When did the first batch of formal international students from China study in the United States in modern times?

During the Westernization Movement in Qing Dynasty, 1872 began to send the first batch of government students. Hong Rong put forward the Education Plan for Studying Abroad, which was supported by Zeng Guopan and Li Hongzhang.

The story of young children studying in the United States is closely related to one person, that is, Hong Rong, the first student in China who graduated from a famous American school. 1854, Yung Hong graduated from Yale University, 1872, China began to send the first batch of students to study in the United States. During this period, it experienced the change of 18 years and a long wait.

General introduction

The first batch of children set off from Shanghai on August 1872+0 1 day, crossed the Pacific Ocean and landed in San Francisco, USA. They arrived in New England in the northeast of the United States on a steam train that just crossed the North American continent and began their fifteen-year study abroad career.

Young children were assigned to live in 54 American families (34 in Connecticut and 20 in Massachusetts). They overcame the language barrier at an amazing speed and became the best students in all the schools they attended. The outstanding achievements of their group amazed Americans. According to incomplete statistics, by 1880, more than 50 young children have entered American universities. Among them, 22 students entered Yale University, 8 students entered MIT, 3 students entered Columbia University, and 1 student entered Harvard University.

These children, dressed in satin robes and with long braids, are the earliest international students in the history of China. They are friends of the great writer Mark Twain. They were received by American President Grant.

Many of them were killed in the war, including Deng Shichang's first mate in the Sino-Japanese War. Some of them became pioneers in China's telegraph industry and mining industry. Among them, Zhan Tianyou, a railway engineer, appeared. Among them is the earliest headmaster in Tsinghua University. Among them are Li Hongzhang and Yuan Shikai's aides. Among them, the first prime minister of the Republic of China appeared. Among them is Song Meiling's uncle, who brought the Soong sisters to study in the United States.

change

Young children receive western education in the United States and live an American life. Over time, these young children are reluctant to wear Hanfu, often wearing American clothes, and even many young children simply cut off the long braids at the back of their heads. Influenced by American religious culture, some young children gradually believe in Christianity. Children not only learned a lot of new natural science knowledge when learning western textbooks, but also came into contact with more humanities, social science and culture during the bourgeois enlightenment, which gradually made them lose interest in learning Confucian classics such as the Four Books and Five Classics, and they did not abide by cumbersome feudal etiquette. On the contrary, they are obsessed with personal power, freedom and democracy. They secretly dated American girls and participated in various sports activities ... All these new changes were regarded as outrageous and intolerable by the conservative bureaucrats of the Qing government, and a cultural conflict between China and the West around young children studying in the United States was inevitable.

Memories of children

188 1, the original plan of 15 years for children to study in the United States died halfway. Of the 22 young children studying in Yale University at that time, only Zhan Tianyou and Ouyang Geng successfully completed their studies. Yung Kwai and Tan Yew Fun boycotted the recall and stayed at Yale University to finish their studies. Enfu Li and Lu Yongquan were recalled and returned to the United States to complete Yale University. In this way, 120 children studying in the United States were repatriated in three batches at 188 1, except for 9 children who were repatriated in advance because of violation of discipline, and 26 children died because they did not return.

The first batch of China students studying in the United States were condemned by the society after returning to China. At that time, Shen Bao wrote:

The country spared no expense to send its apprentices abroad, but I didn't know what to do after going abroad. China went abroad for the first time for no reason. He is the son of a big businessman. Many of the people he recruited were Lu's sons, and the products were very miscellaneous. How can such people talk about western learning and the art of war of the navy?

contribution

The first batch of 2 1 returned overseas students were sent to the electric power bureau to study telegraphy. The second and third groups of trainees were retained by modern enterprises in China at that time, such as Fuzhou Shipping Bureau and Shanghai Machinery Bureau, and the remaining 50 trainees were sent to Tianjin Naval, Machinery, Telegraph and Torpedo Bureau. These young children studying in the United States were later dispersed to political, military, industrial, intellectual and other fields; Among them, Zhan Tianyou, a railway engineer, a mining engineer in Kailuan Coal Mine, the president of Beiyang University, the president of Tsinghua University, the Prime Minister of the Republic of China Tang, and Liang Dunyan, the chief traffic officer in the late Qing Dynasty, became famous figures in the modern history of China.

reference data

] Qian Gang, Jincao Hu. Young children studying in the United States-the earliest official students studying in China. Shanghai: Wen Hui Publishing House, 2004.

Baidu Encyclopedia:/item/%E7% 95% 99% E7% Be% 8e% E5% B9% BC% E7% AB% A5/71288? Fr = Aladdin

Zeng Guofan and Li Hongzhang. Play and choose smart children to study art and review articles of association in the United States. Shanghai: Shanghai People's Publishing House, 196 1 year.