An Analysis on Chinese students in America in the Late Qing Dynasty(1881-1908)

The movement of Chinese students studying in the US reached a trough between 1881 and 1905,when Chinese Educational Commission scheme has broken down and the Boxer Rebellion Indemnity Scholarship Program has not been operated.There are few students studying in America compared with in Japan,no matter they are self-funded or supported by the government.Although the number of these students is small,the movement never stopped.After 1900,the studying in the US grew again with the help of New Polices in late Qing dynasty.The number of the Chinese students in America has been more than 300.And the students obtained many accomplishments: they studied quite well and were in the first rank in the exams for the students studying abroad held by Qing government;they learned in a broad range including mathematics,physics,chemistry,law,politics,sociology,pedagogy,philosophy and medicine;some of them became the first Chinese students in military college in the US,and the first female students studying in the US;they organized the earliest Chinese student union in America to help each other.There were not so many Chinese students in the US in late Qing dynasty,but they all had strong believes in developing Chinese nation and country and actively joined and supported the democratic revolution leaded by Sun Yat-sen.Returning to China,some of these students opened lot of scientific researches within rather difficult conditions and made special contributions in the growth of Chinese modern high education.Some of them did a lot of achievement in foreign and political affairs,and influenced Chinese or world history to some extend.Shortly speaking,the students studying in the US in late Qing dynasty were one of the leading groups in the history of Chinese students studying abroad,and played key roles in the social transformation and the modernization process in China.