Che Chiang Liang
SubjectPortrait of
Che Chiang Liang
(Chinese)
PhotographerPhotographed by
Dunne
Date1911
MediumPhotography; gelatin silver print on paper in card folder
DimensionsFolder (height x width closed): 7 × 5in. (17.8 × 12.7cm)
Other (image height x width): 5 × 4in. (12.7 × 10.2cm)
ClassificationsGraphics
Credit LineGift of Roger P. Welles
Object number1974.51.1
DescriptionFull-length studio portrait of a Chinese boy, Che Chiang Liang. He is shown standing at full length, and holds a cap in his right hand, with his left hand in the pocket of his hip length coat. His hair is parted on the right, he wears a high stiff collar and a long tie. He is wearing knee length pants, with black stockings, and black ankle high shoes. Some article, which may be a piece of jewelry, is visibly hanging from under his right lapel, and falling over the breast pocket.
Label TextChe Chiang Liang, youngest son of Tun Yen Liang, a graduate of Hartford Public High School, Yale University, and a student with the Chinese Education Mission, who had been in school with Martin Welles. He came from China in about 1908 or 1909 to live with the Welles family in Hartford, Connecticut, his father wanting Che to have the same opportunity for an American education and home life that he had had. In 1910 Tun Yen came back to Hartford with his family, and traveled to Washington D.C. to work for the U.S. government as assistant secretary of the Board of Foreign Affairs, leaving his 13 year old son in the care of Martin Welles, his close friend from high school and college. After several years in Hartford, Che Chiang did return to China and continued correspondence for several years. The Welles family never heard from him or his family again after the Japanese invaded China before World War II.
The Chinese Educational Mission (1872-1881) in Hartford, Connecticut, was the fulfillment of a dream of Yung Wing. He wanted Chinese youth to study American technology to improve China’s engineering and infrastructure. Yung Wing came to the United States in 1847 to study at Monson Academy in Massachusetts, and at Yale in New Haven, Connecticut. It was upon his return to China that he began planning to Chinese students to America.
A group of thirty students ranging in age from ten to fourteen arrived in Hartford in 1872. They lived with host families, attended local schools, and in the summer studied Chinese classics at the Mission’s headquarters at 352 Collins Street, Hartford. In 1881 the Chinese government recalled the students because they thought they were becoming too Americanized.
The Chinese Educational Mission (1872-1881) in Hartford, Connecticut, was the fulfillment of a dream of Yung Wing. He wanted Chinese youth to study American technology to improve China’s engineering and infrastructure. Yung Wing came to the United States in 1847 to study at Monson Academy in Massachusetts, and at Yale in New Haven, Connecticut. It was upon his return to China that he began planning to Chinese students to America.
A group of thirty students ranging in age from ten to fourteen arrived in Hartford in 1872. They lived with host families, attended local schools, and in the summer studied Chinese classics at the Mission’s headquarters at 352 Collins Street, Hartford. In 1881 the Chinese government recalled the students because they thought they were becoming too Americanized.
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