Kunming with Lin Tongji and Chen Quan（Professor at Nanjing University）. In August, he became chair of the Department of History at the Associated University. In spring 1942, he lectured at
Yunnan University at the invitation of Lin Tongji. In December, he joined the Kuomintang through the introduction of Yao Congwu and Wang Xinzhong. In February 1943, he served as acting dean of the College of Liberal Arts. He declined an invitation from the
Rockefeller Foundation to visit the United States, choosing instead to remain in China to support the war effort, training service corps members and translators. In February 1946, he signed the “Anti-Soviet Declaration” and participated in the “Anti-Soviet Demonstration” in
Chongqing. In March, when
Chiang Kai-shek visited
Kunming and met the Kuomintang branch at the Associated University, Lei frankly pointed out the severity of inflation and suggested increasing student stipends. In July, after the death of
Wen Yiduo, Lei served on the funeral committee. As Tsinghua resumed operations and moved north, Lei first went to Chongqing, then to Nanjing, Shanghai, and Tianjin. In August,
Tsinghua reopened in
Beiping, where he became chair of the Department of History. In spring 1947, he contributed to
Independent Review, edited by
Hu Shi. In January 1948, at the request of Wu Zhureng, head of the Kuomintang Beiping branch, he founded
Weekly Review, which ceased publication in November. In December, he declined
Chen Hsueh-ping’s invitation and chose to remain in Beiping. In September 1949, he resigned as chair of the Department of History. In spring 1950, he studied Marxism and participated in land reform movements in the suburbs of Beijing. In March, he became a subject of political control. In March 1951, he went to Northwest China to observe
land reform; in April, after returning to
Beijing, he was released from control and wrote a series of articles criticizing the church. In March 1952, he conducted ideological self-examination. In September, following the
1952 reorganization of higher education in China, Tsinghua’s Department of History was abolished, and he, together with Zheng Tianting from
Peking University, was reassigned to the Department of History at
Nankai University, where they established teaching and research sections for ancient Chinese history and world history, respectively. In 1953, he became a member of the editorial board of
History Teaching. In 1956, he joined the China Democratic League (
Jiusan Society). In April 1957, he attended forums on the “Hundred Flowers Campaign” organized by the
People’s Daily and the Tianjin Municipal Committee, arguing that the development of social sciences had stagnated and required new materials and interpretations. In July, he was labeled a “Rightist” at the Tianjin
Anti-Rightist Campaign and was dismissed from his post. Suffering from chronic kidney disease, he developed hematuria during this period. In March 1958, the Party Committee of Nankai University decided to remove him from all positions. At the end of 1961, he was politically rehabilitated. In March 1962, despite his illness, he returned to teaching. On December 16, he suffered a relapse and was hospitalized. On December 25, he died at Tianjin General Hospital of
uremia and heart failure. == Thought ==