Grinnell College loomed large in the Nankai cohort’s American experiences. As a private institution, Nankai had to raise its own funds for operation and could barely spare any resources to send its students abroad, unlike Tsing Hua, which enjoyed access to the surplus of the Boxer’s Indemnity Fund. Grinnell College’s generous offer of three scholarships to the first group of Nankai alumni, Wen Chien Feng, Fan Yi Kung, Kuang Chao Lee, made their American education possible. However, the relationship between the two institutions stretched over many years, moving far beyond mere finance.
Nankai alumni first started to attend Grinnell in 1917 and the last of them graduated in 1924. The Nankai cohort always enjoyed strong group cohesion despite external commitments such as YMCA work or Chinese national needs that took some away from campus. In fact, the first Nankai alumni association in the U.S., called “the Nan Kai Club” initially, was founded at Grinnell in 1918. Members of the Nankai cohort—among whom were not only scholars, but also YMCA workers, revolutionaries, an athlete who won gold medals at an international sports event, and an excellent cook—were more diverse in background and pursuits compared to the Tsing Hua cohort. The Nankai men were quite vocal on campus, unafraid to speak out against perceived injustices or in defense of their religious or other beliefs. After Grinnell they joined various efforts to modernize China, whether working as civil servants or college professors, setting up an experimental school for the Chinese masses, or dying for the cause as a martyr.
Additionally, the relationship between Nankai and Grinnell yielded friendly visits and exchanges between the two institutions. In September 1917, President Zhang Boling of Nankai School brought to Grinnell four young Chinese men and Nankai alumni: Feng, Kung, Lee, and Feng Tsai, and one young Chinese woman, Ngai Chen Shih. Feng, Kung, and Lee stayed, though Tsai transferred to the University of Wisconsin the following year. Shih returned to Grinnell in 1918, after spending one semester in high school and another at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio from 1917 to 1918. Zhang visited Grinnell again a year later, on his way back to China after a year’s study at Teachers College, Columbia University. Professor John D. Stoops of Grinnell’s Philosophy Department was also invited to teach at Nankai University in 1921, thanks to the efforts of Grinnell alum K. C. Lee, though the visit was cut short due to illnesses contracted by Professor and Mrs. Stoops.
