A TWELVE-MEMBER delegation led by Zhuhai International Culture Association President Huang Xiaodong was in the United States on Dec. 21 for the unveiling of a bronze statue of Yung Wing, the first student from China ever to graduate from an American university.
    The municipal government of Zhuhai, Yung Wing's hometown, donated the statue. And the dedication, which this reporter from the Zhuhai Daily was privileged to attend, was part of the university's celebration of the 150th anniversary of Yung Wing's graduation from Yale.
    "This is a magnificent day for Yale," said Yale Vice President Linda Lorimer. "Yung Wing is a role model for all our students and all of us today."
    In conjunction with the dedication of the sculpture, Yale University displayed a photographic exhibition prepared by the people of Zhuhai.
    Born in the Nanping area of Zhuhai in 1828, Yung Wing (known locally as Rong Hong) attended the Macao Missionary School under the tutelage of Yale graduate the Rev. Samuel Robbins Brown. At 19, Yung Wing arrived in the U.S. with the Rev. Brown to enroll in the Monson Academy in Massachusetts before entering Yale College. At Yale, he sang in the choir, played football, was a member of the Boat Club and won academic prizes for English composition, before graduating in 1854.
    After returning to China, Yung Wing established the Chinese Educational Mission, through which 120 Chinese students went to the U.S. in the 1870s. Most of these students went on to play important roles in China's modernization.
    Vice President Lorimer opened the unveiling ceremony at Yale University's Betts House. Nearly 100 scholar and student representatives from Yale and journalists from CCTV, China Radio International, Xinhua News Agency, the People's Daily, Phoenix TV, AP, UPI, the New Haven Register, Zhuhai Daily and Zhuhai TV were at the ceremony. Ms Alice Hom, principal of New York City's Yung Wing Public School, also attended.
    Mr. Huang Xiaodong gave a speech in English. Yale College Dean Peter Salovey, Professor Beatrice S. Bartlett of the Yale Department of History, and Association of Chinese Students & Scholars Vice President Huang Cong, also delivered speeches.
    Vice President Lorimer expressed her excitement that the statue would serve as an everlasting landscape on the campus. She said that the university administration is working with architects on the location of the statue and on the design of a base so that every passerby will know the story of Yung Wing. She also announced that a second and larger unveiling ceremony would be held during the opening of the new semester in January.
    "The statue will be a permanent part of our campus so that all of our students and faculty will always remember the legacy of Yung Wing," she said.
    Dean Peter Salovey told the Zhuhai Daily that the ceremony was the most vivid occasion to publicly honour Yung Wing. Ms Leslie Stone, executive director of the Lingnan Foundation, called the statue a combination of Western and Eastern values with Yung Wing's short hairstyle and traditional Chinese attire. It will serve as a very important symbol to remind people of the time Yung Wing spent in the U.S. and the centuries-old tradition of cultural exchanges between China and America, she noted.
    The photographic exhibition sponsored by the Xiangzhou District government of Zhuhai City was showcased in a side room of Betts House. An enlarged photo of Yung Wing in Chinese robe was placed directly opposite the door and a large cake made by Yale with Yung Wing's portrait on it was right in front of it. Alongside the walls to the right and left were the pictures and explanations in both Chinese and English.
    The Zhuhai Daily's special edition -- Our Yung Wing -- and the English Page covering the 150th Anniversary of Yung Wing's Graduation from Yale and the Revitalizing China through Science & Education Conference held in Zhuhai on Nov. 17 and 18 last year were popular with visitors. Inscriptions made by Yale President Richard Levin for the edition last August in Beijing and an autographed letter from Hartford Mayor Eddie A. Perez along with their Chinese translations had been copied from the newspaper for display. Other material provided by Yale included the Chinese and English version of "Yung Wing Biography," newspaper coverage and poster of a speech by Yale Law School Dean Harold Hongju Koh, and "When East Met West" written by Ms Judith Ann Schiff, chief archivist of Yale University Library.

Delegation Meets Hartford Mayor
    THE Zhuhai delegation met Mayor Eddie A. Perez on the morning of Dec. 22 at the City Hall of Hartford, Connecticut. Special Assistant to the Mayor Kelvin Roldan, who had spent three years in China studying Chinese, and Assistant to the Mayor Babatunde Ayinde, who worked as a teacher in China for one summer, greeted the delegation in standard Chinese, which narrowed the gap between people from two different cultures.
    Mayor Perez reported that the City of Hartford -- New England's Rising Star -- was the home of American writer Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens), Harriet Beecher Stowe, the influential antislavery author who wrote Uncle Tom's Cabin, the country's oldest insurance firm, the country's oldest statehouse, and so on.
    The mayor showed great interest in Zhuhai, which boasts a booming economy, beautiful surroundings, state-of-art facilities for Air Show China and international auto and motorbike races, as well as seven university campuses. Likewise, he said, the people of Hartford share precious treasures and public resources such as a library and museum. He expressed full conviction of cooperation between colleges and universities in the two cities.
    Mayor Perez asked Mr. Huang Xiaodong to convey his regards to Zhuhai Mayor Wang Shunsheng. He also accepted the invitation of Mr. Huang Xiaodong to visit Zhuhai at an appropriate time this year.
    The delegation visited the Cedar Hill Cemetery in Hartford guided by Mr. Ayinde in the early afternoon. Ms  Irene McHugh, education and marketing associate at the cemetery, accompanied us during the time we spent at Yung Wing's grave. She has maintained close contact with the descendants of Yung Wing and his wife, Mary Kellogg, and some original letters and materials of the family, she explained.
    The delegation paid tribute with fresh flowers and had a group photo taken at the graveside. With all this done, the delegation headed for the Connecticut Historical Society, not far from the cemetery.
    The delegation was excited upon finding abundant written materials, woodcuts and photos of Yung Wing and some Chinese boy students at the society. "There are costumes the students had worn that are kept in preservation," Mr. David M. Hahn, executive director of the society museum, said. However, we failed to have a look, as the staff in charge of the preservation was on Christmas leave.
    Yung Wing's last residence at 284 Sergeant St. was torn down in the1920s, but is in the same residential area where Connecticut Historical Society Executive Director David M. Hahn happens to live. The former Chinese Educational Commission School built by Yung Wing in 1872 is today a hospital.

Sino-Amerrican Exchanges
    ZHUHAI Yung Wing School established a sister-school relationship with Colebrook Consolidated School in Colebrook, a town with a population of 1,500, on Dec. 21. According to Mr. Bob Grigg, Colebrook's historian, the long-term outlook for the relationship is not only for mutual understanding and student exchanges, but to help students undertake international projects like Yung Wing had done.
    The delegation visited the Bulkeley High School on Dec. 22 when Zhuhai Yung Wing School Principal Ms Chen Qing negotiated with Bulkeley Principal Ms Miriam M. Taylor about cooperating in various ways. The school, with some 1,500 students, enjoys a diversity of dozens of cultures from across the world and 17 languages. The delegation got to know the school through a PowerPoint presentation and a tour and exchanged presents.
    On the morning of Dec. 23, the delegation visited the PS 124 Yung Wing School in New York City and received a warm welcome from Principal Ms Alice Hom and Mr. Samuel A. Cooper, who had served as the first principal of the school for ten years.
    The school was built in 1976 as part of Confucius Square in Chinatown, and has 1,100 students and 37 classes. Principals Chen and Hom signed a sister-school relationship agreement at the reception.
    Principal Hom said that at the Yung Wing School, "Children from Pre-Kindergarten to Grade 5 … strive to achieve high standards of academic excellence." She added that, "We support an inquiry-based, problem-solving approach to learning," and that, "real-world problems are used to challenge students to be critical thinkers as well as to make their learning real, meaningful and purposeful."
    Mr. Liang Qingyin, vice president of Sun Yat-sen University, who also oversees the Zhuhai Campus, explored educational cooperation with Yale University, which initiated in 1984, Bard University, the Lingnan Foundation and the Yale-China Association.              (By Betty Lin)