An edited version appeared in Asia Times.
“China Comes to MIT” is an
exhibit celebrating the 140-year history of students from China that attended
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. On display at the Maihaugen Gallery in
the MIT Library until November, the exhibit contains an amazing collection of personal
stories of students from China that attended MIT from 1877 to 1931. Along with
individual profiles, the exhibit also explains the circumstances and
developments that led to the special relationship between China and MIT.
Eight of the first nine to
enter MIT from China were members of the Chinese Education Mission, sent by the
Qing government to receive an American college education. The CEM was the
result of Yung Wing’s tireless effort with the imperial court promoting the
idea of exposing China’s youth to western education.
Yung, under the generous
sponsorship of American missionaries, was the first Chinese to graduate from an
American university—Yale, class of 1854. He recognized the value of a western
education in helping China modernize and convinced the government to send young
boys, ages 12 to 15 to live with missionary families in New England and begin
their American education.
The first Chinese student to matriculate
MIT was Mon Cham Cheong in 1877 just ahead of the young men from CEM. Cheong’s
father was a progressive minded, wealthy merchant who sent him to the US under
the guardianship of a similarly wealthy merchant in Boston. Thus Cheong was
also the first self-funded student from China.
In all, stories of 38
individuals were profiled in the exhibit including the bio of the first Chinese
woman to enter MIT. She was Li Fu Lee; she married Kuan Tung (MIT ’27) and
followed him to MIT. She entered as a junior and received an electrical
engineering degree in 1929. There were only 25 women in her class and she was
made chairman of the social committee of the MIT Chinese Students’ Club—already
enough attending to have a club.
The Wong Tsoo story was my
personal favorite. Also known as Wong Tsu, he was among the first batch of
students to graduate from the newly formed department of Aeronautical
Engineering in 1916. Upon recommendations of others at MIT, William Boeing
hired him sight unseen to be his first chief engineer.
In less than a year, Wong had
designed a seaplane that Boeing sold 50 copies to the US Navy and that was how
the Boeing Company got its start as an airplane manufacturing enterprise. (Maybe
this is why as a MIT undergrad, I could always get a summer job at Boeing when
I went home for the summers.)
Wong did not stay in Seattle
very long but went back to China in the latter half of 1917. For services
rendered, Boeing gave him a check for $50.77 as payment in full. The MIT
exhibit picked up the rest of his story.
Upon arrival in China, Wong
began to design and build many more planes while moving his factory several
times to the interior to keep out of the grasp of invading Japanese troops.
Because of the shortage of strategic materials during wartime, he even designed
and built gliders out of bamboo for use as troop carriers.
Wong had a MIT classmate who
shared his passion for aviation and was his partner in operating the first
airplane factory in China. Japanese spies assassinated him and Wong took over
managing the plant and adopted his friend’s son
He shared his enthusiasm for
aeronautics by teaching in Tsinghua’s engineering college where he actively
encouraged promising aeronautical engineers to pursue additional training at
MIT. One of his students was Qian Xuesen, who would later become the father of
China’s rocket science.
The MIT exhibit isn’t just
about individual stories; it’s a comprehensive portrayal of China’s fascination
with practical education available in the west at the turn of the 20th
century. After a century of humiliation at the hands of the western powers in
the 19th century, every aspiring student in China dreamed of
additional training in the west so that they could acquire the skills needed to
modernize China and catch up with the rest of the world.
As pointed out in the
exhibit, “by 1914, engineering had become the favorite field for government
students (i.e., funded by the Chinese government). In the eyes of many,
engineering was not simply a practical skill, but a means of serving the
nation.”
In 1914, MIT had 33 students
from China, more than any other school in America. This tradition continues
today. With a total enrollment of nearly 13,000 undergrad and graduate
students, 30% are international students from over 140 countries. Nearly one
out of every four comes from China; at a total of 888, China has more than
twice the number from second place India.
Professor Emma Teng, head of
MIT Global Studies and Languages, curated this exhibit. It’s obvious that she
has put a lot of thought and energy in assembling the different parts of the
display. The exhibit is a treasure trove of historical information and personal
stories. Not everyone will be able to visit the display but all will be
fascinated by the content of the companion website, www.chinacomestomit.org.
