introduction
In the last years of the Qing Dynasty, China can be described as full of devastation and a hundred industries withering, just as Du Fu wrote in "Spring Hope": "The country is broken by mountains and rivers, and the city is deep in spring grass and trees." "Although the kingdom does not lead the country, the people still have to survive. Therefore, in the southeast coastal areas at that time, the lives of the people were very difficult, and they had to cross the ocean to make a living in order to live.
They say they go to work, but most of them are actually sold by human traffickers. Therefore, on the other side of the ocean, they became a special group, and cantonese people called them "piglets". Most of these Chinese who are sold to Southeast Asia, Europe and the United States are engaged in work at the lowest end of the industrial chain, and are a group of squeezed Chinese labor workers. This history can be said to be a modern version of the "slave trade".
▲Old photos of Chinese workers in Europe
01
The person I want to talk about today is also an extremely low-status "piglet seller". However, when he was sold to the United States, he changed from "selling piglets" to "saints" overnight, but after gaining world fame, it was like evaporation in the world, and the world was looking for him for 100 years, and his whereabouts are still a mystery.
The real name of this "piglet seller" is very vague, but because his English name record is: Dean Lung, it is transliterated as Ding Long. According to records, Ding Long was born in Guangdong in 1857, and when he was 18 years old, he was "sold piglets" to the United States and to California to build a railway, just like all people living at the bottom. At that time, the status of Chinese Americans was very low, they were doing dirty work every day, barely enough to feed themselves, and it was impossible to change their status and win respect through labor.
▲Old photos of Chinese workers going to the United States
But in 1901, Ding Long actually donated $12,000 to Columbia University, and also helped Columbia University establish the Department of East Asian Sinology, which specializes in Chinese culture, language and folklore. Importantly, this was the first Sinology department opened at an American university, and everyone in the Republic of China, such as Hu Shi and Tao Xingzhi, had read books here.
What is strange is that how can a Chinese worker come up with a huge donation of $12,000? It is even more bizarre that he could have Columbia University specialize in Chinese. The $12,000 of that year can be said to be a huge amount of money today, which can be regarded as a huge amount of money. How could Ding Long have so much money? In fact, someone helped him.
▲ Ding Long's old photo
02
While building the railroad in California, Ding Long was a servant in the home of Horace Carpentier. However, Carpentier had a bad temper and often cursed the servants. Carpentier, in particular, was often drunk and cursed after drinking, so all his servants were scolded. Later, the servants really couldn't stand him and fled, but Ding Long actually stayed and served him as carefully as before.
Carpentier was confused and asked him, "Why are everyone gone and you not?" Ding Long replied, "I think although you have a strange temper, you are actually not a very bad person." Confucius in China said that people must live with a loyal heart, and since I am with you, I will definitely fulfill my responsibilities to the end. ”
▲ Portrait of Carpentier and Ding Long
To Carpentier's surprise, a servant was shocked and ashamed to have such noble thoughts, and he promised that he would change his bad temper, and from then on, Ding Long became the steward of the rich man. After Carpentier and Ding Long became friends, he always wanted to thank Ding Long for his help and give him some financial help, but he did not expect Ding Long to say sternly: "If this is the case, then you will donate money to the best university in the United States and ask this school to build a department of Sinology, so that more foreigners can understand the real China and Chinese culture." ”
03
So as mentioned earlier, in 1901 Columbia University established the Department of Sinology, Ding Long used $12,000 of his life savings, and Carpentier donated $100,000 under the guise of Ding Long's name, so this department was also called "Ding Long Sinology Lecture". When the news of the establishment of the Department of Sinology at Columbia University was known to the Qing Dynasty at that time, Empress Dowager Cixi immediately donated a total of more than 5,000 books, including the "Integration of Ancient and Modern Books in the King's Republic", worth about 7,000 US dollars; Li Hongzhang and Wu Tingfang, the Qing Dynasty envoy to the United States, also donated to it to a certain extent.
▲ At the entrance of Columbia University
Later, carpentier and Ding Long's friendship grew deeper and deeper. Because of Ding Long's relationship, Carpentier went to China many times to do business. He also donated $25,000 to Boji Medical Hall in Guangzhou. At the same time, Ding Long's behavior was praised by the people of the world, and many people said that he was "the embodiment of Confucius".
epilogue
But Ding Long suddenly disappeared after returning to China in 1906. There is no follow-up record of him in the history books, and no one knows where he went. For more than 100 years, countless historians have wanted to know more about Ding Long, but the world has been looking for him for more than 100 years, and it is still a mystery that no one knows. Although he is a "small person" of the times, Ding Long seems to have turned out to be a move that can promote the course of history, and then mysteriously disappears.
Resources:
"Spring Hope"
Ding Long and the Confucius Institute