Dismissed by the government after being captured and released by Japanese in the War of 1894, Cai Tinggan was another boy student to be employed by Yuan Shikai. At school, he was nicknamed Cranky Chinese for his bad temper. In Tianjin, he was famous for improvising highly amusing speeches in excellent English. His translation of Tang poems in Tang Dynasty was even got published in the U. S. Cai was one of the most favored staff onf Yuan Shikai’s staff.

In 1903, the Tianjin Chinese-Western School became the Northern Navaly Academy. Cai Shaoji , a Yale graduate, got increasingly involved in it, later became the first boy student to serve as a university president.

During the time of Yuan Shikai’s reforms, the post of the Circuit Superintendent of Tianjin Customs was taken consecutively by four former Boy Students, Tang Shoyi, Liang Dunyan, Liang Ruhao and Cai Shaoji. Yuan Shikai employed many veteran boy students in the the late Qing Dynasty.

On October 24, 1906, Zhan Tianyou wrote in a letter to his former hostess {Mrs} Northrop: (soundtrack cuts in here.)

The test was actually the new examination adopted one year earlier. In 1905 the Imperial Examinations, already 10 centuries in practice, were abolished after more than 10 centuries in practice. Previous academic titles such as Provincial Graduate and Metropolitan Graduate were goinwould g to be given to foreign graduates who passed the exams. Tang Shaoyi was appointed the Chief Examiner. Zhan Tianyou and Yan Fu was named as the deputy examiner, educated at Foochow Shipbuilding College and once studied in Britain, were the deputy examiners.

The abolishment of the Imperial Examinations and the conferral of titles to on overseas graduates prompted more students to be sent abroad. From of 1881, when the first boy students sent abroad were recalled to 1894, the governmentally- funded overseas study was had been almost completely halted.

The complete defeat of China in the war of 1894 to by Japan, a foe long despised, shocked even the most conservative bureaucrats in China. Many officials submitted sorrowful reports and proposals. The issue of revisiting the West and sending students abroad was therefore brought up once again.

Immediately following the signing of the humiliating Treaty of Maguan in March 1896, the first group of 13 students to Japan embarked on their journey.

Ten years later, Japan officially declared that the number of Chinese students in Japan had reached 17,860.

When Zeng Guofan and Li Hongzhang were had been recruiting students to study in the U. S. thirty years earlier, none of the Manchu aristocratic children applied. Now the situation seemed to change overnight. Under the decree of by the Empress Dowager Cixi that called for applications for studiyes abroad from noble clans, children of high birth were scrambling for a chances to go abroad, each with their own team retinue of servants.

With the persistent efforts by of Liang Cheng, once a Boy Student and now the Chinese Ambassador to the United States, the U.S. government agreed to return 10 million US dollars, unduly paid by China as the an indemnity for the Boxer Rebellion. The money would then be used to reactivate the sending of Chinese students to the U. S. after years of suspension.

The Imperial Household Department of the Qing administration granted Tsinghua Garden, a royal property, as the preparatory school for students shortlisted for study in the U.S. Tang Guo’an, a Yale alumnusi, was appointed as the director of the school and continued to lead its successor in under the new name of Tsinghua School.

In 1909, the first group of Chinese students funded with American repayment indemnities were escorted aboard by Tang Guo’an. Interesting enough, they took the same route on their journey after San Francisco as their predecessors did had 40 years earlier. The train took them all the way through the North American continent, and brought them to the warm greetings welcome of Rong Kui, a runaway Boy Student, in at their final stop, Springfield, Massachusetts. Once again, Chinese students attended the Ivy League schools all over New England.

The railroad Zhan referred to was the well known Beijing-Kalgan Railway. When the news spread that the Qing administration was preparing for the project, the British as the biggest foreign {presence} in China competed with Russia north to of China. After many bitter fights, an agreement was finally reached that both parties would not interfere if the Qing administration could independently complete the project without foreign aid. They believed that China would turn to them for help in the end.