Fifth Wave (Began 1915) 第五次留學熱

 Key Words: 1915, Chinese Work-Study Program in France

Major Destination: France

Since 1915, Chinese educators and scholars including Cai Yuanpei and Li Shizeng organized a work-study program for Chinese students and laborers to attend school while working in a factory in France. The program aimed to help Chinese students understand western civilization, especially the advanced science, technology and culture of Europe.

During this tidal wave of a study-abroad movement, the number of Chinese students in France increased from less than 200 before 1919 to more than 1,600 in 1920. The wave, which featured the integration of diligent work and frugal study, nurtured a great number of Marxist intellectuals and CPC elites. The most prominent of these were Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping, late Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai, and an early leader of the CPC, Cai Hesen.