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Zeng Laishun
Overview
Zeng Laishun (曾來順; 13 September 1826 – 2 June 1895) was a Chinese interpreter, businessman, and educator born in Singapore to a Teochew father and Malay mother. He was among the first Chinese people to study at a Western college abroad, enrolling at Hamilton College in the fall of 1846 — making him the first Chinese college student to study in the United States. Educated by American missionaries of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, he converted to Christianity and was sent to the US in 1843. He left Hamilton without graduating due to a lack of funds, but went on to a distinguished career as a diplomatic interpreter for China’s dealings with Western powers, serving as Chief Private English Secretary to Li Hongzhang.
Relevance to Research
Zeng Laishun’s enrollment at Hamilton in fall 1846 is a singular moment in both Hamilton’s history and the broader history of Chinese-American educational exchange. He is the first Chinese student documented as attending an American college. The Hamilton College Wikipedia article explicitly identifies this fact, and the Wikipedia article on Zeng (a Featured Article) includes an image of Hamilton College circa 1847. His path to Hamilton — arranged by Samuel Wells Williams, a missionary in Guangzhou — reflects the Presbyterian missionary networks that shaped Hamilton’s early student body. He left without graduating due to funding difficulties, which underscores the material constraints faced by international students in the antebellum period. He later returned to the United States in 1872 as part of the Chinese Educational Mission, settling in Springfield, Massachusetts, reconnecting with the American life he had first encountered at Hamilton.
Notes
Role: Hamilton College student, enrolled fall 1846 (did not graduate) Key events:
- Born 13 September 1826, Singapore, Straits Settlements; father was a Teochew migrant from Guangdong, mother was Malay
- Orphaned as a young child; educated by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions
- Sent to the United States in 1843; attended Bloomfield Academy, Bloomfield, New Jersey
- Transferred to Hamilton College, Clinton, New York, in late 1846 — arranged by missionary Samuel Wells Williams; supported by the First Presbyterian Church of Utica for two years
- Did not graduate from Hamilton due to lack of funds; subsequently traveled to China
- Worked as a missionary assistant in Guangzhou; then pursued a trading career in Shanghai
- Hired in 1866 by the Fuzhou government as an English language instructor at the Fuzhou Navy Yard School
- Joined the Chinese Educational Mission (1871), organized by the Qing government to bring 120 Chinese boys to study in the United States; served as interpreter and English tutor under bureaucrat Chen Lanbin and colleague Yung Wing
- Returned to the US in 1872 and settled with his family in Springfield, Massachusetts; delivered public lectures on Chinese society
- Dispatched to Cuba in late 1873 to investigate working conditions of Chinese indentured servants (“coolies”); abruptly recalled to China in early 1874
- Assessed European universities on return journey for future educational missions
- Became Chief Private English Secretary of Li Hongzhang; served as interpreter in diplomatic negotiations with Western powers for two decades
- Died 2 June 1895, aged 68, in Tianjin, China
- Married Ruth Ati (m. 1850); six children
Related Sources
- Wikipedia: Zeng Laishun
- Hamilton College — Wikipedia