Hu Xiansu

Hu Xiansu or Hu Hsen-Hsu (24 May 1894 – 16 July 1968), courtesy name Buzeng, art name Chan'an, was a Chinese botanist and polymath. He was the founder of modern botany in China, and a pioneer of paleobotany in the country. His most notable scientific achievement was the identification of the living fossil Metasequoia glyptostroboides (dawn redwood) in 1948, widely considered as one of the greatest botanical discoveries of the 20th century.

Outside botany, Hu also made significant contributions in the field of literary criticism and education. In 1922, in opposition to the New Culture Movement, he co-founded The Critical Review (Xueheng), a major Chinese-language journal which advocated the preservation of classical Chinese literature. He also led the Xueheng School. From 1940 to 1944, he served as the inaugural president of National Chung Cheng University, which is now primarily Jiangxi Normal University. Targeted as an intellectual during the Cultural Revolution, he endured repeated struggle sessions, the harm and stress of which likely contributed to his fatal heart attack in Beijing on 16 July 1968.

The standard author abbreviation Hu is used to indicate this person as the author when citing a botanical name.