Rong Hong museum to educate, incubate, encourage

The best uses of a triplet layout for the proposed Rong Hong museum is being considered at a three-day seminar co-organized by the museum and the Zhuhai Federation of Social Science Circles culminating on Feb 27.

Formally known as the Zhuhai Chinese Overseas Study Museum, it will be dedicated to native son Rong Hong (Yung Wing) (1828-1912), the Forefather of Overseas Study.

The building site is 1 km (about 2/3 mile) from Rong's childhood residence in Nanping Town. It is situated south of Citic Mangrove Bay and north of Huafa Century City alongside the Qianshan River. The seminar, however, is being held in Pingsha Town of Jinwan District where more than a dozen scholars are debating academic plans.

Rendering of Zhuhai Chinese Overseas Study Museum 

The museum layout plan constitutes Rong Hong Square, a building cluster for the museum; China Dream Square for returned overseas Chinese startups; and Rong Hong Avenue for incubators of cultural industry businesses. They are to support western science coming into China and the use of it for national development.

Rong Hong Square will initially hold a structure displaying the scholar's achievements alongside four others highlighting studies in the USA, Europe, Japan, former Soviet Union (Russia), and elsewhere. Another hall will focus on contemporary overseas study.

The second phase will display the development of international study in Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao. And, on the drawing board are exhibition areas featuring international students in China and outstanding female returnees.

Scholars voice opinions [Photos by Cao Yanxing / Zhuhai Daily]

Also proposed are research and big-data centers regarding the overseas study culture. A key municipal project, the entire complex covers 30,000 sq m (35,879 sq yd) with floorage of 23,400 sq m (27,986 sq yd).

The architectural style will complement that of 19th-century Hartford Village, which is now a city and the state capital of Connecticut. The village was where Rong lived for many years and 120 dispatched young students resided. As witness to the first overseas study wave in modern Chinese history, it symbolizes the early-stage development of Chinese studies abroad.

This will be the first-of-its-kind non-state-owned museum dedicated to Chinese overseas study and culture. Admission will be free to the public when it is completed in three years, according to a project head. A joint venture of Zhuhai DCZT Cultural & Creative Industry Park and Shenzhen Poly Culture Investment is responsible for construction.

Rong's name is engraved in national history and to this day his spirit inspires talents to return from abroad. He was the first Chinese student to receive a degree from an American university (Yale College in 1854). The Chinese Educational Mission (CEM) he initiated in 1872 sent 120 youngsters to study in the northeast US, many of whom returned to China to make significant contributions to their homeland. This was the first study-abroad achievement of the late Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).