Present Conditions in China 



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1875. He is now a member of the Board 

 of Foreign Affairs and the ruling spirit 

 of that important body. He negotiated 

 with Great Britain the new Tibetan 

 treaty, and has recently been made one 

 of the new customs board, having to do 

 with both foreign and interior taxes. 

 The Empress Dowager, to signalize her 

 appreciation of his talent and services, 

 has conferred on him a high rank, never 

 before bestowed on any but Manchus of 

 the highest order. Dr Morrison, the 

 well-known correspondent of the London 

 Times, in a late dispatch pays a high trib- 

 ute to his capacity and uprightness: 



Another of the American students of 

 the seventies is the present Imperial 

 Minister Plenipotentiary to the United 

 States, Sir Chentung Liang Cheng. It 

 is no flattery to say that the Chinese Em- 

 pire has never before had so able a repre- 

 sentative in Washington, a cultivated 

 gentleman and one who appreciates the 

 friendship and good will of the govern- 

 ment and people of the United States. 

 Others of the American students of that 

 period are also filling high places in the 

 Empire. 



For the past twenty years the Chinese 

 students in American schools and col- 

 leges have been numbered annually only 

 by the scores when they might have been 

 by the hundreds or even thousands. 

 Until President Roosevelt issued his 

 order in June of last year, putting an 

 end to the harsh measures of the Immi- 

 gration Bureau, it was almost impossible 

 for a Chinese youth to secure admission 

 to the United States to pursue his educa- 

 tion. We can only conjecture what 

 might have been the influence on the 

 destiny of that great people if the prac- 

 tice of sending students to America by 

 the Chinese government thirty years ago 

 had not been discontinued. 



FOREIGN DIPLOMAS WELCOMED 



One of the influence? which has de- 

 terred students from going abroad has 

 been the practice of not crediting them 

 with the education thus acquired, but of 

 compelling them on their return to take 



up the antiquated Chinese studies and 

 spend years in preparing to pass the com- 

 petitive examination which was required 

 for admission to the lowest ranks of the 

 public service. An imperial edict, how- 

 ever, was issued last year which recog- 

 nized the value of foreign education to 

 Chinese officials by conferring on quite 

 a number of students lately returned 

 from Japan the examination degrees and 

 appointing them at once to official posi- 

 tions. But a still more important step 

 in this direction was taken two months 

 ago. All Chinese holding foreign di- 

 plomas were invited by the board of edu- 

 cation to submit themselves at Peking 

 for examination in the subjects they had 

 studied abroad, and similar examinations 

 are to be held hereafter annually. A 

 large number responded, of whom 42 

 were admitted, 23 with Japanese degrees, 

 17 with American, and one each with 

 English and German. They were al- 

 lowed to use either Chinese or a foreign 

 language. The London Times corre- 

 spondent reports that 9 were granted the 

 degree of Chinese doctorate, 23 that of 

 master of arts, and 10 were rejected. It 

 is interesting to note that of the 9 

 doctors 8 had studied in the United 

 States, the highest being a graduate of 

 Yale, and it is reported that "those who 

 had studied in the United States proved 

 themselves superior to all the others." 

 The successful candidates were to have 

 the high honor of being received by the 

 Emperor, and their way is opened to the 

 government service. It is gratifying to 

 learn that graduates of the mission col- 

 leges in China were admitted to these 

 examinations. 



These measures and the encourage- 

 ment of the imperial and provincial gov- 

 ernments to study abroad have given a 

 great impetus to the exodus of Chinese 

 students to foreign lands. The im- 

 perial government has directed that the 

 students in the different countries be 

 placed under the care of the respective 

 diplomatic representatives, and in execu- 

 tion of this duty Sir Chentung Liang 

 Cheng assembled all the Chinese stu- 



