Fifty thousand Chinese students now come to Britain each year, but the first Chinese student to graduate from a British university was a young man called Wong Fun who received his MD in 1855 from Edinburgh. He marked the beginning of a steady flow of students from China, encouraged by educational reformer Zhang Zhidong who believed Western learning was needed to reverse China’s fortunes and help it to catch up with the West. Many Chinese graduates did indeed return to make a significant contribution to their country, but some stayed.
Artist Pamela So describes how her father became one of the first Chinese doctors trained in Britain to join the new NHS. He was unable to pursue his preferred career in obstetrics and gynaecology because of the taboo against foreign doctors having intimate contact with European women – so he became an ear, nose and throat surgeon in Glasgow instead.
Many of the Crescent Moon literary group spent time in British universities in the early 1920s, for example poet Xu Zhimo (1896-1931) the romantic Chinese poet who stayed at Cambridge, and essayist Chen Xiying, who studied at the LSE.
Further reading
Western Learning for Practical Application Chinese Students in Scotland 1850- 1950, Dr Ian Wotherspoon in SINE (Journal of the Scotland-China Association), Issue 2/2004, Scotland-China Association, Edinburgh
Music used in the opening sequence of this programme in Edinburgh is the China Set by The Whistlebinkies, a traditional Scottish music ensemble with a long interest in Chinese music and instruments.
_________________________________ YOUR COMMENTS
A wonderful series! But, surely this 'audio-series' had more than enough general interest and diverse materials to be given the full 'visual-TV series' treatment from the BBC. Good work! And much overdue too! It's about time the Chinese community's contribution to the UK got the recognition it deserves! Gary Chin
