Zeng Laishun (c. 1826 – 2 June 1895) was a Chinese interpreter and among the first Chinese students to study at a foreign college. Born in Singapore to a Malay mother and a Teochew father, he was orphaned at a young age, and educated at a Christian mission school. He was sent to the United States in 1843 and later attended Hamilton College for two years, before a lack of funding forced him to move to China. After a few years of mission work, he moved to Shanghai to become a businessman, and later an English teacher at an imperial naval school. In 1871, he was selected as a tutor and interpreter for the Chinese Educational Mission. Alongside Yung Wing, Chen Lanbin, his family, and the first cohort of students, he returned to the U.S. in 1872, staying in Springfield, Massachusetts. He went on speaking tours and was briefly dispatched to Cuba to investigate the abuses of the "coolie trade". He was recalled to China in 1874, and took up work as a secretary for statesman Li Hongzhang. (Full article...)
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