After these investigations, Japan realized that education was fundamental. An educational system modeled on that of Europe was set up by the state fund. In 1886, the schooling rate of Japanese children was 46% and in ten years it reached 95%. Japan soon rose to a nation with the highest literacy rate in the world. In the following decades, well-educated Japanese continuously joined the army, factories, companies and government bodies. Japan was on a rapid rising course.

At that time, the Sino-French war and the Sino-Japanese crisis in Korea forced the Qing Dynasty to accelerate its reforms in naval defense.

The Beiyang Navy officially came into being in 1888. This was the first fleet equipped with western armament and staffed by returnees from America. A group of students back from Europe became captains of the Beiyang Navy 's main warships. Numerous boy students took key posts including first mates and artillery officers. According to Young J. Allen's statistics: in 1888, China's navy ranked number 8th in the world, while Japan's only ranked 16th.

The founding of the Beiyang Navy and the rapid increase in naval defense development raised the demand for fuel and transportation, which spurred the mining and railway industry. Once rejected, now these industries were going on swiftly. Every bit of progress made by the Westernization School would push the Chinese boy students to the very front of reform.

In 1887, Zhan Tianyou went up to Tianjin. After graduating from Yale's civil engineering department}, he learned how to sail at Foochow Shipbuilding College. Now he would join the construction of railway from Tianjin to Shanhaiguan. He was the first fully qualified railway engineer in China. While Kuang Rongguang, Liang Puzhao, Chen Ronggui and Wu Yangzeng and other boy students went into China's early mining industry and served there for their lifetimes.

In 1886, Wu Yangzeng was assigned to the Kaiping Mining School and was sent by Li Hongzhang to further his studies at the Royal School of Mines in London. While he was in the US, he had studied mining at Columbia University.

Eight years had passed since their return home. They had changed a lot in appearance. Their special experience abroad brought them together to celebrate certain western holidays. They preferred to write to one another in English and call each other by the nicknames they used in the US.

Several years after the boy students came back to China, they reappeared in different parts of the world. Ou Yanggeng, who had graduated from Yale, became Consul General in San Francisco in 1884. Tang Shaoyi, Liang Ruhao, Cai Shaoji and others were appointed to Korea and then became the Staff of Yuan Shikai. Later they were promoted with Yuan Shikai to high positions in the Qing Government.

Liang Cheng, the baseball pitcher of Andover College, went to the US with envoy Zhang Yinhuan in 1887. Fifteen years later, he became an envoy himself in the US.

Some boy students gained aid after they came back to China which enabled them to return to US. Li Enfu was one of them. He went back to Yale. His amazing talent in the English Language was soon discovered. He won the first prize in an English composition contest as a Yale sophomore. Later he showed his linguistic flair in many speech and debate contests. In 1887 He graduated with honors from Yale at the age of 26, and Lothrop Publishing Co., Boston published his book When I was a Boy in China, the first book by an Asian author published in the U.S..

However, Li Enfu chose a life that set him on a troubled course at that time in America. With the Chinese Exclusion Act passed in the US, the country of which he had been so fond now turned into a land of hostility for his country men. Li Enfu decided to use his pen to fight on behalf of the Chinese.

His most well-known article Chinese must stay was directed at an anti-Chinese slogan—'Chinese must go'. He questioned the authenticity of the much flaunted American democracy and pointed out that Chinese workers suffered from unequal treatment, which was against the founding spirit of the country. At the end of the 19th century, Li Enfu exhausted the best part of his life in striving for equal treatment for Chinese in the US. He had lost his marriage and children. In fact, without the support of his motherland, his lonely voice was barely heard. But China was in a perilous situation at the end of 19th century.

In 1886, when the newly-bought ironclads, The Dingyuan and The Zhenyuan, visited Japan, an ironclad phobia pervaded in Japan. Even children played games of catching The Dingyuan and The Zhenyuan. From that point, Japan plotted a grand plan to build up its navy.

In 1893, the mikado decided to appropriate 300,000 Yen to the navy each year.

After these investigations, Japan realized that education was fundamental. An educational system modeled on that of Europe was set up by the state fund. In 1886, the schooling rate of Japanese children was 46% and in ten years it reached 95%. Japan soon rose to a nation with the highest literacy rate in the world. In the following decades, well-educated Japanese continuously joined the army, factories, companies and government bodies. Japan was on a rapid rising course.

At that time, the Sino-French war and the Sino-Japanese crisis in Korea forced the Qing Dynasty to accelerate its reforms in naval defense.

The Beiyang Navy officially came into being in 1888. This was the first fleet equipped with western armament and staffed by returnees from America. A group of students back from Europe became captains of the Beiyang Navy 's main warships. Numerous boy students took key posts including first mates and artillery officers. According to Young J. Allen's statistics: in 1888, China's navy ranked number 8th in the world, while Japan's only ranked 16th.

The founding of the Beiyang Navy and the rapid increase in naval defense development raised the demand for fuel and transportation, which spurred the mining and railway industry. Once rejected, now these industries were going on swiftly. Every bit of progress made by the Westernization School would push the Chinese boy students to the very front of reform.

In 1887, Zhan Tianyou went up to Tianjin. After graduating from Yale's civil engineering department}, he learned how to sail at Foochow Shipbuilding College. Now he would join the construction of railway from Tianjin to Shanhaiguan. He was the first fully qualified railway engineer in China. While Kuang Rongguang, Liang Puzhao, Chen Ronggui and Wu Yangzeng and other boy students went into China's early mining industry and served there for their lifetimes.

In 1886, Wu Yangzeng was assigned to the Kaiping Mining School and was sent by Li Hongzhang to further his studies at the Royal School of Mines in London. While he was in the US, he had studied mining at Columbia University.

Eight years had passed since their return home. They had changed a lot in appearance. Their special experience abroad brought them together to celebrate certain western holidays. They preferred to write to one another in English and call each other by the nicknames they used in the US.

Several years after the boy students came back to China, they reappeared in different parts of the world. Ou Yanggeng, who had graduated from Yale, became Consul General in San Francisco in 1884. Tang Shaoyi, Liang Ruhao, Cai Shaoji and others were appointed to Korea and then became the Staff of Yuan Shikai. Later they were promoted with Yuan Shikai to high positions in the Qing Government.

Liang Cheng, the baseball pitcher of Andover College, went to the US with envoy Zhang Yinhuan in 1887. Fifteen years later, he became an envoy himself in the US.

Some boy students gained aid after they came back to China which enabled them to return to US. Li Enfu was one of them. He went back to Yale. His amazing talent in the English Language was soon discovered. He won the first prize in an English composition contest as a Yale sophomore. Later he showed his linguistic flair in many speech and debate contests. In 1887 He graduated with honors from Yale at the age of 26, and Lothrop Publishing Co., Boston published his book When I was a Boy in China, the first book by an Asian author published in the U.S..

However, Li Enfu chose a life that set him on a troubled course at that time in America. With the Chinese Exclusion Act passed in the US, the country of which he had been so fond now turned into a land of hostility for his country men. Li Enfu decided to use his pen to fight on behalf of the Chinese.

His most well-known article Chinese must stay was directed at an anti-Chinese slogan—'Chinese must go'. He questioned the authenticity of the much flaunted American democracy and pointed out that Chinese workers suffered from unequal treatment, which was against the founding spirit of the country. At the end of the 19th century, Li Enfu exhausted the best part of his life in striving for equal treatment for Chinese in the US. He had lost his marriage and children. In fact, without the support of his motherland, his lonely voice was barely heard. But China was in a perilous situation at the end of 19th century.

In 1886, when the newly-bought ironclads, The Dingyuan and The Zhenyuan, visited Japan, an ironclad phobia pervaded in Japan. Even children played games of catching The Dingyuan and The Zhenyuan. From that point, Japan plotted a grand plan to build up its navy.

In 1893, the mikado decided to appropriate 300,000 Yen to the navy each year.

Editor:Ge Ting