Yung Kwai

Yung Kwai came to the United States as a member of the Chinese Educational Mission, attended high school in Springfield, Massachusetts, and graduated from Yale in 1884. After an early period at the Washington legation, he continued scientific studies at Yale and Columbia. He also worked as a reporter for the New York Herald. ¹

Returning to the legation in 1890, Yung served successively as interpreter, first secretary, adviser, and chargé d’affaires. His service continued through the fall of the Qing dynasty and the establishment of the republic. He retired from the legation in 1936 but remained an adviser to the embassy until his death in Washington in 1943. Yale preserves his diplomatic papers, a handwritten account of the educational mission, and his translation of an exposition of Confucianism prepared for the 1893 Parliament of Religions. ¹