Yan Fu, a Chinese enlightenment thinker and translator who studied at the Royal Naval College in the late 19th Century. [Photo provided by YanFu Foundation]

In an address at the banquet held by Queen Elizabeth II to welcome Chinese President Xi Jinping on his inaugural state visit to the United Kingdom, Xi said that "the two civilizations have left indelible imprints on each other", quoting the inspiration that modern Chinese people drew from British writings such as The Wealth of Nations and Evolution and Ethics.

The Wealth of Nations, by British economist Adam Smith, and Evolution and Ethics, by Thomas Henry Huxley, were among the first books about Western economic and social thought to be introduced in China in the early 20th century. It is not well known that their translator was a Chinese scholar who had special ties with the UK.

On May 11, 1877, a group of young Chinese men disembarked at the southern English city of Portsmouth after a monthlong sea journey. The 12 were naval students sent by the Qing government to the UK to study modern naval technology. Among them was Yan Fu, 23, from South China's coastal province of Fujian.

"The military defeat in the Opium Wars and a series of concessions to foreign powers awakened the rulers of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) from their dream of China being the 'Celestial Empire'," says Liu Kai, a professor at the University of Greenwich.

"As a result, some officials in the government launched the Self-Strengthening Movement, which aimed to strengthen China by adopting Western military technology and armaments. It is against this background that Yan Fu and his peers were sent to the UK to study."

Liu is also chairman of the YanFu Foundation, an organization set up to commemorate the pioneering scholar and to promote intercultural exchange between the UK and China.

Chinese Vice-Premier Liu Yandong watches an exhibition entitled "Yan Fu and Chinese Imperial Students at the Royal Naval College" at southeast London's Greenwich University, where the Royal Naval College was once located. [Photo provided by YanFu Foundation]

Yan Fu observed British social and political activities on many occasions while studying in the UK. "Once, he attended a trial at a local court and witnessed the defendant and plaintiff sitting in the court with lawyers defending them. The event had a great effect on Yan's mind. After going home, he seemed to lose himself in thought for a few days," says Liu.

"Yan Fu came to realize that the reasons behind the strength of Western nations may lie in their advanced social and political systems, rather than in powerful weapons."

After returning to China, Yan Fu devoted himself to training officers for a modern Chinese navy. But his efforts failed to revive the declining dynasty. China's humiliating defeat in the Jiawu War (1894-95), or First Sino-Japanese War, in which many of Yan Fu's former classmates in naval college died, shocked him greatly.

"Yan Fu realized that China was facing a deep cultural crisis," says Liu. "After the defeat in the Jiawu War, he introduced his countrymen to major works of Western thought, including The Wealth of Nations and Evolution and Ethics. The Western ideas he brought to China served as a catalyst for social revolutions that later sprung up in China.

"2015 marks the 120th anniversary of China's defeat in the Jiawu War. The experiences of Yan Fu and his peers studying at the Royal Naval College are a testament to the long history of China-UK exchange and the long journey China has undertaken, from its humiliating past to the world's second-largest economy."

To commemorate the pioneering scholar, the exhibition Yan Fu and Chinese Imperial Students at the Royal Naval College, which was co-organized by the YanFu Foundation and the Greenwich Foundation, was staged in September during the third round of the China-UK People-to-People Dialogue.

Liu Kai (L), the founder of YanFu foundation, and visitors that watch an exhibition that commemorates Yan Fu. [Photo/YanFu Foundation]

machi@chinadaily.com.cn