China in history ahead of the entire world thousands of years, in the long years are well-deserved superpower, can be regarded as the "old empire", European countries are based on China's living customs as fashion, if the King of Europe can wear Chinese silk, with Chinese porcelain to drink Chinese tea, then it will certainly be able to cause the envy and hatred of all nobles, thus setting off a "Chinese style" in the world, which shows how strong China's status is.
However, by the time of the Qing Dynasty, the world had entered the era of industrialization and was rapidly moving toward modernization, but the Qianlong Emperor was still indulging in the illusion of "heavenly kingdom", drove away the diplomatic envoys sent by Britain, and personally closed the door of modernization, and later britain opened this gate with a cannon, and the Manchu Qing government fell into infinite difficulties.
At the beginning, people were still thinking about "mastering yi and mastering skills to control yi", but later it was already "fighting for the survival of the survival", Zeng Guofan, Zuo Zongtang, Li Hongzhang and other Hanchen traveled east and west for the stability of the world, but it was inevitable that they would be discouraged, Li Hongzhang said, "This great change that has not occurred in three thousand years is also ..." In fact, it is "a major crisis that has not occurred in three thousand years."
In order to cope with this unprecedented crisis, many benevolent people and men of good will worked hard to find a way to deal with the situation, known as the "father of Chinese students", Rong Hong, the first Chinese student to graduate from Yale University in the United States, believed that if he wanted to save the country, the most important thing was to have a group of outstanding talents who were proficient in Western affairs, so he suggested to Zeng Guofan that the imperial court select some young children to study in the United States.
After careful discussion, Zeng Guofan and Li Hongzhang decided that this matter was not only worth doing, but also had to be done immediately, so they jointly sent a letter to the Tongzhi Emperor and Empress Dowager Cixi, saying that "sending young children to study in the United States is the founding act of China, and it has never happened in ancient and modern times." The reason why china has long led the world in history, only foreign countries have come to Study in China, and there is no precedent for China to study abroad.
However, under the stimulation of the Western powers' strong ships and cannons, people have now woken up from the dream of "heaven and heaven", and have to admit that the situation in their own homes is inferior to others, so Empress Dowager Cixi, after careful consideration, still approved this recital, and successively sent four batches of 120 young children to study in the United States, hoping that these children would serve the Qing Dynasty well after returning from school.
Under the leadership of Rong Hong, the first batch of young children with an average age of 12 years in the United States went to the United States on August 11, 1872, began to learn American ideology, culture and production technology, they were scheduled to stay in the United States for 15 years, but in the end they did not complete their studies according to the plan, in 1881 they were recalled by the Qing Government, and when the Qing Government recalled these young children who stayed in the United States, only 94 people returned. Where do other people go?
In fact, the reason is very simple, the reason why the Qing government recalled these people in advance is because it was found that these children did not receive the "loyalty education" of the Qing Dynasty, there was not much loyalty to the Qing government, so they recalled in advance, in fact, there are indeed many people who resist being recalled, stay in the United States and insist on not returning, and some children have died of illness because of physical weakness, which has gone to 26 people, and 9 people have been recalled separately long ago because of lack of discipline.