by Laurie Dennis
An activist, an economist, an astronomer and an ambassador. The stories of these four Badgers were the focus of an April 8, 2024, symposium at Memorial Union on the history of the University of Wisconsin–Madison and early Chinese students.
The Center for East Asian Studies worked with UW-Madison Libraries and the University Archives to organize the event, “Chinese Badgers/Badgers in China,” which also included a special exhibit at Memorial Library’s East Asian Reading Room, “Journey Across Cultures: The Saga of Early Chinese Badgers.”
“This is an ongoing and important project for us,” said East Asian Librarian Anlin Yang. “Along with the presentations, we are also working to prepare a digital exhibit about our first students from China.”
A capacity crowd of over 150 attended the symposium. Seated in the front row was a group of 10 descendants of the three featured Chinese students, who traveled from California, Texas, and Canada to learn more about their early 1900s relatives’ connections to UW-Madison.
“I am still processing everything I learned, and I am so inspired,” said Hao Ko, a great grandson of Class of 1912 Badger Wen-Shion Tsu.
Those profiled included:
- Wen-Ying Peng 彭⽂應, Jiangxi Province, 1904–1962, UW Class of 1927, one of three from Jiangxi’s Anfu County who trained in political science at UW and went on to become prominent political activists in China. Peng’s writings and advocacy made him a target of both the left and the right in China, but also helped spread the concept of human rights to Chinese audiences.
- UW–Madison Engineering PhD Xingyu Chen discussed Peng’s political advocacy from the perspective of his own experience on campus in 1989, when he served as the inaugural president of the Chinese Independent Union. Using poetic language, Dr. Chen called Peng’s career “a candlelight in the storm” and said remembering his legacy is a way to “rekindle the candlelight in our hearts.”
- Paul Reinsch, Milwaukee native, 1869–1923, inaugural chair of the UW Political Science Department, and US Minister to Republican China, 1913–19.
- Recent UW graduate and CEAS research assistant Lihao “Billy” Yuan discussed how Professor Reinsch connected promising students in China to the University of Wisconsin, helping turn his alma mater into a top recipient of Chinese students in the 1920s and 30s.
- Wen-Shion Tsu 朱⽂鑫, Jiangsu Province, 1883–1939, UW Class of 1912, active in campus international clubs and a student of mathematics Professor E.B. Van Vleck. Tsu went on to become a pioneer in the use of modern scientific methods to systematically study the ancient history of Chinese astronomy. A minor planet, numbered 300634, was named after him in 2021.
- History of Science PhD student Yu-Hsuan Wang commented on Tsu’s time on campus, including his work at the Washburn Observatory, and remarked on how much he would have appreciated that the April 8 event coincided with a solar eclipse.
- Yuan-Lung Yeh 葉元龍, Anhui Province, 1897–1967, UW Class of 1921, master’s degree in 1922, and recipient of the prestigious “golden key” award from the Artus honorary economics fraternity in Madison. In China, Yeh was a professor of economics in Shanghai and Nanjing, and he was also involved in education reform. Yeh served as president of Chongqing University, guiding the campus through the tumultuous war years of 1938–41.
- History major Zhengzai Pei presented Yeh’s Madison years, when he was among the first Chinese students to study economics, and his career as an educator and economist in China.
During emotional comments at the end of the presentations, Peng’s daughter Zhikang Peng described the persecution her family endured when her father was targeted in the 1957 “Anti-Rightist Campaign.” She presented a wooden tablet carved and inscribed by Wen-Ying Peng shortly before his death, with wording in English about the power of education and the written word in the continuing fight for freedom and democracy. The Peng family donated the tablet and a curated collection of Wen-Ying Peng’s writings to the University Archives.
The Yeh and Tsu families also contributed historical photos and materials to the university and their donations were recognized at the start of the symposium.
Peng’s daughter-in-law, Xilin Li, wrote in Chinese about what the symposium meant to her: “To witness (Wen-Ying Peng) being honored and commemorated in a free and open atmosphere as part of a group of several early alumni, I found this to be a matter of deep significance.”
Recent interest in the history of early Chinese students at UW–Madison started with public history classes on the topic taught by Department of History professors Joseph Dennis and Judd Kinzley, which launched the research and collection of materials. This coincided with the work of Genetics Professor Jerry Yin, former Wisconsin China Resource faculty director, to connect with the archivist at Tsinghua University in Beijing and create lists of students sent from China to study at UW-Madison through the Boxer Indemnity Scholarship Program (established to send students to study in the U.S. as part of the aftermath of the Boxer Rebellion in China). Starting in 1909, the scholarship program made it possible for almost 1,300 Chinese students to attend universities across the United States. UW–Madison was the fourth-largest recipient overall, and the largest among all public universities.
In February 2024, CEAS hired Lihao Yuan for a special project to research both the careers of early Chinese Badgers, and the first UW–Madison faculty in China. Yuan received a Department of History 2023-24 undergraduate writing prize for his senior thesis on how Paul Reinsch’s early Chinese studies at UW–Madison (1900–1913) impacted his diplomatic career in China.
It was through Yuan’s research that the “Chinese Badgers” history project was able to connect with the Peng family, and arrange for a donation of the Wen-Ying Peng papers to the University Archives.
“The whole Peng family worked together to carry out his legacy,” said Yuan, calling the donation a “treasure” for future scholars at UW-Madison. “We need to continue this kind work.”
Relatedly, Dr. Chen concluded his presentation at the symposium by stressing that the stories of early Chinese Badgers “should be told again and again.”
“Their stories are an integral part of the rich heritage of this great university,” Dr. Chen said. “History is again calling for the emergence of leadership to provide vision and resolution for the challenges democracy is facing.”
The history project also reveals the strong intellectual and emotional connections between the United States and China: the Wisconsin Idea became an important driving force in China’s modernization through the efforts of these early Chinese Badgers. In April, Billy Yuan and Atlas Guo, a PhD candidate in the Geography Department, collaborated on a GIS map of the hometowns and biographies of 160 Chinese Badgers from 1907-1920, which visualizes some startling facts: at least 18 Chinese Badgers served as presidents of Chinese universities, and many of the Chinese Badgers were founding fathers of their professions in China.
“You can easily find Chinese badgers at universities, museums and even on the streets of Shanghai today,“ Yuan said. “It’s necessary to work with more Chinese institutions to honor this constructive history between the United States and China. We still have a lot of work to do!”
If you are a descendant of a Chinese Badger, contact the Mendota Project to tell us your story!
A video of the Peng, Yeh and Tsu families at the University Archives: