On August 3rd, 2004, Yale University held a press conference at Diaoyutai State Guesthouse to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Hong Rong/Kloc-0, the first American student studying in China. Richard, President of Yale University? Levin attended the meeting. 1847, 19 Guangdong youth Yung Hong went to study in the United States, and was admitted to Yale University to study law three years later. 1854, Yung Hong graduated from Yale University with a bachelor's degree, becoming the first student in China to study in the United States. After returning to China, Yung Wing organized four groups of *** 120 children to study in the United States, which was the first time that China studied abroad at public expense. Among these young children studying in the United States, Zhan Tianyou, the "father of Chinese railways", Tang, the first prime minister of the Republic of China, and the first president of China University have emerged as historical celebrities. Zhang Xinsheng, Deputy Minister of Education of China

At the press conference, Hong Rong said that he was a pioneer of studying abroad in the modern history of China and an advocate of official study abroad. Early overseas students in China were full of ambition to serve their country and studied hard. Their bumpy experience is also a microcosm of China's modern history. [2] On May 5, 2000, Yung Wing's portrait entered the Yale University Hall of Fame. I remember seeing the president of Yale University when he visited China in 2003. He is very proud to mention that Yale has graduated many outstanding students, produced five presidents, including Clinton, George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush, and produced 16 Nobel Prize winners.

In fact, Yung Wing was the first person who truly integrated China into modern western civilization and observed the world without prejudice. Today we commemorate his pioneering work, but we seem to forget his loneliness and sadness at that time. Hong Rong went through a lot of hardships in the process of promoting exchanges between the East and the West. Most of the young children he sent abroad to study were forced to return home early because of the ignorance and resistance of the die-hards of the Qing Empire to modern civilization, and they did not finish their studies. This period of history is perhaps the most worthy of our memory and reflection.

1855, 26-year-old Hong Rong returned to the motherland with the desire to serve the imperial court. Facing the backwardness of the motherland and the prosperity of foreign countries, Rong Hong hoped that more young people in China would "instill western learning into China".

At that time, after the defeat of the Opium War and the compensation for land division, the Qing government was severely hit by the peasant uprising of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and was in danger of collapse. At that time, there was only an American degree, and Rong Hong, an unknown international student in the Qing court, could only look at the ocean and sigh!

From 65438 to 0853, after the peasant uprising in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was suppressed, the rule of the Qing government tended to be stable. 1860 the second opium war made the Qing government pay attention to some enlightened people and actively seek ways to make Qiang Bing rich after experiencing the painful blow of the British and French allied forces entering Beijing and burning the Yuanmingyuan. At this time, Hong Rong, who had been educated in the United States for many years and had the idea of serving the country through education, tried to persuade the imperial court to send overseas students through various relationships.

1868, the Qing government and the U.S government signed the Chen An treaty. One of them is "China can enjoy most-favored-nation treatment when it enters the United States, regardless of its size.". This most-favored-nation treatment in educational exchanges has created favorable conditions for the realization of Rong Hong's plan to send overseas students to the United States.

1870, a "Tianjin religious case" occurred in Tianjin, burning French churches and killing consuls. Hong Rong was recommended as the interpreter for Li Hongzhang and Zeng Guofan who handled the case, which finally gave him a chance to put forward a bold plan to send young children to study abroad.

thank you