MY LIFE IN CHINA
AND AMERICA

BY

YUNG WING, A.B., LL.D. (Yale)

COMMISSIONER OF THE CHINESE EDUCATIONAL COMMISSION,
ASSOCIATE CHINESE MINISTER IN WASHINGTON,
EXPECTANT TAO-TAI OF KIANG SU





NEW YORK
HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY
1909


Copyright, 1909
BY
HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY
Published November, 1909.


TO

MY DEVOTED SONS

MORRISON BROWN

AND

BARTLETT GOLDEN YUNG

THESE REMINISCENCES

ARE AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED

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PREFACE

The first five chapters of this book give an account of my earlyeducation, previous to going to America, where it was continued, firstat Monson Academy, in Monson, Massachusetts, and later, at Yale College.

The sixth chapter begins with my reëntrance into the Chinese world,after an absence of eight years. Would it not be strange, if anOccidental education, continually exemplified by an Occidentalcivilization, had not wrought upon an Oriental such a metamorphosis inhis inward nature as to make him feel and act as though he were a beingcoming from a different world, when he confronted one so diametricallydifferent? This was precisely my case, and yet neither my patriotism northe love of my fellow-countrymen had been weakened. On the contrary,they had increased in strength from sympathy. Hence, the succeedingchapters of my book will be found to be devoted to the working out of myeducational scheme, as an expression of my undying love for China, andas the most feasible method to my mind, of reformation and regenerationfor her.{iv}

With the sudden ending of the Educational Commission, and the recall ofthe one hundred and twenty students who formed the vanguard of thepioneers of modern education in China, my educational work was broughtto a close.

Of the survivors of these students of 1872, a few by dint of hard,persistent industry, have at last come forth to stand in the front ranksof the leading statesmen of China, and it is through them that theoriginal Chinese Educational Commission has been revived, though in amodified form, so that now, Chinese students are seen flocking toAmerica and Europe from even the distant shores of Sinim for ascientific education.

November, 1909,
16 Atwood St., Hartford, Conn.

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CONTENTS