From Chinese Navy lieutenants to English barristers: the legal education of Lo Tsong Yao and Chang Ping Kui at Middle Temple in 1886–1890

Abstract

ABSTRACT Among the navy officers sent by the Chinese government to study in Europe in 1886, Lo Tsong Yao and Chang Ping Kui were the only two that pursued a systematic legal education at the Middle Temple in London, and were successfully called to the English Bar to attain the coveted title of Barristers at Law, a first of such achievements in the history of the Chinese Navy. Upon their return to China, Lo went on to be an outstanding diplomat while Chang pursued a career as a Qing Government educational official. Their experience was undoubtedly of great historical value, yet official records kept in relation to the Chinese Educational Mission in Europe did not contain any detail as to their precise course of study and academic achievements in London. This paper thus attempts to fill this void by tracing these two navy scholars’ footprints in England to map out their legal education trajectory at the Middle Temple, in a bid to uncover a chapter in the buried history of how China’s early navy officers and diplomats were educated and trained in London’s Inn of Court.