Rong Hong is known as the father of overseas students in China. His real name is Rong Dameng and his scientific name is Rong Hong. Later generations generally call him Rong Hong.
In the late autumn of p>1828 (the eighth year of Qing Daoguang), Rong Hong (No.Chunfu) was born in a poor peasant family in Nanping Village, Xiangshan County, Guangdong Province. Now it is a small village near the sea in Zhuhai City, Guangdong Province, which is close to Macao, about four kilometers apart. At this time, Macao, a small island originally belonging to Xiangshan County, has been occupied by Portuguese colonists for nearly 3 years.
Rong Hong was taken to Macau by his parents at the age of seven and sent to a missionary school. When I first arrived in Macau, it was an eye-opener. At that time, Rong Hong described: "The sail walls of various countries in the harbor are like forests. After the fire, the archway of the St. Paul's Church, Weasion Wei, stands tall, and priests from foreign countries can be seen everywhere on the dock."
What puzzles Rong Hong is why his parents sent him to a missionary school, and why not send him to a private school like his brother? At that time, I went to a private school to read four books and five classics, and then I got a fame. This is the normal life track. Perhaps only Yung Wing's parents know this problem. Perhaps it is because there are frequent contacts with foreign businessmen, and they often deal with foreigners. Learning a foreign language well can make a good living, or perhaps it is because the family is particularly poor and can't afford to send two children to private schools. And the church school, tuition is free, accommodation is all inclusive. Whatever the reason, the first day Yung arrived in Macau, it opened the prelude to his legendary life.
At first, the study of the missionary school was very smooth, but later it was interrupted by the first Sino-British Opium War. During the artillery fire, the missionary school was forced to close down and Yung was forced to return to his hometown. However, Mrs. Karl Gützlaff, the principal of the church, never forgot Yung Wing. After the war, she specially appointed a missionary to tell him that Yung Wing must be found and helped him to continue his studies in another church school, which is the famous Ma Lixun school in Hong Kong. At that time, the principal was Dr. Brown who graduated from Yale University in the United States.
While studying in Ma Lixun school, one day, Dr. Brown came into the classroom and said in front of the whole class, "I have some physical problems recently, so I may not be able to continue to be your principal. I may go back to the United States to recuperate. This time, I plan to bring three China students back with me. I am willing to subsidize two years' tuition and two years' room and board. Which one of you would like to study in the United States with me?" If this kind of thing happened today, it would be a brain-breaking thing. It will not only subsidize tuition, but also subsidize room and board, and take you to study in the United States. But that was not the case at that time, because the people of China at that time were still in a state of ignorance, even in a state of fear. At that time, there was a lot of folk legend that "foreign countries are places where eating animals and eating blood, and foreigners are covered with long red hair and often catch children to eat." In short, it is very scary. So none of those children dared to say anything at that time. And no one dares to go. Dr. Brown repeatedly asked, "Who wants to go with me?" At this time, several people stood up. First, two were surnamed Huang. Two brothers, Huang Sheng and Huang Kuan, expressed their willingness to go, and the third was Yung Hong.
In p>1847, Dr. Brown boarded a ship for the United States with three children from China, set out from Hong Kong, crossed the Straits of Malacca, bypassed the Cape of Good Hope in Africa, and entered the Atlantic Ocean. On the Atlantic Ocean, they made a short stop on the famous island of St. Helena, where they paid homage to Napoleon and remembered the spirit. Dr. Brown also suggested that three young people could each break a willow on the island.
After arriving in the United States, Yung Hong entered the famous Monsoon Middle School in the eastern United States to study. At the beginning of his study, Yung Hong didn't have many ideas, because according to his original plan, he just came to the United States to study for two years, just to gain a long knowledge and learn what he has. But with the deepening of his studies, his thoughts have changed. He wants to stay in the United States for a longer time, he wants to go to college, and even he wants to study at Dr. Brown's alma mater, Yale University. The dream is beautiful, but the reality is cruel. It takes money to go to college. Without money, how can we pay tuition fees, even though Rong Hong works part-time and makes money. But how can the money saved by such odd jobs be enough to pay the tuition of Yale University? At this time, the local church heard about it. They were willing to pay for Yung Wing's college education, but at the same time, they also offered conditions. They said that if you use our money to go to college, you must be a missionary after graduating from college, and you must preach in China after returning to China. Faced with such an opportunity, or such a deal. Rong Hong refused. He said, "Although I am poor, I am still free to choose my favorite career. No matter what major I choose, my only hope is that it will be most beneficial to my country." So he turned down this so-called opportunity.
Fortunately, God never shuts one door but he opens another. After a while, Dr. Brown called Yung again and said to him with great excitement, "I have won an opportunity for you. This time, I won financial support from a charitable foundation under the American Women's Association. And the foundation didn't ask for anything. After all, you are the first person from China who is going to study in the United States. So with this luck and his efforts, he finally got into Yale University to study.
During my study in Yale University, it is conceivable that it must be the hardest at the beginning, because Yung Hong's English level was difficult to adapt to the professional education in English in the university at that time. Adapt to his special hard work, special efforts, and strive to make up for his shortcomings in language. Not only did he make up for his shortcomings, but later, in some school-wide English competitions in the second and third semesters, his grades were all special. He finally won the respect of his American classmates through his efforts.
academic achievements did not bring him much happiness, but brought him a lot of pain. Of course, this is not for himself, but for the poverty and backwardness of his own country.
the more you learn, the more you think; The more knowledge you have, the deeper you think. As his knowledge and vision became more and more abundant, he became more and more deeply aware of the gap between China and the world at that time. Therefore, during his conversations with his classmates several times later, he expressed his dreams. He said, "My dream is to let more China people enjoy world-class education like me in the future." He wrote such a passage: "Those who are given are educated by this civilization, so those who are given later should also enjoy the same benefits." "Instilling western learning in China has made China increasingly prosperous and civilized." This passage later almost became his lifelong career. Of course, it also achieved the highest value in his life.
When he graduated from Yale University, Rong Hong exchanged the guest book with his classmates. In the guest book, Rong Hong wrote the following sentence: "An adult is a child." It means: no matter what one will become in the future, no matter how mixed up he is, one should not forget the dream he set at that time. His classmates also wrote him a sentence in the guest book: "We are waiting to hear the news of your great career in the history of China in the future."
With honor and dreams, Yung Hong graduated from Yale University and embarked on his journey back to China. After returning to China, Yung immediately realized that he was out of place with this long-lost motherland. As soon as he got home, his mother asked him the first question: "Where is your hair? Why is your braid gone?" Then she asked: "What is your so-called Yale degree equivalent to me? Is it a scholar, a juren, or a scholar? Do I recognize your degree in the Great Qing Dynasty? Can you get an official position with your degree? " This series of questions, asked by Yung Yung, was very embarrassed and speechless. Embarrassment is embarrassing, after all, you still have to live. So Yung Hong, an American real rattan school graduate. He started selling tea for a living. At this time, he desperately needed a stage to display his dreams and ambitions.
One day, he suddenly remembered someone, Hong Rengan. Who is Hong Rengan? Hong Rengan took part in the Taiping Rebellion and Taiping Rebellion in his early years. During a battle, he was separated from the organization. So I lived in Hong Kong for two years, and it was during this period that I met Rong Hong. Rong Hong was very happy to hear that Hong Rengan was becoming a sovereign in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom regime. As the saying goes, it is easy to handle affairs with acquaintances. So he risked his life to go to Nanjing to find Hong Rengan.
under the recommendation of Hong Rengan, Rong Hong met several leaders of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and he elaborated his whole strategy of governing the country in great detail. He talked about how to establish a modern military defense system, hospital medical system, bank financial system and school education system. Put all you can think of and design a set of strategies for governing the country without reservation and come clean. However, after he finished his statement, he found that these leaders seemed not interested at all. He was particularly disappointed. After a period of time, after careful observation, he came to the conclusion that this Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was not reliable at all, had no future at all, kept silent about fighting all night, and the administrative management system of the whole country basically relied on documents to govern the country. The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom promulgated two very important documents: The Tenure Land System and A New Chapter on Senior Affairs. The contents of these two documents are really good, but they just became learning materials and learning documents for officials. In the process of real national governance, these two documents were not implemented at all, so Yung was particularly desperate and decided to leave the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. Despite Hong Rengan's repeated detention, Yung Yung made up his mind and refused again and again, preferring to go back to his hometown to continue selling tea for a living.
After two years of silence at home, at this time, another person paid attention to Rong Hong. This person is a famous mathematician. He is the originator of modern mathematics education in China. His name is Li Shanlan. Li Shanlan was assisting Zeng Guofan to build Anqing Ordnance Institute, an arsenal. At this time, Li Shanlan heard that there was a real American university graduate selling tea at home. He was extremely excited and rushed to grab talents. On the recommendation of Li Shanlan, Yung Wing met Zeng Guofan for the first time. When they met, Zeng Guofan first raised a very sharp question. He asked, "What do you think is the most beneficial and important thing in China today?" There is a mystery in the question, which is difficult to answer. On the surface, he is asking what you think is the most important thing in China today, but in essence, he is actually asking me what I think is the most important thing in China today. Once the answer to this question is wrong, once your answer is different from what Zeng Guofan thought in his heart. Zeng Guofan will think that you have no knowledge, and different ways do not seek common cause. Fortunately, Yung Hong was prepared. Yung Hong's dream is education, but this is something he can't answer. Because education is Rong Hong's dream, not Zeng Guofan's dream. Yung Yung deeply understands that I want to use Zeng Guofan to realize my dream, and I must first help him realize his dream. After his dream comes true, he will graft his dream on his dream. So Rong Hong replied at this time, "I think the most important thing in China now should be to establish an advanced western-style factory as soon as possible." Completely said to zeng guofan's heart, after listening to yung's answer, zeng guofan praised. At this time, Rong Hong added, "I think this Anqing Ordnance Institute is still not very good, or it is too low-end." This aroused Zeng Guofan's interest. Rong Hong went on to explain: "Anqing Ordnance Institute uses machines to produce guns. This mode of production is a low-end industry and a downstream industry in the industrial chain of foreigners. The most powerful thing for foreigners is that they can use machines to produce machines. This is their high-end upstream industry. Once we learn this technology, we can copy countless Anqing ordnance depots in a short time. " As soon as this passage came out, Zeng Guofan's eyes were shining and enlightened, and he simply completed a cognitive upgrade. Immediately clap your thighs and scream. So he handed over such a big project to Rong Hong, who deeply knew that he must do it well. Because this is something that Zeng Guofan is very concerned about, we must do it well.
to be continued