Nowadays, thousands of teenagers go abroad every year to study around the world. Mianmian himself also completed his master's degree in the United States and continued to live in North America for many years. I deeply feel that the vast majority of Chinese people overseas love their motherland and are concerned about the construction and development of their motherland. Because, more than 160 years ago, someone set an example for us.
He is Yung Wing (pronounced hong), the first "returnee" in China.
01
Yung Wing was born in 1828 in Nanping Village, Xiangshan County, Guangdong Province. When he was a child, due to his poor family, he had no money to support him in school. At the age of 7, his father sent him to the Marleyson Memorial School affiliated to the London Women's Association in Macau, because the tuition and miscellaneous fees of this school were exempted. The principal of the school is the wife of a German missionary.
Marryson Memorial School
Later, the American educator Pastor Brown came to Macau and took over the Marleyson School. When Bron returned to the United States in early 1847, he brought Yung Wing and three Chinese students with him and went to the Mengsongcheng School in Massachusetts, which is a university preparation school.
Three years later, Yung Wing entered Yale University with the support of a charitable organization. In 4 years of college, Yung Wing graduated with outstanding results and obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree.
In this way, Yung Wing became the first Chinese graduate in Yale University's history.
Yung Wing
Another Chinese student Huang Kuan went to the University of Edinburgh, UK to study medicine, becoming the earliest international student in China to graduate from a British university. Later, he obtained a doctorate in medicine. After returning to China, he became an excellent surgeon and was one of the earliest teachers to serve as Western medicine teaching in China, cultivating the first generation of Western medicine talents for China.
There is also a named Huang Sheng who returned to China due to illness a year later. Later, he worked in a Hong Kong newspaper office and became a famous overseas Chinese leader. After 1873, he went to the United States with the second batch of young children and worked as an interpreter at the Chinese Embassy.
1855, Yung Wing returned to China with the desire to serve his motherland. However, when he returned to China, he was not valued. Although he had a diploma from a top American university, China under the feudal system only recognized the fame of the imperial examination. Yung Wing, who was treated coldly, initially served as clerk at the US Embassy in Guangzhou, and later served as an interpreter at the Hong Kong Higher Trial Office.
The next year he went to Shanghai and obtained a position in the Customs Translation Office. But when he heard that any Chinese translator would never have the hope of being promoted to the General Taxation Department, he resolutely resigned. Later, he joined Shanghai Baoshun Foreign Company to run the silk tea business.
However, what he cares about the most is to realize the modernization of Chinese education, allowing more young people to study abroad, accept advanced Western concepts and science and technology, and thus promote the modernization of the country.
"After I receive the education of this civilization, I should allow the people who come to me to enjoy the same benefits. With Western academics, it will instill in China, making China increasingly civilized."
02
Yung Wing initially placed his hope of realizing his ideals on the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom movement. When he was in Hong Kong, Yung Wing met the clan brother of the Heavenly King Hong Xiuquan .
Hong Renyan
Hong Renyan has liked to read classics, history and astronomical calendars since he was a child. Like Hong Xiuquan, he also failed to take the imperial examination and later made a living by teaching in a village school. Kinda Uprising , he happened to be out of the local area. He tracked and searched for the rebels without success, and fled to Hong Kong a year later. In Hong Kong, he studied astronomical knowledge and Western culture, became an intellectual with modern consciousness, and began to think about transforming China by developing capitalism.
1859 Hong Renyi arrived in Tianjin (Nanjing) from Hong Kong. He was valued by Hong Xiuquan and was named Gan Wang. He was once the prime minister of the Celestial Kingdom. Based on his understanding of the general trend of the world and Western civilization, he wrote a "New Chapter on Guidance", which advocates accepting Western civilization and taking the path of strengthening the country and enriching the people.
Also a recipient of Western civilization, Yung Wing knew Hong Renyi's open mind and felt that he might support his idea of transforming the country.
1860, Yung Wing made a special venture to Tianjing to visit the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.During the meeting with Hong Renyi, Yung Wing put forward seven suggestions: establish a military school to cultivate talented army officers; establish a naval school to cultivate naval talents; organize civilian governments to serve as consultants in various administrative departments with talented and experienced people; establish a banking system and determine the weights and measures; establish a school education system at all levels for the people; and establish an industrial school system.
Yung Wing sincerely stated that if the suggestion is adopted, he is willing to serve the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.
Hong Renyu highly appreciated Yung Wing's suggestions and felt that they coincided with his thoughts in "New Chapter on Guidance". The two seriously discussed the 7 contents. What they didn't expect was that Hong Xiuquan was not interested in these things at all. After the internal strife in the Tianjing Incident a few years ago, the Kingdom of Heaven had long lost its vitality, and Hong Xiuquan had no intention of enterprising.
Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's real cherishing photos
A few days later, Hong Renyu said that although these suggestions are far-reaching, they do not receive support from others, so they cannot be implemented. All he could bring to Yung Wing was the official seal of the fourth-class title engraved with the word "Yi" given by Hong Xiuquan. Hong Renqian tried his best to keep Yung Wing, hoping that he could stay in Tianjing to create great achievements with them.
However, through his own dozens of days of observation, Yung Wing has also discovered some of the disadvantages of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. It is believed that Hong Xiuquan was just using Western Christianity to call on poor people to overthrow the Qing Dynasty for him, and there was no possibility of accepting the idea of establishing a civilian regime.
Even if the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom can succeed, it will only be "the abolition of the surname will not have any major reform effect on the national system and politics." Some "leaders, their behavioral qualities and plans, dare not believe that they will succeed."
He believes that King Gan is more knowledgeable than other kings and even Hong Xiuquan himself, but he is unable to speak alone. Yung Wing thanked King Gan Hong Renyu for his respect for him, but politely rejected Hong Renyu for letting him stay in his good intention of becoming an official, and then left Tianjing.
The reality of hitting a wall in Tianjin made Yung Wing feel that there is no way to serve the country. He was struggling to find a place where he could fulfill his ambitions. Although he can make a lot of money as a tea dealer, he still looks forward to achieving his ambitions.
03
After the Opium War, a group of knowledgeable people in China gradually understood the principle that if they would be beaten when they fell behind, they began to put forward the slogan "learning from the barbarians to control the barbarians", but it did not arouse the interest of the Qing government .
It was not until 1860 that the British and French forces captured Tianjin and Beijing, burning down the Old Summer Palace, the Garden of Ten Thousand Gardens, which shocked the government and the people. The Westernization School, represented by the border officials Zeng Guofan , Li Hongzhang , Zuo Zongtang and Zhang Zhidong , realized the significance of learning Western culture and advanced technology, began to put "learning from the barbarians to control the barbarians, using the Chinese and Western styles" into practice, and implemented the Westernization Movement . This also gave Yung Wing an opportunity to show his skills.
UK and French forces plundered, Beijing City a scorched earth
1863, Yung Wing received five letters from Zeng Guofan, inviting him to Anqing . The letter introduced Zeng Guofan's idea of establishing a modern factory and asked Yung Wing to contribute to his own machine factory. Zeng Guofan's eagerness to be honest and moved Yung Wing. In September, he came to Anqing and became Zeng Guofan's aide.
Two years ago, Zeng Guofan and Xu Shou , Hua Hengfang , Li Shanlan and others planned to create an ordnance in Anqing to test the production of guns and cannons and ships.
Zeng Guofan summoned Yung Wing to the curtain, mainly to ask him to set up a machine gun factory to build the most advanced rifles in foreign countries to solve urgent needs. Yung Wing believes that China's backwardness lies not only in weapons, but in the backwardness of the entire economic system. Without basic industries, the country cannot be truly prosperous and strong.
He made his suggestion to Zeng Guofan, which was that the first step was to purchase "device making tools" from abroad to set up factories and manufacture machines. He introduced to Zeng Guofan and others that China currently needs to establish general and basic machine factories, which themselves can regenerate many machine factories of the same nature. These versatile machine factories can produce special machines to manufacture specific products such as guns, engines, agricultural machinery and clocks that the country needs.
He further explained to Zeng Guofan that if China had many such excellent machine factories, it would be possible to divide the labor and cooperate with these machine factories to improve efficiency if necessary. It should be said that Yung Wing's ideas were all ahead of the curve at that time.
Zeng Guofan understood Yung Wing's meaning, and he was also doing good deeds and greatly appreciated the suggestion that he should first run a "machine factory". He issued an appointment to Yung Wing, awarded the title of fifth-rank military meritorious service, and sent him full responsibility for the establishment of a new machine manufacturing bureau for "manufacturing machines", and went abroad to the United States to purchase machines.
1865, Yung Wing's machinery and equipment purchased in the United States were transported back to Shanghai. Jiangsu Governor Li Hongzhang merged these machines with the original equipment in Shanghai and formed the Jiangnan Manufacturing General Administration in the area along the river of Hongkou District, also known as Jiangnan Iron Factory. One of the earliest factories in China, the predecessor of the current Jiangnan Shipyard . Yung Wing assisted the General Office of Jiangnan Machinery Manufacturing Bureau Ding Richang to formulate the management and business charter.
At first, Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau mainly manufactures guns, cannons and ordnances, and also builds ships. Later, after development, it was divided into five branches: arms factories that manufacture guns and cannons, shipyards that manufacture and repair ships, steel mills, gunpowder factories and machine manufacturing plants. At the same time, a translation museum was set up to print and publish foreign books, and a craft school was set up to train mechanical engineers and technicians.
Therefore, the Jiangnan Manufacturing Administration became China's largest military factory.
Firearms produced by Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau
Later, Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau moved to Gaochang Temple and developed into a large enterprise with 13 branches, more than 2,500 factories, more than 3,500 personnel, and more than 600 working mother machines. Finally, the plan to have a "machine factory" that Yung Wing originally suggested to Zeng Guofan was realized.
Three years after the establishment of the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau, Xu Shou presided over the design and manufacture of the first ship in 1868. Except for the steam engines that are purchased from abroad, the hull and boiler are made by China themselves. The power of this ship, which is more than 60 meters long and 9 meters wide, reaches nearly 400 horsepower.
In September of that year, the ship drove from Shanghai to Nanjing. Zeng Guofan, the Governor of Liangjiang, was extremely happy and named it "Tianji". And invited the commander of the Hunan Army naval commander Peng Yulin to board the ship together, and drove from Xiaguan Wharf to Anhui Ma'anshan Caishiji, 180 miles back and forth. Zeng Guofan was still unsatisfied and wrote excitedly, "China first built the No. 1 steamship. It is very gratifying to be fast and stable."
and Jinling Manufacturing Bureau (the predecessor of Nanjing Chenguang Group) was established outside the Zhonghuamen in Nanjing in 1866. A few years later, a variety of caliber barrel guns, shells, gun cars and gun bullets can be manufactured. Zeng Guofan became a leader in the Westernization Movement, and Yung Wing also played his role in the modernization of China's military industry and realized his propositions and ambitions.
04
However, Yung Wing is most keen on engaging in education, promoting the modernization of Chinese education, and realizing education to save the country. With the success of establishing a military-industrial enterprise, he began to hope to win support for Zeng Guofan's proposal to promote Chinese children to study abroad.
1867, with the support of Liangjiang Governor Zeng Guofan and Jiangsu Governor Ding Richang, Yung Wing made four suggestions: organize a ship company and do not allow foreigners to be shareholders; the government selects 120 outstanding children to study abroad, divided into 4 batches, each with 30 people; the government mines minerals; and prohibits any missionaries from church or faction from interfering in Chinese justice.
Here Yung Wing adopted a strategy. What he really cares about is the second item to send young children to study abroad. Because it is very difficult to adopt and implement the other items, if rejected, the suggestions of international students are likely to be approved. At that time, in the Chinese officialdom, some of the requests approved by the following were often habitually rejected.
Yung Wing discussed studying abroad with foreign education personnel
This memorial was finally jointly signed by Zeng Guofan and Li Hongzhang, and was strongly supported by the head of the Westernization Movement and Prince Gong Yi. After another 4 years, it was finally officially approved by the imperial court. In order to achieve this founding move by China, Yung Wing worked tirelessly for 17 years.
At the beginning of the second year, the China Youth League Study Bureau was established. Chen Lanbin, the former head of the Ministry of Justice, who was born in Hanlin, served as a member of the official committee member, and Yung Wing served as a vice committee member, responsible for selecting outstanding children to study abroad and supervising the implementation of the study abroad plan. Yung Wing himself is also specifically responsible for the education of young children in the United States.
According to the plan, 30 students aged 12 years old will be selected to study in the United States every year, with a total of 120 students in 4 years. But in China at that time, people still believed that only the imperial examination was the right way, and studying abroad was regarded as a heresy, but no one was interested.
Early young international students in the late Qing Dynasty
It is said that at that time, I finally collected the first batch of 30 officials sent to the United States to study abroad, which is indeed a world of difference from the current boom in studying abroad.
In September 1872, the first batch of Chinese young children came to San Francisco, USA, and received great attention from the American people. In the following years, four groups of young children arrived one after another to study on the other side of the ocean. The second and third batches of Chinese railways who are familiar to us, Zhan Tianyou, the first cabinet prime minister of the Republic of China, are respectively the second and third batches of those who are studying in the United States.
Later, with Zeng Guofan's death, Li Hongzhang was unable to support himself. Studying abroad was opposed by the stubborn conservative forces in the court. They were dissatisfied with the Westernization of the dress and manners of international students, and rebuked them for "being suitable for the differences and forgetting their roots, being blind to their teachers, and being unable to achieve success, and even if they succeed, they cannot be used for China." Some students cut off their braids, which made them even more heartbroken.
Because of his extraordinary intelligence, Zhan Tianyou, who was only 11 years old, was selected as one of the first "young children studying in the United States".
1881, although Li Hongzhang and Yung Wing made a defense and struggle, the court finally decided to withdraw these students studying in the United States. Nearly 100 Chinese students who are still studying at different stages were forced to leave those famous universities and return to China in three batches. Yung Wing's efforts to promote Chinese students studying abroad, and the cause of education to prosper the country was aborted.
Most of these international students who returned to China midway did not graduate and obtained diplomas. But even so, the advanced education they received gave them new thinking and a broader vision, and mastered more advanced scientific knowledge and methods.
According to statistics, 30 of these students studying in the United States later worked in the industry, mining, railway and telegraph industries, including 9 industrial and mining leaders, 6 engineers, and 3 railway directors. Five people are engaged in education, and they are the president of Tsinghua University and the president of Beiyang University. 24 people are engaged in diplomatic and administrative affairs, of which 12 have been consular or agent positions, including the Prime Minister of the State, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Vice Minister and the Ambassador to Foreign Affairs. 20 people entered the Navy, 14 of whom became generals. There are 7 more people engaged in business.
The young children studying in the United States have become leaders in different industries and have contributed to China's modernization in different positions. Yung Wing advocated that Western learning spread to the east and , and his efforts to build the country through science and education were not in vain.
Yung Wing himself is as patriotic as ever. After the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, he was worried about the fate of his motherland and immediately returned from the United States. He proposed various plans to the Qing government to develop the country through various channels, including the establishment of a national bank and the construction of national railways.
Later, as a core figure, he actively participated in the reform reform in the Wuxu year. After the failure of the reform, Yung Wing took the risk of escape from Beijing and entered the Shanghai Concession to avoid hunting. In his later years, he frequently communicated with Sun Yat-sen and supported the democratic revolution.
Yung Wing in his later years
People commented on Yung Wing: Everything he did is full of his most sincere and strong love for the motherland. He followed the trend of history throughout his life, kept pace with the times, worked tirelessly for the Western learning to spread east and the prosperity of the country, and made great contributions to China's modernization.
In 1876, Yale University awarded Yung Wing a Ph.D. in law. Now his portrait hangs on the Yale campus side by side with portraits of political celebrities such as Bush and Clinton who also graduated from the school, and is admired by students. On the 170th anniversary of Yung Wing's birth, Connecticut, USA, where Yale University is located, announced that September 22 will be the "Yun Wing and Chinese Children's Children in the United States".
