My Life in China and America · Chapter
Journey to Peking and Death of My Wife explained
Yung Wing recounts his return to China after the recall of the Chinese Educational Mission, his visit to Li Hung Chang in Tientsin, and his subsequent journey to Peking to report to the government.
What happens
Yung Wing recounts his return to China after the recall of the Chinese Educational Mission, his visit to Li Hung Chang in Tientsin, and his subsequent journey to Peking to report to the government. He describes the harsh conditions of Peking travel and his failed attempt to propose a plan for suppressing the opium trade. After returning to the United States due to his wife's declining health, he details her illness and eventual death in 1886, leaving him to raise their two sons alone.
Themes in this chapter
Education as a Tool for National Reform
Yung Wing reflects on the value of the educational mission and its eventual revival, seeing it as a sign of China's awakening.
Family and Personal Sacrifice
Yung Wing's prolonged absence from his family contributes to his wife's illness and death, and he later dedicates himself to raising their sons.
Corruption and Personal Integrity
Yung Wing's plan to suppress the opium trade is shelved due to lack of suitable men, highlighting bureaucratic obstacles.
Characters to notice
- Yung Wing
Narrator and protagonist; returns to China to report after his diplomatic term, visits Li Hung Chang, and later returns to the U.S. to care for his ailing wife.
- Li Hung Chang
Viceroy Li questions Yung Wing about the recall of the students and expresses his hidden preference to keep them in America.
- Chin Lan Pin
Former minister who preceded Yung Wing in returning to China and supported the recall of the students.
- Woo Tsze Tung
Met with Yung Wing in Tientsin; appeared careworn and was never heard from again after their last interview.
- Tsang Kwoh Fan
Mentioned as the initiator of the Chinese educational scheme in 1870.
- Mrs. Brown
Yung Wing's wife, whose health declines during his absence and who dies of Bright's disease in 1886.
Key passages
“The treatment which the students received at the hands of Chinese officials in the first years after their return to China as compared with the treatment they received in America while at school could not fail to make an impression upon their innermost convictions of the superiority of Occidental civilization over that of China”
The contrast between how the students were treated in China versus America reinforced their belief in Western superiority.
Yung Wing highlights the impact of the students' experiences on their views of reform.
“If I had stood out alone against carrying out the imperial mandate, would not I have been regarded as a rebel, guilty of treason, and lose my head for it?”
Yung Wing explains that opposing the imperial decree would have been seen as treason and could have cost him his life.
He justifies his compliance with the recall order to Li Hung Chang.
“The dust was nothing but pulverized manure almost as black as ink.”
The dust in Peking was essentially ground-up manure, black as ink.
Vivid description of the unpleasant travel conditions in Peking.
“Her death made a great void in my afterlife, which was irreparable, but she did not leave me hopelessly deserted and alone; she left me two sons who are constant reminders of her beautiful life and character.”
His wife's death left an irreplaceable void, but their two sons provided comfort and purpose.
Yung Wing reflects on his loss and the solace found in his children.
