Chen Lanbin (; 1816–1895), courtesy name Li Qiu (), was the first Chinese Ambassador to the United States during the

Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...

. Born in

Wuchuan City Wuchuan is a county-level city in the southwest of Guangdong province, China. It is the easternmost county-level division of the prefecture-level city of Zhanjiang. The total area of Wuchuan is , with an estimated population of in 2013. History ...

Guangdong Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020) ...

, he passed the Chinese

imperial examination The imperial examination (; lit. "subject recommendation") refers to a civil-service examination system in Imperial China, administered for the purpose of selecting candidates for the state bureaucracy. The concept of choosing bureaucrats by ...

in 1853 at the age of 24, and entered the

Hanlin Academy The Hanlin Academy was an academic and administrative institution of higher learning founded in the 8th century Tang China by Emperor Xuanzong in Chang'an. Membership in the academy was confined to an elite group of scholars, who performed sec ...

. He soon became the head of two departments of the Qing government in successio, and in 1872 he was sent to the United States and named commissioner of the Chinese Educational Commission in

Hartford, Connecticut Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since the ...

, despite knowing no English. He occupied numerous other positions until 1875, when he began acting as the government's representative in the United States. He was formally named the Chinese Ambassador to the United States, Spain, and

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal , national_motto = "Fi ...

in 1878, a position that he held until 1881. A conservative, Chen was often at odds with the progressive oriented

Yung Wing Yung Wing (; November 17, 1828April 21, 1912) was a Chinese-American diplomat and businessman. In 1854, he became the first Chinese student to graduate from an American university, Yale College. He was involved in business transactions between Ch ...

, the first Chinese student to graduate from an American university, and a colleague of his. In 2015, Chen was featured in an article by China Daily, which remembered his efforts in promoting Sino-US relations.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chen, Lanbin 1816 births 1895 deaths Qing dynasty diplomats Ambassadors of China to the United States Qing dynasty politicians from Guangdong Politicians from Zhanjiang Ministers of Zongli Yamen