Obviously, the new commissioner wanted the students to understand that he well understood the changes the students had undergone before he assumed office.

Wu Zideng believed the boys in western coat had gone too far. Measures must be taken to stop the situation from worsening. So Wu ordered a new set of rules to be released.

Rong Hong understood the changes the boys had undergone. He wrote in his biography : Now in New England the heavy weight of repression and suppression was lifted from the minds of these young students; they exulted in their freedom and leaped for joy. No wonder they took to athletic sports with alacrity and delight. The boys took off their robes and boots, and learned boating, skating, dancing, singing, and camping. When they fell in love with the alien culture, they were on the edge of danger.

Rong Kui wrote: A bird born in captivity can not indeed appreciate the sweet odor of the woods; but let it once have free space to exercise its wings, off it flies to where natural instinct leads, choosing rather to suffer the privations of freedom than to enjoy the luxuries of captivity.

Rong Kui publicly announced he had become a Christian and cut off his queue after graduating from Springfield High School in 1880.

On August 24, 1880, Tan Yaoxun’s hostess, Madam Carrington wrote in her diary: Tan came after we were in bed, and had his queue cut.

Cutting off their queues, and becoming Christians were simply taboos. Rong Kui and Tan Yaoxun were recalled before the scheduled time.

The two 17-year old boys ran away when the train reached Springfield. They announced their intention to break away from CEM and stayed in America.

Rong Kui and Tan Yaoxun’s escape in the summer of 1880 alarmed CEM.

On Dec. 17, 1880, Li Shibin, supervisor of the Jiangnan Circuit attacked CEM. He reported that the overseas students were forbidden to join a foreign religion. But more and more of them did. In their letters home, they regretted at not having converted earlier. And that CEC was under loose administration. It needed thorough rectification.

Wu Zideng’s report wrote: ‘alien customs are harmful. The Chinese students studied few Confucian classics. They have loose morality and were thus susceptible to evil habits. They spent more time playing American games than studying. Patriotism dwindled in their hearts as time went by. They would harm instead of benefiting China. Hence even a thorough rectification would do no good. CEC must be closed.’

The future of CEM was dim in the winter of 1880. Rong Hong wrote to his good friend, Rev. Joseph Twichell of the Asylum Hill Congregational Church, asking for help.

Twichell graduated from Yale, was a member of Yale Board of Trustees, and was thus a prestigious figure in educational circles. He contacted almost the presidents of all the universities with Chinese boy students. He asked them to petition the Central Foreign Office of the Qing Government.

The letter written by Porter, president of Yale said: