Rong Hong (1828.11.17 – 1912.4.21), formerly known as Guangzhao, with the family name Dameng, Chunfu, and English name Yung Wing, was a native of Nanping Village, Xiangshan County, Guangdong Province (now Nanping Town, Zhuhai), and a famous educator, diplomat, and social activist in modern China. Rong Hong is the first Chinese student to graduate from Yale University in the United States, a pioneer in the cause of Chinese students, and is known as the "father of Chinese students"
Rong Hong came from a poor background, and in 1847 (the twenty-seventh year of Daoguang), he went to the United States to study, and graduated from Yale University with honors in 1854 (Xianfeng 4th year). In 1855, he returned to China and served in the American Legation in Guangzhou, the High Court of Hong Kong, and the Shanghai Customs, and later ran the silk tea business for Shanghai Baoshun Foreign Firm. In 1870 (the tenth year of Tongzhi), he served as the deputy superintendent of the Study Abroad Office, and the following year led the first batch of international students to the United States. Since then, he has been stationed in the United States for a long time, specializing in the affairs of students studying in the United States. In 1875 (the first year of Guangxu), he was appointed deputy minister of mission to the United States, Spain, and Peru until the Qing government withdrew its students in 1881. During the period of the Penghu ReformAtion, he was closely related to the Restoration faction in Beijing, and after the failure of the reform, he took refuge in the Shanghai Concession. In 1900, Tang Caichang's self-reliance association was renamed the Chinese National Assembly in Shanghai and was elected president. When the Self-Reliant Rebellion was suppressed, he was wanted by the Qing government and exiled to the United States. Later, he still contacted various reform forces in china and gradually supported the revolutionary activities carried out by Sun Yat-sen. He died in April 1912 in Connecticut. He is the author of the memoir "The Gradual Record of Learning from the West and learning from the East".
Main achievements: The establishment of the Shanghai Jiangnan Machine Manufacturing General Bureau, the organization of the first batch of young children to study in the United States.
Representative works: "The Gradual Record of Western Learning and Eastern Learning" ("Memoirs of Rong Hong").