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Episcopal’s First Chinese Students
In 1892, Episcopal High School reached far beyond its traditional southern source of students for the first time with the enrollment of the School’s first Chinese student, Theodore Wong.
In 1892, Episcopal High School reached far beyond its traditional southern source of students for the first time with the enrollment of the School’s first Chinese student, Theodore Wong. The son of a Chinese missionary, Wong was enrolled shortly before the start of the school year by the Rev. Francis Lister Hawks Pott, a missionary to China and president of Saint John’s College of Shanghai. EHS was a natural fit for the sons of Chinese missionaries. The School was well known and respected by the missionaries sent forth from the adjacent Virginia Theological Seminary.
The Episcopal Church’s interest in Chinese missionary work reflected a larger fascination with Chinese culture at the time. Headmaster Launcelot Blackford capitalized on his access to Chinese missionaries to arrange lectures about China for his students, and the EHS Missionary Society provided modest financial support of missionary activity in China. Blackford reported on Wong’s adjustment to his sponsor, Pott, in a letter dated Sept. 21, 1892. “Theodore seems to be getting along finely in making friends among our household and renders himself agreeable. He shows such evidence of careful previous training that I indulge good hope of his profiting well…”
Likely influenced by Wong’s experience, other Chinese students, notably the three Yen brothers, enrolled at Episcopal. In response to an 1895 inquiry from the Yen family regarding the suitability of EHS for their sons, Blackford proudly referenced Wong’s success at the School and beyond. Blackford was pleased to welcome the other sons of Chinese missionaries, and he reported on the 1896 transition of Episcopal’s second Chinese student, Williams Yen, to the student’s father, the Rev. Yung King Yen. “I am glad to tell you of the favorable impression Williams has made; and of his good beginning in his studies. His competent knowledge of English and his spelling and his handwriting surprise us. In every class he seems already to have taken a high stand, and I shall be greatly surprised if he does not reflect credit on you and his former instructors, as well as on ourselves. He seems cheerful and much liked by his school mates.”
Theodore Wong and his fellow students from China followed a familiar path from EHS to the University of Virginia, a progression fully supported by the School’s administration. Blackford believed that his Chinese students held many advantages in matriculating at U.Va., notably their friendships formed at Episcopal and his introduction. In advance of Wong’s enrollment at U.Va., Blackford wrote to his former student, “You have great advantage in knowing some nice fellows to begin with and will no doubt make other agreeable acquaintances.” Blackford also expressed pleasure at Williams Yen’s decision to attend his alma mater. Blackford wrote Yen’s father regarding U.Va., “I hear from him (Williams) this week with peculiar satisfaction that you favor the Virginia University, my own alma mater, and am confident it is the best place for him. Among other advantages, he will there meet some of his old school mates and will not be exactly a stranger; particularly as I can and will give him letters to my friends among the professors.”
Our earliest Chinese students paved the way for the international students, who have attended Episcopal over the School’s long history. This year, Episcopal is proud to have 28 international students on campus from countries including Cameroon, the United Kingdom, Sweden, Nigeria, China, South Korea, Hong Kong, Jamaica, Canada, Thailand, and Zimbabwe.
