Cultural Re-adaptation Of American-educated Chinese Railway Engineers(1881-1928)

Jeme T'ien Yow is known as the founding father of Chinese railway system;as the chief engineer of Beijing-Zhangjiakou railway,Jeme set up China's railway system together with his fellow students of Chinese Educational Mission(CEM).Later,more American-educated Chinese railway engineers,headed by Ling Hongxun,took over the cause and carried on the construction of Chinese railway.By the end of 19th century,America had the most developed railway system in the world;therefore,Chinese students were sent to America to learn its advanced civil engineering technique,so that after they returned to China,they could apply what they learned in the U.S.to China's railw ay construction.The irony lies in that starting from 1970s,the U.S.railway system has been on the decline:fewer and few er people choose to travel by train;while at the same time in China,high-speed rail was developing fast and railway still acted as the most important transportation for Chinese people.The drastic contrast reflects the important roles that early American-educated railway engineers played in the construction of China's railway industry.The question of how the American-educated students re-adapted to China after years in America and achieved success in their career as railway engineers is worthy of exploring.This thesis aims to crxstalize the cross-cultural experiences of early American-educated railway engineers after coming back through tracing their career development tracks and discussing the formation of cross-cultural identities.Despite numerous studies researching American-educated Chinese students and large number of literature concerning the construction of China's railway construction,railway engineers are seldom mentioned,and there're few researches specializing in the roles of railway engineers,let alone the early American-educated Chinese railway engineers.Therefore,this thesis takes a qualitative approach in examining the American-educated railway engineers' cross-cultural experiences in the U.S.and back in China:what roles did they play in the development of China's railway industn?How did they re-adapt to China after coming back?As technicians,what cross-cultural identities did they form in the re-adaptation process?To solve these research questions,twelve railway engineers are chosen as samples.Among the 120 CEM students,there became six railway engineers;therefore,among the dozens of American-educated railway engineers from 1890 to 1928,six were chosen,so that contrast and comparison could be made between two groups.Primary sources such as autobiographies and biographies written by relatives of sample American-educated Chinese railway engineers are heavily used;online resources also provided precious literature.Reverse culture shock and cross-cultural adaptation theories are used.Reverse culture shock refers to the;"crisis-recovery-adjustment" process that returnees experience after coming back to their home country and cross-cultural adaptation is mainly used to analyze how returnees form their inter-cultural identity.Within such theoretical framework,career development of the twelve American-educated students as railway engineers and as educators are analyzed to reveal their cross-cultural experience.their different educational experiences in China and in the U.S.is also taken into consideration and is used as the premise of their cross-cultural experiences.This thesis finds that the twelve American-educated railway engineers showed the to pical reverse culture shock response in the process of individual cultural re-adaptation in China,during which they followed the pattern of "crisis-recovery-adjustment"This is reflected in how they responded to the changed situation they were faced with.When they came back to China,the crisis was the "changed" home country:then they found that they themselves had also changed,becoming "westernized":this is the recovery part.Through combing the twvo "changes",the railway engineers applied what they learned in the U.S.to the Chinese context to adjust themselves and to achieve balance between the two "changes",finishing the adjustment process.During their cross-cultural experience,the railway engineers formed an inter-cultural identity by playing different roles in their career development.As professional radlway engineers,they were greatly influenced by American way of building railways and thinking;but they were quite aware that what they learned could not be directly applied to Chinese reality and had to find a balancing point between the two.As educator,they called for introducing American educational system into China,compiled textbooks for future Chinese railway engineers and translated foreign works to introduce Western knowledge to China.During their lifetime career development,they remained as railway engineers and refused to get involved with or participate in politics,which shows their determination to remain professionalism as railway engineer.Lastly,this thesis also finds that there exist great differences between CEM railway engineers and later American-educated railway engineers:the educational levels that they attained in the U.S.,their working experience in the U.S.,years of waiting before becoming formal railway engineers etc.Despite the differences,both groups shared a"first tortuous-then smooth" path to success.When they first came back to China,full of ambition to save the nation,they were confronted with different while enormous difficulties:the CEM students,talents were neglected by the Qing government and the later American-educated railway engineers were faced with the collapse of Qing dynasty,the establishment a new republic and the turbulent warlord fight.Their identities as American-educated students became barriers;while both groups managed to re-adapt to the historical background and found ways to apply what they learned in the U.S.This thesis draws the conclusion that even as technical experts and focused on the application as well as inheritance of railway construction technology,early American-educated railway engineers needed to complete cross-cultural re-adaptations after coming back to China so as to fully develop their career as well as the railway industry.