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60 Chapter 3 Qinghua: The First Joint Experiment  The first Boxer Indemnity remission check was delivered by an American diplomat to Chinese officials in Beijing in January 1909, marking the beginning of the first joint experiment in educational exchanges conducted by the American and the Chinese governments. With hundreds of thousands of dollars in hand, Beijing and Washington worked together to make sure that large groups of qualified students were selected and admitted to colleges and universities in the United States without any incidents. Begun as a training school to prepare Chinese students for education in the United States, Qinghua received the most resources and attention from both the Chinese and the American governments, and sent thousands of Chinese students to the United States for higher education within two decades. Although Qinghua completed its transformation from a preparatory school into a national university and forced Washington out of its direct management at the end of the 1920s, educational exchange programs sponsored by government continued to expand. China and the United States became chief partners in the area of education within a couple of decades. It was during this period when government replaced missionaries and other private institutions as major sponsor, regulator, and supervisor of educational exchange between the two nations. The Indemnity Students Once Washington began to return part of the Boxer Indemnity, the Chinese government had to take concrete steps to select and send students to the United States as it had promised. Concerned more about the possible Americanization of Chinese students, officials in the Ministry of Education insisted that only a limited number of adult students with firm grasp of Chinese literature and language should be sent to the United States for a short period. In sharp contrast, officials in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, led by Liang Dunyan, one of the child students who had studied in the United States in the 1870s, wanted to send Qinghua: The First Joint Experiment 61 a large number of young students who could really grasp the English language and Western learning. With strong resentment toward students returned from Japan, who had usually studied political science and law, Liang and many of his colleagues insisted that students sent to the United States should focus more on science, engineering, agriculture, and business so that they could make real contributions to China’s reform and reconstruction.1 Such deep divisions among Chinese officials made it difficult, if not impossible, for them to work out a plan acceptable to both sides. Impatient with the prolonged debate and inaction among the Chinese officials , William Rockhill decided to intervene. He openly disapproved of the stand taken by officials in the Ministry of Education, urged the Qing Court to accept the plan drafted by the Foreign Ministry as soon as possible, and demanded that he be allowed to become involved in the matter. In a note sent to the Minister of Foreign Affairs in May 1909, Rockhill informed the Chinese government that he had appointed the Chinese secretary of the legation to assist in student selection and other related matters. He also informed the foreign minister that the American government had ordered the Commissioner of Education to help Chinese students in choosing and entering American schools and universities.2 Encouraged by Rockhill, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs went ahead, presenting its draft of the Outline of the Regulations on Selecting and Sending Students to the United States (Qianpai YouMei Xuesheng Banfa Dagang) to the Throne on May 29, 1909. While the Court was still waiting to hear from the Ministry of Education, the American legation sent another note to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in early June, demanding that the Chinese government should begin selecting and sending students to the United States immediately. It warned that further delay would prevent the students from entering American universities in the fall of 1909.3 Under the American pressure, the Ministry of Education finally co-signed the memorandum drafted by the Foreign Ministry and re-presented it to the Qing Court on July 10, 1909. The Outline received approval from the Court on the same day.4 The Chinese plan was succinct and comprehensive. Believing that sending students to the United States was important “not only to express our gratitude to America, but also to train more useful talents for ourselves,” the officials wanted to set up Youmei Xuewuchu, the Office of the China Educational Mission to America (OCEMA), in...

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