Tracing Grandpa's dream

The Chinese Dream

The now-elderly descendants of 15 boys sent by the imperial Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) court to study in the United States some 140 years ago reminisce about what it meant. Wang Ru reports from Tangshan.

In 1872, residents in the American city of Hartford, Connecticut were undoubtedly startled to see a group of Chinese boys, wearing silk robes and pigtails, arrive to begin study at local schools and to live with host families.