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San Jose Mercury News (CA)

October 27, 2002 Section: Local Edition: Morning Final Page: 15B EDWARD BIEN, 94, NOTED PALEONTOLOGIST CHINESE-AMERICAN SCIENTIST HELPED EXHUME PEKING MAN, DINOSAUR REMAINS BETTY BARNACLE, Mercury News Throughout his long life, Edward M. Bien had one foot in his native United States and the other in China, the land of his ancestors, where he was raised. Instead of being uncomfortable about not belonging in either land, Mr. Bien drew scientists from both nations together by the brilliance of his achievements, the warmth of his wit, and his fluency in English and Chinese.

''He provided a lot of interface between the scientists of both countries,'' said Albert Bien of Sunnyvale, Mr. Bien's son and a retired electrical engineer. Edward Bien, who died of stomach cancer at 94 in Santa Clara on Oct. 14, worked on the excavations of Peking man at Zhoukoudian near Beijing with such luminaries as the Rev. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, SJ, Dr. Davidson Black and Dr. George Barbour. Discoveries in China A paleontologist and petroleum geologist, Mr. Bien found Lufengosaurus, the first dinosaur remains unearthed in southern China, and electrified fellow scientists when he discovered the skull of an evolutionary missing link, a mammal-like reptile, that was named in his honor, Bienotherium. Barbour, who taught him in college, mentioned Mr. Bien in his book, ''In the Field with Teilhard de Chardin.'' He wrote ''Eddie Bien is an excellent companion. I could not wish a better anywhere . . . resourceful, keen and pleasant to work with . . . reasonable, humorous and understanding of men . . . stood up against anything Teilhard or I said with which he disagreed.'' Another book, a Chinese report on Peking man fieldwork, shows Mr. Bien in several photographs with Teilhard and other scientists. His dinosaur find is mentioned in the 1968 book ''The Great Dinosaur Hunters and Their Discoveries,'' by Edwin H. Colbert. Mr. Bien was born in Providence, R.I., while his parents were studying at U.S. colleges. His mother, K.C. Li, sold her jewelry so she and her husband, Z.S. Bien, a future vice president of the Bank of China in Shanghai, could make the trip and pay for their classes at Brown University and Wellesley. The couple left five sons with relatives at home and in America had a sixth son, Mr. Bien. In 1911, when he was 3, Mr. Bien's parents returned to China with him. He quickly picked up Chinese playing with the other kids and graduated with a degree in geology in 1931 from Yenching University in Beijing, a joint venture of four Western missionary colleges aimed at promoting integrationbetween China and the United States. Two years after he finished college, Mr. Bien wed another student, Daisy Lo of Hawaii, who joined him on several of his expeditions during their 50-year marriage. When the Japanese invaded China in 1937, Mr. Bien fell on hard times, trying to keep his family ahead of the troops, his son said. At one point, his bosses, for his safety, stationed him in the freezing Gobi desert, where his wife and two little boys joined him. His son Albert remembers the wonderful stories and jokes his father told to entertain them. At the end of World War II, Mr. Bien was sent to Taiwan to be part of a team taking over oil fields from the Japanese. In 1946, he and his family were sent by the Geologic Survey of China to the United States for two years of study and training with major petroleum companies. Stay in the U.S. They had their tickets ready in 1948 for the trip home when a dockworker strike stopped them from leaving the country. The strike was still on when communists took over the government of China, and the Biens stayed in America. They settled down in Bakersfield, where Mr. Bien worked for Richfield Oil until his retirement in 1970. With only a brief assignment later to Taiwan by the Chinese Petroleum Corp., he and his wife lived in the United States for the rest of their lives. After his wife died in 1983, Mr. Bien moved to Northern California to be near family and in 1997 married 72-year-old Xue Yuan Shao, one of his caretakers. By his life, Mr. Bien disproved the much-quoted philosophy of author Rudyard Kipling: ''East is East and West is West and never the twain shall meet.'' Edward M. Bien Born: March 25, 1908, in Providence, R.I. Died: Oct. 14, 2002, in Santa Clara. Survived by: his wife, Xue Yuan Shao of Santa Clara; his sons, Frederick Bien of Carson City, Nev., and Albert Bien of Sunnyvale; seven grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.. Services: Will be private. Memorial: Donations can be made in Mr. Bien's name to the organization of the donor's choice.

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