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Young Shang Him1

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1. c. 1876 (LaFargue Collection)  2. 1883: Teacher, Foochow Naval School (LaFargue's book)  3. 1905 CEM Reunion (LaFargue Collection)  4. 1919 CEM Reunion (LaFargue Collection)  5. 1936 CEM Reunion (LaFargue Collection)

 

Pinyin & Chinese characters Rong Shangqian 容尚谦
Variant Spellings & Other Names Yung Shang Him
Yung Liang
Yung Siang
Captain Yung Leang
“By-Jinks Johnnie”
"Johnnie Liang"2
Other Chinese Name(s) 容良; 容征兰; 容辉山
容辉珊
Detachment 1

 
LaFargue No. 6
Date of Birth 1863
Place of Birth Nanping, Xiangshan County, Guangdong Province
Age at Departure for US 10 (Lunar Calendar)
Date of Death May, 19543
Place of Death Shanghai
Place(s) of Residence in US (1) 1872-late 74: Springfield, MA;
(2) Hartford, CT;
(3) New Haven, CT

American Host Family/ies (1) Dr. A. S. McLean;
(2) Julia and Kate Burbank (Hartford)

School(s), with dates Hartford West Middle Public School;

Hartford Public High School.

Notable Activities/Awards in School  
College/University, with dates  
Notable Activities/Awards in College  
Degree/Diploma Obtained (date)  
First Assignment in China Assigned to Fuzhou Naval School; upon graduation, sent on board Flagship Yang Wu 扬武 for practical training
Later Positions Navy Captain: fought in Sino-French naval battle of the Pagoda Anchorage in 1884, shipwrecked under French shell-fire and narrowly survived by swimming to shore; fought in Sino-Japanese War 1894-5 as captain of cruiser Huan Tai 环泰, Nanyang Squadron; wounded in action; resigned from the Navy after the War.

1899 Served in U.S. Consulate in Guangzhou for 1 yr; taught in a girl’s medical school

1905 hired by Yuan Shikai 袁世凯 as Shipping Manager, then Traffic Manager 车务总管 of Beijing-Fengtian Railway 京奉铁路.
Employment Sector(s) Government: Navy; Railway
Final Rank, if in Gov't Service Military Rank 5th Grade Mandarin

Father's Name Yung Da Miao  容达苗
Mother's Name  
Wife/wives Ms. Yu Hok Lin 余学玲 (niece of Wong Foon 黄宽, former schoolmate of Yung Wing at Morrison Education Society School, Macao & Hong Kong and Monson Academy, MA)
Family Relations w/ other CEM Students Nephew of Yung Wing; younger brother of Yung Shang Kun (Rong Shangqin 容尚勤II, 47); 2nd cousin, once removed, of Young Yew Huan (Rong Yaoyuan 容耀垣III, 66; a.k.a. Rong Kai 容开);  distant cousin of Yung Kwai (Rong Kui 容揆 II, 34).
Children's Names Two sons: Yung Parn and Yung Hung
Descendants Granddaughter: Rong Xiaoqi 容小琪

Great-granddaughter: Lu Yanmeng 陆燕萌, a.k.a. Riku Moeko 陸萌子
Other

Author of The Chinese Educational Mission And Its Influence (创办出洋局及官学生历史); also An Address on The Influence of Dr. Yung Wing on Chinese Development Given at The Shanghai American School by the Author, together with the Autobiography of the Author. Shanghai: Kelley & Walsh, Limited, nd. (Preface dated 28 September 1939).  The first item also published in T’ien Hsia Monthly, 9.3 (Oct. 1939), 225-256.

On June 26, 1936, the Jiaotong University 交通大学 in Shanghai unveiled a bronze plaque depicting Yung Wing in a hall which they named after him.  Also installed were plaques inscribed with the names of the 120 CEM students.  On behalf of the family of Yung Wing and of his CEM fellow-alumni, Young gave a short speech at the unveiling ceremony.4 

Notes and Sources

1. “Young” is probably LaFargue’s error of transcription; Yung himself always spelled his surname “Yung”.

2. Signature in his letters to Woo Yang Tsang (Wu Yangzeng 吴仰曾I, 3) kept in LaFargue (Pullman).

3. Source: Yung's great-granddaughter, Lu Yanmeng, recorded, in Chinese, in interview by a Zhuhai reporter and dated 5 Aug. 2005:『听妈妈讲容尚谦的故事: 访留美幼童容尚谦的曾外孙女陆燕萌』; http://www.zhrh

4.  A Chinese translation of the speech was given in Kao (1986).  Cited from the edition republished in 珠海：珠海出版社 (2006), 87-88.  The original text was not referenced by the translator.

Information also comes from the Yung Family Genealogical Record, rev. 1929 (容氏谱牒), copy courtesy Richard Yung