留學教育先驅容閎
Yung Wing, born at Nanping,Xiang Shan County (presently Zhuhai City) in Guangdong province, studied in Robert Morrison's missionary schools as a boy. In 1847,sponsored by some American and English men then living in Hong Kong, he went to the United States. In 1850, Yung Wing passed his exams and was admitted to Yale College. In 1854, he got his bachelor degree with honors. He was the first Chinese ever to have graduated from an American university.
容閎,廣東香山縣南屏村(今珠海市南屏鎮)人,少年時就讀于羅伯特·馬禮遜開辦的教會學校。1847年,在香港的一些英美人士的贊助下,容閎赴美留學。1850年畢業后考入美國耶魯大學。1854年以優良的成績畢業,獲得文學學士學位。容閎是第一個畢業于美國大學的中國留學生。
Upon graduation from Yale, Yung Wing was offered opportunities to stay in the United States but, urged by his desire to apply what he had learned to the well-being of his motherland, he rejected the offers and returned to China. The stark reality set him worrying about the future of his country and his people. He realized, by the sharp contrast between China and the west, that if China ever hoped to become a powerful and prosperous country, she had to learn from the west.
剛畢業容閎就被邀請留在美國。但為了用自己的知識報效祖國,在愛國之心的驅使之下,容閎毅然拒絕了留在美國, 回到了祖國的懷抱。面對現實,他憂國憂民。對比中西社會,他認識到,要使中國富裕強盛,就必須向西方學習。
He tried to persuade the Qing Dynasty government to send young Chinese to the United States to study Western science and engineering. With the government's eventual approval, he organized what came to be known as the Chinese Educational Mission, which included 120 young Chinese students, to study in the United States beginning in 1872. The Educational Mission was disbanded in 1881 and those student abroad were called back. However, many of the students later returned to China had made significant contributions to China's civil services, engineering, and the sciences.

他努力說服清政府派遣留學生赴美學習西方科學與工程學。清政府最終采納了他的建議,于是容閎組織了 "幼童出洋肄業局"。自1872年起,先后有120名幼童被派往美國學習。但是,1881年,清政府解散了 "幼童出洋肄業局",并召回派出的留學生。雖然這次留學活動未能圓滿成功,但這一批留學生回國后對于中國之現代化均有貢獻。
Besides, Yung Wing realized that it is necessary to introduce advanced technology from the west to develop China's national industry, communications and transportation. At that time Zeng Guofan,busy recruiting people for his westernization drive, issued an invitation to Yung Wing. In September 1863, Yung Wing went to Anqing and joined Zeng in his campaign. Yung Wing suggested to Zeng Guofan that a machinery plant be established and, as his suggestion coincided with Zeng's idea of setting up a modem munitions factory in China, he authorized him with the mission of purchasing machines from abroad. In 1865, Yung Wing bought one hundred sets of machines from the United States, which constituted the bulk of the equipment for Jiangnan General Manufacturing Bureau.
此外,容閎意識到應該引進西方先進技術,發展本國的民族工業、通信及交通運輸業。就在那時,曾國藩為了興辦洋務,廣納人才,并向容閎發出了邀請。1863年9月, 容閎應邀到達安慶,人曾國藩大營。到安慶后,容閎向曾國藩提出了建立機器工廠的建議,這個建議與曾國藩建立近代兵工廠的想法基本一致,曾國藩即授予他出洋購辦機器的全權。1865年,容閎從美國訂購回了100多種機器,為江南制造總局提供了主要設備。
In his late years Yung Wing settled in the United States, but his concern for the fate and future of his motherland was as intense as ever. He extended vigorous moral support to the bourgeois revolution under Dr. Sun Yat-sen.
晚年,容閎定居美國,但他對于祖國的命運與前途依然極為關注。對孫中山領導的資產階級革命運動,他給予了極大的支持。
In 1876, Yale University awarded Yung Wing an honorary doctorate in law to commend him for his tremendous contribution to the cultural exchange between China and America. A public elementary school in Chinatown in New York City is named after Yung Wing.
1876年,耶魯大學授予容閎榮譽法學博士學位,以表彰他對中美文化交流所做出的巨大貢獻。位于美國紐約市唐人街的公立容閎小學也是為紀念容閎而命名的。