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Young Yew Huan1

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 1. As a student
Pinyin & Chinese characters Rong Yaoyuan 容耀垣
Variant Spellings & Other Names Yung Sing Kew
Yung Hoy
Hoy Yung
Other Chinese Name(s) Rong Xingqiao 容星桥
Rong Kai 容开
Rong Daijing 容达景

Detachment 3
LaFargue No. 66
Date of Birth 12 May 1865
Place of Birth Xiangshan (Zhongshan), Guangdong
Age at Departure for US 10 (Lunar Calendar), 9 (Western Calendar, by birth date)

Date of Death 7 May 1933
Place of Death Shanghai
Place(s) of Residence in US (1) West Winsted, CT
(2) New Britain, CT
(3) Northampton, MA2

American Host Family/ies (1) Mrs. William S. (Ellen Amanda Griswold) Phillips, West Winsted, CT;
(2) John Newton Bartlett, New Britain, CT3;
(3) Martha Ely Matthews, Northampton, MA2

School(s), with dates West Winsted School (?)4
Hartford grammar school (?)

Notable Activities/Awards in School  
College/University, with dates Yale, Sheffield Scientific School (1880-81)5

Notable Activities/Awards in College  
Degree/Diploma Obtained (date)  
First Assignment in China Assigned to Tianjin Naval Academy

Later Positions 1882: joined Imperial Navy;

1885, April: following memorial to the Throne by Li Hongzhang it was recommended that Yung Hoy be promoted from Jungong 军功 to Bazong 把总;

Ca. 1886: visited Japan as naval officer; soon afterwards resigned Navy, went into tea business;

1891: began association with Sun Yat-sen;

1895: joined “Revive China Society” (Xingzhong Hui) 兴中会 in Hong Kong;

1890s: worked as comprador, then a partner, for Russian-owned Shunfeng Tea Company 顺丰茶行;

1899: assigned by Sun Yat-sen as person in charge of Hunan and Hupei revolutionary activities, in “Independence Army” (Zilijun) 自立军 movement;

1900 August: blacklisted for participation in revolutionary plot, but escaped to Shanghai, then to Japan; in September, returned to Hong Kong;

1900s: took various jobs in Hong Kong, including manager of department store; on staff of China Daily News (Zhongguo Ribao) 中国日报;

1905: joined “United League of Revolutionaries” 中国革命同盟会, and a Fund-raising Committee Member 筹款委员 before 1911 Revolution;

1911 October: appointed Senior Advisor 高等顾问 to Sun Yat-sen and Deputy Chief, Bureau of Transport 通司副司长 in Guangdong Military Government;

Ca. 1913: returned to private sector; became manager of Chinese Siam Steamship Company 华暹轮船公司 for about 10 years;

1921: raised over 12,000 yuan to renovate Zhenxian School 甄贤社学 in Nanping (now part of Zhuhai 珠海市) into a modern primary school6;

1922: during artillery attack on Sun Yat-sen’s headquarters in Canton, appointed commissioner of military funds 筹饷委员;

1920s: went into semi-retirement;

1929: returned to politics as member of “Committee for Implementing Tutelage Politics in Zhongshan” 中山训政实施委员会, chaired by Tong Shao Yi (Tang Shaoyi 唐绍仪 III, 61), but soon retired to private life again.

Employment Sector(s) Business/Journalism/Revolutionary Organization/Government

Final Rank, if in Gov't Service  
Father's Name Rong Mingyan 容名琰
Mother's Name Yang 杨氏
Wife/wives Kwan Yuet-ying (Guan Yueying) 关月英, younger sister of wife of Won Bing Chung (Wen Bingzhong 温秉忠 II, 36).

Family Relations w/ other CEM Students Second cousin of Yung Wing; second cousin, once removed, of Yung Shang Kun (Rong Shangqin 容尚勤 II, 47) and Young Shang Him (Rong Shangqian 容尚谦 I,6); distant cousin of Yung Kwai (Rong Kui 容揆 II, 34); brother-in-law of Won Bing Chung (Wen Bingzhong 温秉忠 II, 36).
Children's Names 8 sons: Kai Mun 启文,
Kai Tai 启泰,
Chi Chao 启兆,
Kai Cheong 启祥,
Kai Hung 启雄,
Kai Yen 启恩,
Winston Wing (Kai Wing) 启荣,
Chi Tung 启东.

3 daughters: Hei Wan 希韫,
Mo Wen 慕韫,
Siu Wen 筱韫.
Descendants 3rd generation: 30 grandchildren, including Dr. Richard H. Yung, Dr. Yung Ying-yue;
4th generation: 46 great-grandchildren;
5th generation: 30+ great-great-grandchildren.
Other In a brief memoir of her father’s life, Heiwan Yung Chen, Yung Hoy’s eldest daughter, wrote: “…at the tender age of of nine, despite violent protests from all sides, he left home, literally ran away from home to join the group of thirty scholars who set sail on board a steamer for the land of the Flowery Flag…. On arrival he was placed in a grammar school in Hartford, Conn., and after a brilliant scholastic career, having also graduated from a high school, he registered himself as a freshman at Yale, intending to specialize in engineering….Much to his chagrin, he was robbed of the chance of completing his college education [when the CEM was terminated].”7

Notes and Sources 1. “Young” is probably LaFargue’s error of transcription; Yung himself always spelled his surname “Yung.”  “Huan” is a misleading rendering of 垣 (pinyin: yuan). “Yew Woon” would more properly represent the Cantonese pronunciation of his personal name. Yung’s descendants refer to their ancestor, and spell his name, as “Yung Hoy” (pinyin: Rong Kai).

2. Information on Yung Hoy’s places of residence and American host families is based upon recent research by Yung Hoy’s granddaughter, Dr. Yung Ying-yue, as found in Yung Ying-yue (2004), 1; 4-6.

3. John Newton Bartlett was a maternal uncle of Mary Louise Kellogg, wife of Yung Wing.

4. Yung Ying-yue (1998), 1: “As there is a record stating that Zhou [Chow Chang Ling (Zhou Changling 周長龄 III, 63)] had enrolled in the Winstead Local Grammar School, we can assume that Yung Hoy went to the same school.” Yung and Chow both lived with the Phillips family in Winsted, CT.  Cf. Heiwan Y. Chen, “Hoy Yung (1865-1933)”, unpublished typescript dated “Hong Kong, 22 May 1939,” LaFargue (Pullman).

5. Robyn (1996), 156.  Yung Ying-yue (1998) notes that Yung Hoy majored in engineering.  Yung may have intended to enter the Sheffield Scientific School; but confirmation of this has not been found in Yale publications. Cf. Memoir of Heiwan Y. Chen (quoted under “Other”); and Richard H. Yung, To Our Grandchildren (Singapore: Privately printed, 2007), p. 18. 

6. The Zhenxian School was founded by Yung Wing in 1871. “Both Yung Wing and Yung Hoy are regarded as the honorary principals of the school.” Yung Ying-yue (1998), 3.

7. Heiwan Y. Chen, “Hoy Yung (1865-1933)” (unpublished typescript, cited in note 4).