Tsing Hua School was set up as a preparatory school for students to study in the U.S. and access the surplus of the Boxer’s Indemnity Fund. According to an agreement between the Qing court and the U.S. government, starting from 1909, for the first four years the Qing government should send every year at least 100 young people to the U.S.; starting with the 5th year, it should send 50 to the U.S. until all the money was used up. The agreement also specified which disciplines the students should pursue: 80% in agriculture, mining, mechanical engineering, physics, chemistry, railway engineering, banking; 20% in law, political science, economics and finance, and education. Grinnell’s Tsing Hua alumni typically chose majors from this last category. 

The Tsing Hua cohort attended Grinnell College mostly between 1917 and 1924, the year when the largest cohort of Chinese students graduated. Unlike the Nankai cohort who started strong at Grinnell, the first Tsing Hua alumni seemed to struggle and transferred after one year. However, from Fall 1921 through Spring 1923, eight Tsing Hua graduates came to Grinnell where they formed a critical mass. They organized several high-profile activities on campus and interacted with town residents frequently. From this cohort later emerged prominent diplomats, civil servants, bankers, and college professors in Republican China, following the typical career trajectory of Tsing Hua graduates who studied abroad at the time.