Self-Strengthening Movement
From 1909 to 1929, the Boxer Indemnity Scholarship Program sent around 1,300 Chinese students to study in the U.S. Drawing candidates from across China, the examination process for this prestigious scholarship was highly competitive: among 630 candidates in 1937, only 47 were selected. In light of China's Self-Strengthening Movement during that time, the Qing government urged students to focus their studies on the fields on Science, Engineering, Agriculture, Medicine and Commerce. Massachusetts Institute of Technology was thus one of the most popular destinations. In 1929, after Tsinghua had become a true university itself, the Boxer Indemnity Scholarship Program was opened to all candidates.