The book:
Liel Leibovitz and Matthew Miller, Fortunate Sons: The 120 Chinese Boys Who Came to America, Went to School, and Revolutionized an Ancient Civilization. Norton, 2011.
(1) Book review:
Deborah Fallows, The First Chinese Exchange Students. New York Times, Mar 6, 2011.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/06/books/review/Fallows-t.html
Please read the entire page.
(b) 中国留美幼童
http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%B8%AD%E5%9B%BD%E7%95%99%E7%BE%8E%E5%B9%BC%E7%AB%A5
(公元1872年到1875年间，由容闳倡议，在曾国藩、李鸿章的支持下，清政府先后派出四批共一百二十名学生赴美国留学。这批学生出洋时的平均年龄只有十二岁)
(c) YUNG Leang 容 尚謙 (also known as YUNG Shang Him; 廣東香山; age 10)
(d) CHUNG Mun Yew 鍾 文耀 (廣東香山; age 13)
(e) coxswain (n; Middle English cokswayne, from cok cockboat (a small boat) + swain servant):
"a steersman of a racing shell who usually directs the rowers"
www.m-w.com
(2) An interview:
Jaeah Lee, LISTEN: "Modern China's Founding Fathers" Had New England Accents (Audio); How did 120 Chinese boys who studied in 19th-century America shape the China we know today? Mother Jones, Mar 8, 2011.
http://motherjones.com/media/2011/03/fortunate-sons-liel-leibovitz-interview
Note:
(a) Mother Jones
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother_Jones_(magazine)
(named after Mary Harris Jones [1837-1930], called Mother Jones, an Irish-American trade union activist, opponent of child labor, and self-described "hellraiser"; liberal bimonthly; based in San Francisco; First Issue 1976)
(b) Mr Liel Leibovitz stated in the interview that Mr Yung Wing came to US with his "teacher." I do not know who the teacher is, but the teqacher can not be
Robert Morrison (missionary)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Morrison_(missionary)
or
William Milne (missionary)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Milne_(missionary)
Together they established a school for Chinese and Malay children in 1818, in present-day state of Malacca, Malaysia, but moved the school to Hong Kong in 1843 after the latter became a British colony. The Hong Kong school (named Anglo-Chinese College but later called Ying Wa College 英華書院) is where Yung Wing studied.
(c) discombobulate (vt; probably alteration of discompose; First Known Use: circa 1916):
"UPSET, CONFUSE <inventing cool new ways to discombobulate the old order — Kurt Andersen>"
(d) Chinese Educational Mission 中國教育使團
(e) Mr Leibovitz stated, "They are aware of the gentleman named [Henry] John Heinz who's invented this new condiment called 'ketchup.'"
(i) Henry J. Heinz
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_J._Heinz
(ii) Of course Mr Leibovitz was wrong. CHINESE invented ketchup centuries ago, at least its precursor.
(A) Great Chefs Share Tricks of the Trade; Part 4 Sang Yoon. Los Angeles Times, Aug 5, 2011
http://www.latimes.com/features/food/la-fo-masterclass-sang-yoon-20110805,0,932564.htmlstory
*The shef's surname hints at his Korean heritage.
* Please read paragraphs 4 to 9 (inclusive), explaining how Chinese fish sauce came to incorporate tomato in US.
(B) ketchup
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ketchup
(section 2 History: In the 1690s the Chinese mixed together a concoction of pickled fish and spices and called it kôe-chiap or kê-chiap (鮭汁) meaning the brine of pickled fish (鮭, carp; 汁, juice) or shellfish); in the Amoy/Xiamen dialect)
(f) Mr Leibovitz said, "Many of them ended up being just taken out of college before graduation." Out of American college, naturally--pulled by Qing officials in Peking.
(g) Mr Leibovitz pointed out that "the founder of Tsinghua University—which until today is considered China's Harvard" was a graduate of this Mission.
唐国安
http://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-tw/%E5%94%90%E5%9B%BD%E5%AE%89
(1858-1913; 廣東香山; 清華學校首任校長; 少時讀私塾，作為第二批中國留美幼童前往美國康乃狄克州哈特福德市新不列顛中學，後考入耶魯大學法律系，1881年因清政府終止留學而肄業回國)
(h) Binghamton, New York
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binghamton,_New_York