At Grinnell Feng studied philosophy and history while also enjoying the company of fellow Chinese students. These Nankai and Tsing Hua alumni formed a tight-knit community at Grinnell. For example, in October 1917 Feng, Kung, Lee, Tsai, Chuang Liu and Tsu Lien Wang celebrated the founding of the Republic of China at Professor Stoops’s house. They introduced the history and culture of the Republic of China while also giving music performances (SB 10/13/1917). That winter the six of them hosted a dinner in honor of Professor Jesse Macy (SB 02/09/1918) and entertained James Chuan, Secretary of Chinese Students’ Christian Association who was visiting from Chicago and who spoke at Grinnell’s Chapel service (SB 01/16/1918).  Although Feng later claimed that he was not a Christian, in June 1918 and June 1919 he joined a cohort of Grinnell students to attend the YMCA conferences in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin (SB 09/28/1918, SB 06/11/1919). Feng also joined the other Chinese students in November 1918 to host the four visiting Chinese educators, including Zhang Boling.  

Feng forged an especially strong bond with fellow Nankai and Grinnell alum Fan Yi Kung [link to page], with whom he traveled to Grinnell in 1917. In early 1918 they co-founded the Nan Kai Club at Grinnell, the first Nankai alumni association in the U.S. Kung served as Chinese Secretary, Lee [link to Lee page] as English Secretary, and Feng as Treasurer. After Feng and Kung each earned a bachelor’s degree from Grinnell in 1920, they went together to study at the University of Chicago (1920-1922) and then on to the University of Berlin (1922-1926). They remained life-long friends even while working at different institutions in Beijing and Tianjin respectively later in their lives. 

Feng returned to China in 1928. He first taught at Central University in Nanjing and then returned to his alma mater Nankai in 1930, where he faithfully served until the end of his life. Feng worked as Chair of the Department of Philosophy and Education, Dean of the School of Chinese Literature, Chair of the Philosophy Department, and head librarian at Nankai. During the Second Sino-Japanese War he also served as the interim chair of the Department of Psychology and Education at the Associate Southwest University, a wartime alliance that united the evacuated Peking University, Tsing Hua, and Nankai in Kunming, Yunnan province in southwest China. 

In the 1950s and 1960s Feng was considered the foremost expert in Western philosophical traditions in China. He devoted all his energy to teaching and program building but left behind few publications. Today he is still credited with having educated a group of Chinese scholars in Western philosophies through courses such as “Western Philosophical History,” “Plato’s Philosophy,” and “Esthetics.” His work was mostly captured in the lecture notes for those courses. Feng passed away in 1963 (Chen).