Fujian is a famous hometown of overseas Chinese. For thousands of years, millions of Fujian people have drifted across the sea and scattered around the world like dandelions. They and their descendants worked hard for their lives, staged a legend full of blood and tears, and walked out of many outstanding figures with successful careers. For example, the character we're going to mention.
His name is Lin Wenqing.
Mr. and Mrs. Lin Wenqing
Lin Wenqing's ancestral home is Haicheng County, Fujian Province, and he was born in Singapore in 1869 to an overseas Chinese family. Unfortunately, he lost his mother at the age of 10 and his father at the age of 16 and was orphaned. Fortunately, his grandparents are still alive and take on the responsibility of raising their grandchildren, struggling to pull Lin Wenqing to grow up.
Fortunately, the overseas Chinese in Fujian are very united and have built the Fujian Guild Hall in Singapore, which has an attached school to provide the most basic education for the children of poor overseas Chinese. It was in this school that Lin Wenqing studied the Confucian classics "Four Books" and "Five Classics", and was influenced by traditional Chinese culture. Singapore's official language is English, and Lin Wenqing also mastered English proficiently after studying the Four Books and the Five Classics.
Old photos of Singapore
Lim Man Ching was smart and studious, and was admitted to the famous Raffles College in Singapore. The students who attend Raffles College are "school bullies". Lin Wenqing is still very eye-catching in this school where "school bullies" are gathered. In 1887, at the age of 18, Lin Wenqing received a Queen's Scholarship and took this scholarship to the University of Edinburgh to study medicine.
Lin Wenqing set his first record in life – he was the first Chinese to receive a Queen's Scholarship scholarship.
A few years later, Lin Wenqing received two degrees, a bachelor's degree in internal medicine and a master's degree in surgery, and was hired by the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom to specialize in pathology.
University of Cambridge, UK
However, Lim was reluctant to work in the UK and chose to return to Singapore.
Back in Singapore, Lin Wenqing opened a clinic to practice medicine. He was a well-versed and dialectical physician who soon became a well-known doctor in Singapore. In 1894, Huang Zunxian, the consul general of the Qing Dynasty in Singapore, personally presented a plaque to Lin Wenqing, which read: "After two thousand years of desperation, insight into the crux of the problem, hand to spring return." ”
In Singapore, doctors are highly respected professions and have a high social status, but Lin Wenqing does not want to work in the doctor's profession for the rest of his life. He had a more ambitious ideal, and he wanted the medical, educational, political, and business circles to make a name for themselves.
Lin Wenqing did what he said.
He co-founded the Straits Chinese Magazine with the famous Singaporean lawyer Song Wangxiang to spread traditional Chinese culture; he participated in the establishment of Singapore's first girls' school, the Chinese Girls' School; he spearheaded the cutting of braids and launched the braid-cutting campaign among the Chinese to oppose vices such as women's foot binding and opium smoking; he co-founded the Emperor Edward VII Medical College (now the Singapore Medical College); he devoted himself to active political activities, serving as a Chinese member of the Singapore Legislative Yuan, a member of the municipal government, and an adviser to the Ministry of The Interior. Vice President of Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce; he has founded Singapore Chinese Commercial Bank, Hefeng Bank, Overseas Chinese Insurance Company, etc.
Lin Wenqing also introduced Brazilian rubber to Singapore, Malaysia and other places for planting, and achieved success. It was under the influence of Lin Wenqing that another Fujian overseas Chinese, Mr. Chen Jiageng, threw himself into rubber planting and became the famous "rubber king". Chen Jiageng honored Lin Wenqing as the father of Nanyang Rubber.
Chen Jiageng
Chen Jiageng is a patriotic overseas Chinese who strives to repay Sangzi after his career is successful. In 1921, Chen Jiageng founded Xiamen University and hired Deng Cuiying, counselor of the Ministry of Education, as the first president of Xiamen University. Due to the great differences between Chen Jiageng and Deng Cuiying on the concept of education, coupled with Deng Cuiying's reluctance to give up his position in the Ministry of Education, the cooperation between the two was not pleasant. Deng Cuiying served for less than half a year before resigning. At this time, Chen Jiageng thought of Lin Wenqing, and sent several telegrams to Lin Wenqing in succession, inviting him to become the president of Xiamen University.
In June of that year, Lin Wenqing returned to Fujian and became the president of Xiamen University. After that, Lin Wenqing served as president of Xiamen University for 16 years.
Lin Wenqing has studied in well-known universities in the UK and participated in the establishment of universities in Singapore, and has rich experience in running schools. He believes that in order to make Xiamen University a first-class university, it is necessary to hire a group of well-known professors with real talent and practical learning. To this end, Lin Wenqing hired Lin Yutang, a fellow villager in Fujian, as the dean of literature, and through Lin Yutang's connections, he was hired to teach at Xiamen University such as Lu Xun, Gu Jiegang, Sun Fuyuan, Shen Jianshi, and so on. Xiamen University was full of talents for a while and had a famous school style.
Xiamen University
Xiamen University was founded by Chen Jiageng, and almost all of the funding comes from Chen Jiageng's company. For a period of time, the world economic crisis broke out, and the price of Nanyang rubber plummeted, resulting in difficulties in the operation of Chen Jiageng Company, which affected the financial investment of Xiamen University. Lin Wenqing had to return to Singapore and raise funds for the school. He himself invested all his salary plus his wife's private money into Xiamen University.
With the full support of Lin Wenqing, Xiamen University has survived the most difficult time.
Lin Wenqing is committed to the development of Xiamen University, and has successively added departments of engineering, journalism, law, medicine and other departments, becoming a comprehensive university with 21 departments in all 5 colleges.
In 1937, when Chen Jiageng donated Xiamen University to the Nationalist government and changed it into a national university, the 68-year-old Lin Wenqing resigned as president. He was succeeded by Dr. Saben Dong, a renowned physicist and professor at Tsinghua University.
Although Lin Wenqing is no longer working at Xiamen University, he is still concerned about the development plan of the school. On January 1, 1957, Lim Man Khanh died of illness in Singapore at the age of 88. On his deathbed, Lin Wenqing made a will to donate 60% of his real estate and 51 acres of private land on Gulangyu Island to Xiamen University.
For a long time, though, Xiamen University didn't have any memorabilia about Lin Wenqing. The figure who had been the president of Xiamen University for 16 years disappeared out of thin air. It was not until 2005 that Xiamen University quietly built a "Wenqing Pavilion" in a corner.