China, the first person to teach at Harvard in history, was stunned by a big photo hanging on the wall when we walked into the famous Yanjing Library of Harvard University. This is a middle-aged man dressed by Qing officials, wearing a flower feather on his head, official clothes and greasy boots, and a pair of wise eyes on his thin face. He is the first China scholar Ge Kunhua (1838— 1882) to teach in a famous American school. 120 years ago, Ge Kunhua came to the United States not far from Wan Li, founded China Education at Harvard University, and wrote his name in the history of cultural exchange between China and the United States. It is also a coincidence that American businessmen invited Harvard to train China talents and let Ge Kunhua go to Harvard as a China language and literature teacher. At first, offering Chinese courses at Harvard University was not the original intention of the university, but the suggestion of American businessmen doing business in China. During the period of 1877, some American businessmen deeply felt the importance of cultivating talents who can speak Chinese when trading with China. They hope that Harvard University can train some young people who know China, so that Americans can work in the China government and promote trade between the two countries. There is no objection to the purpose and significance of learning Chinese, but there are differences in specific operation methods. Some people think that you should go to China to learn Chinese. Only in a specific language environment can you get twice the result with half the effort. Others insist on hiring teachers from China to teach in the United States. At this time, the attitude of Harvard University played an important role. Although Harvard had become the most famous university in the United States at that time, the school thought that offering Chinese courses was extremely challenging and could expand the space for further development of Harvard, so it agreed to hire China teachers. Therefore, businessmen donated $8,750 to Harvard University to hire teachers from China to offer Chinese courses for three years. The plan has been finalized, but where to find the right Chinese teacher has become a problem. At this time, Eliot, president of Harvard University, thought of his friend, the American consul in Niuzhuang, China. Eliot personally wrote to Ned to help him find a Chinese teacher in China, and Ned entrusted Hurd, an Englishman who was then the State Administration of Taxation of the Qing Dynasty, to help him. Hurd also entrusted this matter to Alejandro Delfino, an American who works in Ningbo tax department. As early as the Kangxi period, Ningbo was one of the four major foreign trade ports in China. After the opening of 1844, foreign trade became more frequent and people's minds became more open. Hurd thinks it is easier to find suitable candidates in Ningbo. After careful consideration, Alejandro Delfino chose his Chinese teacher Ge Kunhua. At that time, Ge Kunhua worked in the American Consulate in Ningbo, knew something about the West, especially the United States, and taught a British student and a French student. China sent teachers to the western world for the first time in modern times1879 On May 26th, the American consul in Niuzhuang signed a teaching contract with Ge Kunhua on behalf of President Eliot of Harvard University. According to the contract, Harvard hired Professor Ge Kunhua to teach Chinese, starting from September 1, 1879 and ending on August 3 1, 1882, with a monthly salary of $200 and travel expenses (including accompanying staff) also borne by the university. As for the curriculum, the number of students and the teaching time at Harvard, the school will make unified arrangements according to the specific situation. This autumn, Ge Kunhua, 4 1 year-old, arrived in the United States by boat with his wife, children and a servant after a 50-day voyage and began his three-year teaching career at Harvard University. This is the first time that modern China sent teachers to the western world to teach China culture. This incident immediately became the news that the major American newspapers rushed to publish at that time. Ge Kunhua started classes on 18791October 22nd after he arrived at Harvard. His first textbook was a novel. Ge Kunhua opened a museum as a disciple at Harvard, but the students are not limited to our school. Any scholar who is interested in learning about China, or who wants to engage in diplomacy, customs, business and missionary work can take his courses as long as he pays. Ge Kunhua attends classes five days a week. Every time in class, he wears official clothes and asks students to respect their teachers. He also taught China's poems to Harvard professors, and sometimes he was invited to give lectures at the professors' club. From 65438 to 0880, Ge Kunhua became a distinguished guest at the graduation ceremony of Harvard University with his maverick and profound China culture. At Harvard, Ge Kunhua's teaching is famous for its rich content, full preparation and superb skills, and is well received by students and colleagues. Ge Kunhua was hired as a Chinese teacher, but his cultural pride decided that he wanted to be a cultural communicator rather than just a Chinese teacher. The carrier of his choice is China's poetry, because "poetry expresses ambition", poetry is very nationalized and blended with the national spirit. Therefore, on any occasion, he almost never forgets to recite poems and explain them. As a poet, Ge Kunhua infected Americans who had never been exposed to China culture with the charm of China's poems and the temperament of China poets. Ge Kunhua not only likes poetry himself, but also is keenly aware of its value. He consciously devoted himself to the spread of China culture in the United States and wanted to bring the spirit of poetry to the United States. For this reason, Ge Kunhua specially compiled a Chinese textbook, China English, which was called by Harvard University as "the earliest textbook written in Chinese and English by China people to introduce China culture, especially China's poems". This booklet, which contains 15 poems written by Ge Kunhua himself, contains both the original Chinese poems and English translations, as well as English explanations of the words and allusions in the poems, and even the flat tones are marked. In this way, Ge Kunhua not only makes Chinese education more vivid, but also enables students to understand the culture of China while learning Chinese. Ge Kunhua, a foreign country, stubbornly became the forerunner of China's cultural export. The communicators of the two great civilizations died with regret. In daily life, Ge Kunhua, who lives in Harvard, has also integrated into American society with an open and positive attitude. He began to learn English as soon as he arrived at Harvard. Soon, he got rid of the dilemma of basically not speaking English, and was able to talk with people in English at will, and even translate his own articles and poems. He never rejected American culture and was always interested in what he saw and heard. Ge Kunhua attaches great importance to friendly exchanges with Americans around him. American newspapers and periodicals rated him as "good at making friends and treating people sincerely" and "his unique social temperament enabled him to associate with people from all walks of life and strive to be accepted by everyone". Relying on his own efforts, in less than three years, Ge Kunhua has established good relations with American sinologists and local celebrities. Although Ge Kunhua has many ambitious designs for Chinese teaching and cultural communication, it is a pity that "there are endless articles". Before the end of his teaching at Harvard, he unfortunately contracted pneumonia in February 1882. Although he was rescued by local famous doctors, his condition continued to deteriorate. A few days later, with the regret of unfinished business, Ge Kunhua finished his life journey in a foreign land. Although Ge Kunhua died young, he left an American spiritual wealth. As his American friend said in his eulogy, "Through Ge Kunhua's example, we found that there are still many places worth learning, that is, the brotherhood between people." Eric Ford, dean of the theological seminary of Harvard University, also spoke highly of Ge Kunhua: "When he visits others, he has the wit of a gentleman and respects the customs of our society; When he entertains guests, he always treats them with China etiquette. " This wisdom of communication is regarded by Eric Ford as evidence of "being able to communicate between old and new civilizations". Ge Kunhua, who ended his life journey prematurely, didn't have time to bring his gains in the United States back to China and use his knowledge to promote the progress of China. Compared with Hong Rong, the first overseas student in China, Ge Kunhua's name has been almost unknown to the world for more than 100 years. However, in the history of cultural exchanges between China and the West, the significance embodied in his trip to the United States should be fully evaluated. Since modern times, the general trend in China has been to absorb foreign cultures, but there are also some dross in western cultures. Faced with the choice of inheriting the essence of Chinese studies and learning advanced foreign cultures, several generations of China intellectuals are puzzled, and how to balance the relationship between them has become an enduring topic. However, more than 100 years ago, Ge Kunhua had found the answer to this question. Facing the strong western culture at that time, he tried to integrate its essence with China culture. At the same time, he introduced the ancient Confucian civilization to the United States, which provided another value reference for the rapid development of capitalist civilization and made people see the significance of cultural integration and complementarity. Today, when we are facing the wave of globalization, it is undoubtedly of great significance to re-examine Ge Kunhua's historical contribution.