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THE 10,000 PICKED MEN WHO WILL CONTROL THE DESTINY OF THE NEW CHINA

F

BY

C. S. WALKER

NEW events, if any, ever witnessed in the village of Amherst, Massachusetts, the seat of two colleges, have had deeper significance than the weaving together last summer of the Stars and Stripes and the dragon of China on its field of yellow. Beneath the mingled flags of the young republic of the West and of the oldest nation of the East were a hundred young men from the best families in many provinces of the Celestial Empire. And stranger still-among them were a few female students.

These Chinamen were dressed in American style and wore no queues. There were athletes among them and there were men of iron nerve and abundant vitality condensed into bodies of medium stature. They talked in different dialects and many were strangers to one another in a strange land, but all spoke English as their common speech. Among them were students from the leading colleges and universities of America, who had not only held their own in competition with the AngloSaxon but had even snatched from him the coveted honors. All were animated by the same spirit and their college yell was "C-H-I-N-Athe new China!"

This unusual assembly was a conference of the American branch of an international movement, the World's Chinese Students' Federation, organized at Shanghai on July 1, 1905, with Teng Hwee Lee, a graduate of Yale, as its president. Branches have already been established in several countrics and the membership has increased rapidly in numbers and in influence. It publishes the World's Chinese Students' Federation Journal, edited by a board of four, three of whom are Yale graduates. It is printed both in English and in Chinese and has a wide circulation. It stands for intense loyalty to the Chinese government and for a selfsacrifice akin to that shown by the Japanese.

It advocates all learning for all the people, the necessity of a common language, and, above all, the creation of national unity.

CHINESE STUDENTS IN AMERICA

According to the register at the embassy in Washington, there were 300 Chinese students in the United States last year, 173 of whom had reported to the minister and were subject to his oversight. Of these, 49 were government students, sent over by viceroys of provinces to be prepared for public service, and 124 were private students. These young men were distributed among the following institutions: Yale, Cornell, Columbia, University of California, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Virginia Military Institute, New Bedford Textile School, Massachusetts Agricultural College, Phillips Academy, St. Louis Medical College, and the high schools of Amherst, Springfield, Hartford, and San Francisco. In addition to these regular university students, there are also Chinese theological students, sent to America by missionaries of various denominations. These students are scattered among the theological seminaries and other schools under denominational control.

Last summer, Dr. Charles D. Tenney, a Boston scholar who went to China and became the founder of the Tien-Tsin University under the patronage of the Pei Yang Government, brought a company of forty young Chinamen, collected from five different provinces, to the Harvard Summer School. Last fall he saw them matriculated in the several colleges of their choice. They are from fourteen to twenty-four years of age and have been well prepared for the courses of study upon which they have entered. All speak English and many of them are familiar with French or German also. The sons of government officials or merchants, they have been selected because

of superior scholarship and proved ability. Some of them will study engineering and others will devote themselves to political science. This delegation has been sent as the forerunner of a series of annual delegations which Yuen Shih Kai, the viceroy of the province of Chihli, who is a leader of the educational movement in China, is planning to send to England and America. It is probable that a similar band will be sent next year from Nanking.

The origin of the movement for the education of Chinese youth in foreign countries dates back to 1847, when the Rev. Samuel M. Brown brought from Hong Kong to New York City a bright Chinese boy, eighteen years of age, by the name of Yung Wing. He was fitted for Yale College and entered the freshman class in 1850, graduating in 1854 with honors in English composition. Returning at once to his native land, he made a fortune in trade, then lost it through the mismanagement of his partner during an absence in the United States. On his return home, in 1864, he was made a mandarin. While serving as an interpreter for the Chinese Government, he finally convinced Li Hung Chang that if Chinese youth were sent to America to acquire the Western learning, they would become of great service to China.

In 1872 the first band of thirty Chinese boys, selected from the best families, was sent to New England. Other delegations followed until one hundred and twenty Chinese students were located in homes throughout the Connecticut Valley. They were taught English and, as soon as they could be prepared, were sent to Williston Seminary, to Phillips Academy, Andover, and to other suitable schools. At first, all were under the oversight of Yung Wing, who had his headquarters in Hartford. The students reported there at stated intervals for instruction and examination in the Chinese language and classics. They wore their queues and were expected to maintain Chinese customs. Their government appropriated $8 a week for cach student and he was allowed $1 additional for spending money. The boys and their teachers both did excellent work and Yung Wing was delighted with the progress made. In the light of recent events, the following words, written by him more than twenty-five. years ago, now appear to have been uttered with the inspiration of a true prophet: "I am looking to the influence which the United States should have in shaping the destiny of the New China that is imperceptibly and slowly

looming up on the horizon of the East. The mass of the people have been kept down too long. Ages of depression and repression of the Chinese mind must be lifted up and each individual man must assert its integer and integrity and have full liberty to develop himself and bring himself nearer to his God. American training is best adapted to accomplish this." complish this." Yung Wing's phrase, "The New China," has become the watchword of the twentieth century.

But a bitter disappointment awaited him. Appointed to the post of Chinese minister at Washington, a new commissioner of education, Woo Tsze Tun, was sent from China to look after the boys. This new man, opposed from the first to the education of Chinese youth in America, reported to Peking that the boys were becoming denationalized, that they were losing their reverence for the Chinese classics, and should be recalled at once. should be recalled at once. The students were ordered home in the autumn of 1881, just when they were beginning to get the most profit from their training.

A memorial, signed by the teachers of these students and endorsed by many of the presidents and professors of American colleges, was forwarded to the Chinese Government through the State Department at Washington. Just when this memorial was about to secure the return of the students, Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion act and all negotiations came to an end. But Yung Wing, now at the age of seventy-seven, has lived to see his great work for the education of Chinese boys in the learning of the West about to result in a successful issue.

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Sir Liang, the Chinese Chinese minister Washington, spoke with authority when he said: "There is no more encouraging sign for the modernization of the ancient Empire than the sending of bright young boys of good family to other countries for education. I am led to believe that my government will not only continue, but also increase, the sending of boys to the United States for an education. The necessity of the time demands it and we need thousands of them."

CHINESE IN JAPANESE SCHOOLS

The eyes of the Chinese were first opened to the practical benefits of Western education during their war with Japan. Since 1896, their students have been flocking to Japan in increasing numbers, to sit in the schools of their conquerors.

At the present time it is estimated that at least 10,000 Chinese students, mostly from the interior provinces, are in Japan. Half are selfsupporting; the others are maintained by the national government or by their own provinces. They vary in age from thirteen years to forty. In Japan they are received into government schools and private schools, some of which have been established especially for Chinese. The majority are studying engineering, law, military science, and medicine. Others are learning railroading, photography, weaving, and soapmaking.

But while the number is large, the work accomplished is for the most part confined to elementary subjects. The higher learning is mastered by only a few. Of those going to Japan, nine-tenths arrive without any knowledge of the Japanese language and with no adequate preparation, and therefore must spend some time in primary schools. Half of them return to China after a year or two without having completed a secondary course. A little knowledge is a dangerous thing for these men, easily swayed by strange doctrines and revolutionary ideas. The advice of the best educators now is to send only wellprepared students to Japan and to Western nations, and to use the money thus saved to establish good schools at home.

A Chinese superintendent of education generally has charge of the students in Japan. An allowance of $12.50 a month is granted to each student under government patronage, the money being given to the school authorities to be disbursed under their direction. Rules of conduct have been prepared by the Hankow viceroy and the Japanese minister in China, but the Japanese authorities do not strictly enforce them. Obedience brings rewards, while only crimes are severely punished. Degrees won in Japan are honored in China equally with the corresponding Chinese grade. In 1905 there were 411 Chinese graduates from Japanese institutions. Of these, many returned at once to China as teachers.

The centre of Chinese student life in Japan is Tokyo, where there is a club of 4,500 members, with a well-equipped clubhouse. Here the greatest freedom of thought and speech is allowed. Political questions are discussed and governmental action is criticised without fear, in genuine student fashion. Innumerable influences emanating from this centre are spread throughout China by magazines, pamphlets,

and newspapers. They advocate the building of railroads with Chinese capital and the adoption of the Mandarin dialect as the common speech, in order that by these two means national unity may be secured. Education of the people must prepare the way for parliamentary government. The large number of Chinese students in Japan is explained by the ease with which the Japanese language can be learned by them and the moderate expense compared with that of attending Western institutions. Besides, the Chinese already in Japan work together to help new students to establish themselves.

THE CAREER OF SIR LIANG

The story of Sir Chentung Liang Cheng, the present minister to the United States, is a striking proof of the value to China of training a boy in America. Born on the island of Wampoa, near Hong Kong, he traces his ancestry back 2,000 years. He inherited from his fathers a splendid physique which has developed into a man exceeding six feet in stature, with broad shoulders, powerful muscles, a pleasing countenance, a winning voice, and a nervous temperament capable of most efficient labor.

A boy of thirteen, he passed severe civil service examinations and, under the name of Liang Pi Yuk, joined the band of 120 Chinese boys which was sent to the United States through the influence of Yung Wing. He became a pupil in the home of Miss Julia M. Harrington, in Amherst. He was a diligent student, but found time to enter heartily into the sports of his American playmates, who called him "Pi Cook" and gave him a warm welcome. "The experience of my boyhood has attached me with particular affection to this village," he said recently, "and I have sent hither a few Chinese students from the first families of the Empire." Among those now studying in Amherst are his own son, Arlu; his brother, Liang Cheng; his nephew, Liang Hing Luen; and his prospective son-in-law, Jen Huan.

"Pi Cook" soon mastered the English language and was sent to Phillips Academy, Andover, where he won high praise as a student and fame as an athlete. Speaking of baseball in an after-dinner speech delivered at the 125th anniversary of the Academy, Sir Liang gave a most interesting account of his smashing a "three-bagger," which won for his nine the championship in 1881 over Exeter Academy. His ambition to enter Amherst College and graduate with the class of 1885 was disap

pointed by the summons of the Chinese Government to return home, a disappointment that must have been keenly felt.

But Liang Pi Yuk could not be suppressed. Too good a man to be long ignored, the government first sent him to the naval school at Tien-Tsin but later promoted him to the diplomatic service. From 1886 to 1889 he was connected with the Chinese legation in Washington. In 1895 he was taken by Li Hung Chang to Tokyo in the capacity of secretary when the treaty of peace was made between China and Japan. As first secretary, he accompanied the embassy that was sent from China in 1897 to attend the jubilee of Queen Victoria. In 1901 he was the companion of the Chinese Emperor's brother who went to Berlin to apologize, on behalf of the Chinese Government, for the murder of Baron von Ketteler during the Boxer rebellion.

When the term of Wu Ting Fang, the late Chinese minister to the United States, expired in 1903, Sir Liang was sent to this important station. He is now serving his second term in that capacity.

OTHER AMERICAN GRADUATES

Sir Liang is only one among many young men trained in other lands that have risen to distinction. Lin Leun Fai, of the class of 1882, Phillips Academy, became a skilful physician; overcoming the prejudice of the Chinese against foreign medicines, he succeeded in persuading his government to establish the TienTsin Medical College and hospital. During the war in 1900, this institution was protected from injury because of his wisdom in opening the hospital to all nationalities. Lew Yuk Lin, of the same class at Andover with Fai, rendered important service to China in the consular and diplomatic corps at important posts in Europe and America. Wo Ying Foo, of an earlier class, won distinguished honor in the Chinese navy.

As commander in the battle of Yalu, his bravery secured from the Imperial government the "Batulu," the Victoria Cross of China. Tsoa Kai Cheong, who was trained in Massachusetts, rendered valuable service to China during the Japanese war. While commanding as gunnery captain on the flagship Ting Yuen, at the battle of the Yalu, he was severely wounded. He retired from the navy for a time, but in 1898 he was assigned to the command of the new cruiser Hai Yung. His latest achievement was the organization of a police force of

1,500 men to keep the peace of the city of TienTsin. So well did he succeed in this innovation that other provinces have adopted his system. For his meritorious service he has received a rank in the Chinese army corresponding to our Brigadier-General.

THE DAWN OF A NEW CHINA

But important as is the work of Western graduates in the military, naval, and diplomatic service of China, it is in the fields of education and material progress that their efforts are showing especial efficiency. It is through the development of Chinese mines, the introduction of modern methods of agriculture, the application of steam and electricity to manufactures, and the building of railroads that the Imperial government is now planning to create a New China.

Already the fruits of this student movement are seen in the establishment of modern schools throughout the Empire; in the introduction of Western sciences into the courses required of those taking the civil service examinations; in the revision of the criminal and judicial code by a commission of which Wu Ting Fang, formerly minister to the United States, is a leading member; the teaching of the Mandarin dialect in the schools, with the design of making it the national language to take the place of the numerous dialects which now divide the people; and especially in the Imperial decree promising parliamentary government as soon as the people can be made ready for it, probably within the next five years. When these sweeping reforms are in full swing, foreign-trained students will be needed at the helm.

EDUCATION FOR CHINESE WOMEN

The sending abroad of five High Commissioners to investigate systems of female education, and their report advocating Chinese schools for women, recalls an interview between the Dowager Empress and Sir Liang, as he was leaving China for Washington.

"I have been advised," said this remarkable woman, "to introduce into the Empire schools for girls. But I have noticed that as soon as women begin their pursuit of learning they are seized with the mania for meddling in politics."

Sir Liang's liberal New England education rose to the occasion. "Your Majesty's subjects rejoice," replied the diplomat, courteously, "that the four hundred millions of China have for their ruler an educated woman!"

WALTER H. PAGE, Editor

CONTENTS FOR FEBRUARY, 1907

THE ALASKAN DELEGATE TO CONGRESS, AND HIS HOME Frontispiece

THE MARCH OF EVENTS-AN EDITORIAL INTERPRETATION
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(With full-page portraits of Mr. William Dean Howells, Mr. James McCrea, and Mr. Morris K. Jesup)

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II THE BUILDING OF HIS EMPIRE (Illustrated) C. M. KEYS

TRAINING FOR THE TRADES
ARTHUR W. PAGE

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