Five Chinese Students in Cornwall

From 1817 to 1827, the Foreign Mission School in Cornwall, CT had students enrolled from Hawaii, various Indian groups including Cherokee and Choctaw, India, China and other areas of the world. From 1818 to 1825, five Cantonese youths studied and lived in Cornwall. They were brought to the school from the port cities of Boston, New York and Philadelphia. One of the students, A'See, became the first Chinese converted to Christianity and Alan (Hu Shou) became an interpreter for Lin Zexu, the famous Chinese commissioner in Canton who was charged with putting an end to the influx of opium into China. This information is drawn from a Chinese account that describes the first Chinese to come to the United States. A school album created by Alan (Hu Shou) is in the archival collection of the Cornwall Historical Society. Thanks to Betty Lin, Journalist and Editor, Zhuhai Daily, Guandong Province, P.R. China for providing information on what happened to two of the students who returned to China.