On this day, 197 years ago, November 17, 1828 (October 11, 1828, the lunar calendar) was the birthday of Rong Hong, a reformist in early modern China. November 17, 1828 was Rong Hong's birthday (1828~1912). A reformist in early modern times in China, a pioneer in the cause of international students in China. The word Dameng and the name Chunfu. Born in Anqing, Anhui Province, he was born on November 17, 1828 and moved to Xiangshan, Guangdong Province (now Nanping Town, Xiangzhou District, Zhuhai City). Enter the Morrison School in Macau less often. In the twenty-seventh year of Daoguang (1847), he went to the United States to study. Later, he was admitted to Yale University and graduated with honors in 1854 (the fourth year of Xianfeng). He became the first China student to graduate from an American university, and later became an American citizen. He returned to China in the fifth year of Xianfeng (1855). He served in the U.S. Legation in Guangzhou, the Hong Kong High Court, Shanghai Customs and other offices, and later ran the silk tea business for Shanghai Baoshun Foreign Exchange. After working in a foreign firm, he started his own business and devoted himself to the Westernization Movement of learning from the barbarians and self-improvement. Out of sympathy for the Taiping Rebellion, from 1860 to Tianjing, the capital of the Taiping Rebellion (now Nanjing, Jiangsu), he proposed seven suggestions to Hong Renzhen, including organizing a good army, establishing a military academy and a naval academy, establishing an effective government, and enacting an education system. However, he "didn't dare to believe that it would succeed" and firmly refused to accept the appointment of the Taiping Rebellion. In the same year, Rong Hong traveled to Jinling with two American missionaries and had a positive contact with the Taiping Rebellion Movement, which was described in detail in his autobiography "The Introduction of Western Learning to the East". In the second year of Tongzhi (1863), he was appointed by Zeng Guofan to purchase machines from the United States to prepare for the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau. After returning to China, Jiangsu was alternate with the same knowledge. In 1865, he went to Tianjing, the capital of the Taiping Rebellion (now Nanjing, Jiangsu). In 1868, four rules focusing on selecting young children to study abroad were proposed to the Qing government. In 1870 (10th year of Tongzhi), he was appointed as a vice member of the "Bureau for Young Children Going Abroad" and served as a deputy supervisor of the Overseas Study Office. In 1872, he was ordered to lead 30 students to study in the United States. He served as student supervisor and concurrently served as deputy envoy to the United States. He was stationed in the United States for a long time. Historically, it was called the "Movement of China Young Children Studying in the United States"(1872-1881). In 1875 (the first year of Guangxu), he served as deputy minister to the United States, Spain, and Peru until 1881, when the Qing government withdrew overseas students. Disappointed with the Westernization Movement, he lived in the United States again from 1882 to 1894. During the Sino-Japanese War of 1894 in the 20th year of Guangxu (1894), Sun Yat-sen was introduced to write a letter to Li Hongzhang. He also proposed to Zhang Zhidong a plan to raise funds and purchase ships to fight against Japan in the long term. During the Reform Movement of 1898, he had close exchanges with the reformists in Beijing. After the failure of the reform, he avoided living in the Shanghai Concession for twenty-four years to participate in reform and reform activities and fled Beijing. In 1900, Tang Caichang's Self-reliance Association was renamed the "National Assembly of China" in Shanghai and was promoted as its president, and was responsible for drafting an English external declaration. When the self-reliance army uprising was suppressed, he was wanted by the Qing government and fled into exile in the United States. Later, he still contacted various reform forces in the country and gradually supported Sun Yat-sen's revolutionary activities. In January 1912, he sent a letter to congratulate Sun Yat-sen on his appointment as interim president of the Republic of China. On April 12, he died of illness in Hartford, Connecticut, USA. Please remember that on this day in 1847, he came to the United States by sea. Rong Hong wrote his memoirs "The Introduction of Western Learning to the East"(the original was in English, titled My Life in China and America), which was reprinted by Hunan People's Publishing House in 1981 and 1985 based on the 1915 Chinese translation by the Commercial Press (translated by Yun Tieqiao and Xu Fengshi), and included in "Going to the World Series". Comments: China was a reformist in early modern times and a pioneer in the cause of international students in China.