Hu Shi, leader of the New Culture Movement, Qian Xuesen, the "father of China's missiles," Yang Zhenning, physicist Yang Zhenning, linguist Zhao Yuanren, meteorologist Zhu Kezhen, ye Qisun, Hou Debang, Jin Yuelin, Wu Mi, Mao Yisheng, Wu Youxun, Zhou Peiyuan, Wu Dayu, Zhao Jiuzhang, Ma Dayu, Deng Jiaxian, and a large number of other well-known intellectual elites in China's modern history, all of whom share a common identity as "Gengzi Reparations" American students.
In 1900, Cixi declared war on the Eleven Kingdoms in a daze, which led to the invasion of China by the Eight-Nation Alliance. In September 1901, the Qing Dynasty and the eleven countries reached the "Final Protocol for the Settlement of the 1900 Turmoil", that is, the "Xinugu Treaty", which stipulated that the Qing government should compensate 450 million taels of silver to all countries, with customs duties, salt taxes, etc. as security, and pay it off in thirty-nine years, with interest of four percent per year, and a total of 980 million taels of principal and interest. This money is the "Gengzi indemnity".
In 1908, the U.S. Congress passed a bill authorizing President Roosevelt to refund the portion of China's "Gengzi Indemnity" that exceeded the actual losses of the United States, use the money to help China run schools, and subsidize Chinese students to study in the United States. The two sides agreed to establish Tsinghua Xuetang, and since 1909, China has sent 100 students to the United States every year. This is the origin of the students who later studied in the United States.
From 1909 to 1929, Tsinghua School sent 967 graduates from the Preparatory Department for Studying in the United States, 104 students from 1929 to 1932, and more than 1,000 students went to the United States.
Gengjian students have played a great role in laying the foundation for China's modernization and laid the foundation for China's modernization. Their fields include not only science, industry, and engineering, but also industry, agriculture, medicine, business, finance, journalism, humanities and social sciences, education, and diplomacy.
In view of the great contribution of the International Students of Geng, two very different voices have emerged.
One thinks that the United States should be thanked, and the United States is The benefactor of China. The most representative is the writer's view of Quicksand River, "My experience has taught me that Americans are our best friends, and Chinese the only good friends in the world are Americans." In 1900, the Eight-Power Alliance entered Beijing, and the next year Gengzi paid reparations, and only one of the great powers got this money and did not move, that is, the United States. Later, it was returned to us in various ways, one of which was called Gengqian International Students, and it was also used to subsidize our university..."
There is also a diametrically opposed view that the refund of funds or the training of international students is a conspiracy of the United States, a cultural invasion, and a means of cultivating agents. In 1908, Zhang Taiyan published "The Disease of the Qing-US Alliance" in the "People's Daily", saying that "the return of the United States to the old age is also a long-term strategy for encouraging China to develop its studies."
We must be clear that the United States is also a member of the Eight-Power Coalition invading China, and the nature of the refund of reparations belongs to the nature of "robbers returning stolen goods", robbing us of our money and then returning it to us. "Gengzi reparations" is a national shame, the Tsinghua Xuetang established by the "refund school", was once called the "reparations school", in 1928 Tsinghua Student Union in a public "declaration", said, "Tsinghua for the United States to return Gengzi reparations to run the school, the significance is to commemorate the national shame, the mission is to save talent for the country." ”
The first thing to thank is the Chinese people. At the end of 1904, the "Sino-AMERICAN Association Made a Clause Restricting Chinese Workers Coming to the United States to Protect Chinese In the United States" was signed, and the news of discrimination against Chinese in the United States returned to China. In 1905, a large-scale anti-American movement broke out in China, and people from all walks of life in many trade cities such as Shanghai boycotted American goods, which sharply reduced U.S. exports to China and hit the American market in China hard. U.S. Minister to China Jouka asked Roosevelt to return the balance so that Chinese felt that the Americans were friendly to Chinese.
We should also thank Liang Cheng, the then ambassador to the United States. In 1908, when Liang Cheng discussed the payment of Gengzi's indemnities with the US Secretary of State John Hay, John Hay inadvertently revealed a sentence: "The Gengzi indemnity case is really too much." After liang cheng caught this news, he lobbied the US Congress and its members to let the United States return the false compensation. Liang Cheng's active efforts contributed to the U.S. decision to return.
The return of the refund by the United States is worth affirming, after all, objectively a large number of talents have been cultivated for China, but what a big fanfare to say thank the United States, a bit of putting the cart before the horse, what is the national shame to show off! Another extreme view should also be rejected, saying that the United States retreats or has sinister intentions, cultural aggression, means to control China, and cultivate agents, which is a typical conspiracy theory.
The United States refunds the reparations to train international students, which is not so much a cultural aggression as a cultural strategy. The United States uses cultural "soft power" as a special policy tool and exerts its influence in international political relations, becoming a more important and powerful penetration tool for the United States to cross obstacles. Culture is the carrier of national interests, an indispensable and important part of American expansionist diplomacy, and the embodiment of American values.
In 1908, the number of Chinese students studying in the United States did not exceed 300, but the number of Chinese students studying in Japan was nearly 10,000. James, the president of the University of Illinois, submitted to Roosevelt at the beginning of the year a memorandum on sending educational missions to China, disturbing the large number of Chinese students studying in Japan at that time, and once these students returned from Japan, they would advise China to emulate Japan, and the results would be incompatible with the ultimate strategic goals of the United States and the interests of China.
"If China is to reap the greatest possible benefits in business, knowledge, and spirit, then the country must succeed in educating the younger generation of China," he said. If the United States succeeded in attracting Chinese students and developing them further years ago, then this culturally american way of controlling China is undoubtedly the most ingenious." "We can keep Chinese workers from entering, but we must be kind to Chinese students."
"This moral influence can be multiplied, even from the point of view of pure materiality, than by other means." "Whichever country can successfully educate this generation of Chinese youth, which country will reap the greatest rewards in both spiritual and commercial terms." If the United States had succeeded 35 years ago in attracting and growing China's study abroad stream, we would have been able to control China's development in the most complete and ingenious way possible, that is, by manipulating China's leaders intellectually and spiritually. ”
"Morality and spirit will more powerfully dominate America's lasting commercial profits than the military flag."
On March 6, 1906, the American missionary Ming Enpu went to the White House to pay tribute to President Roosevelt. He suggested that the president refund a portion of the Chinese Qing government's Gengzi reparations to run and subsidize schools in China. In 1907, Ming Enpu published the book "China and the United States Today", in which he pointed out that more Chinese intellectuals should be allowed to study in the United States.
A university president, a missionary, all value the role of education, and that's the American value.
Any country in the world serves its own national interests, and the United States is no exception. The clever thing about the United States is that instead of competing for land wealth, it is better to compete for people's hearts and minds, and education is the best way to repay the country. Export culture, export education, export values, this is the reason why the United States is strong. In a poem inscribed in the booklet for the fortieth anniversary of the founding of Jinling University, Hu Shi wrote: "If the US policy toward China is 'cultural aggression,' I will shout 'welcome.'"
Today's Tsinghua University is still a preparatory school in the United States, and the graduated high-quality students are rushing to the United States, is it not worth our reflection? Instead of scolding The American cultural aggression, think more about Qian Xuesen's question.
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