As expected, these Chinese boys with blue crepe coats, maroon-colored long gowns, silk boots and caps disembarked to be greeted by throngs of curious Americans. The New York Times reported that “the 30 Chinese students who arrived in Los Angeles yesterday were all excellent and capable young ladies and gentlemen”. Apparently the Americans still needed some time to discern the gender of these Chinese kids with long queues!
What intrigued the boys most was the train. At that time the world had not yet seen electric lights, or automobiles. This new means of transportation held the boys spellbound.
The first sight of trains fueled not only curiosity but also ambition in the boys. Six years later, one of them was admitted into the engineering school of Yale. A further 32 years after that, he presided over the construction of the famous Beijing-Kalgan Railway. His name was Zhan Tianyou, a name well-known to every household in China.
Only a few days before, these young students were still marveling at the sight of this new vehicle called ‘train’; now they would travel on the marvel itself.
The year 1872 marked the third anniversary of the Trans-Continental railway. This young republic, founded less than 100 years, fresh from its Civil War and the abolition of slavery, had just plunged herself into a vigorous industrial revolution.
Trains at that time had no dining cars, so passengers had to eat on the platform when the train pulled up. Qi Zhaoxi in his diary translated minute in English as mili which means rice grain in Chinese. He wrote that every time it stopped, the train only stayed for a few mili (rice grains), so they were always fighting to finish their dinner.
In the 1870s, a train journey across the American continent took seven days. On the vast untilled lands of the American west, herds of buffalo could be seen racing across the plains, and bare-back riding Red Indians chasing their wild prey. There was always the risk of countless mustangs or buffalos roaming nearby to run into the train if surprised. But a still greater risk was of the train running into train robbers, such as the notorious James Brothers who still live today in TV shows, movies and novels as legendary figures. Imagine what ill fame could have led to such celebrity! And it was them that our boy students ran into on their train journey across America.
The crisis lasted nearly half an hour. Then we knew the train had been stopped by five bandits who had broken the train’s engine. It was said that a technician was sent to the nearest train station to ask for help through something called a “telegram”.
Many years later, dozens of the Chinese young students would commit themselves to the budding Chinese telegraph service. They would never forget that moment of crisis when they first came to know about the telegram.
The boy students set out from Los Angeles and traveled for seven days till they reached a place called Springfield in Massachusetts. This was the hometown of Reverend Brown who had brought Rong Hong to America, also Rong Hong’s hometown in the United States. Now Rong Hong was right there waiting for them. Appointed Deputy Commissioner of the Chinese Educational Mission by the Qing Dynasty, Rong Hong had arrived in the U.S. three months in advance to arrange for the education and accommodation matters.
On February 17, 1872, Rong Hong wrote to President Porter of Yale University to inform him of the Chinese government’s overseas student project.
In his letter Rong Hong asked President Porter for suggestions on details of accommodation arrangements. In order to expedite the language and culture immersion, it was finally decided that the boy students should be grouped into twos and threes and each group allocated to one of a dozen American families in Massachusetts and Connecticut. This plan was cordially applauded by local American families.
The hostess who welcomed Li Enfu with a warm kiss was Mrs. Vaille. Another boy called Rong Kui joined Li Enfu as Mrs Vaille’s student boarders.
We met the descendants of Rong Kui and Li Enfu in Austin and Buffalo. Their grandfathers had lived with Mrs. Vaille of Springfield. At that time those two young boys in early their early teens had no idea what trials and tribulations were awaiting them, and how their fates would be intertwined with this country.