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New Shan Chow

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On arrival in USA, 1872

Pinyin & Chinese characters Niu Shangzhou  牛尚周
Variant Spellings & Other Names Chow Niu Shung
New Shung Chow
Niu Shung Chow
S.C. New
Other Chinese Name(s) 牛文卿
Detachment 1
LaFargue No. 12
Date of Birth 4 Dec. 1862
Place of Birth Jiading, Jiangsu Province
Age at Departure for US 11 (Lunar Calendar); 9 (Western Calendar, by birth date)

Date of Death December 1917
Place of Death Shanghai
Place(s) of Residence in US (1) Springfield, MA;
(2) Exeter, NH
American Host Family/ies (1) 1872-4: in Springfield home of CEM interpreter, Zeng Laishun 曾来顺;
(2) Mrs. Henry Robert (Sarah Wilkinson Lewis) Vaille
(3) Sarah F. Gordon, Exeter, NH

School(s), with dates

Springfield High School;
From September 1879 for 1 yr: Phillips Exeter Academy, NH1

New joined PEA in the class of 1882; however, he left early, returning to Shanghai on Nov. 8, 18802
Notable Activities/Awards in School

 

 Wrote short article, “Chinaland. Across the Sea,” published 29 May 1880 in The Exonian, a publication of the Phillips Exeter Academy. It described the voyage of the 1st Detachment to America.2

College/University, with dates

 
Notable Activities/Awards in College  
Degree/Diploma Obtained (date)  
First Assignment in China Telegraph operator and interpreter at the Great Northern Telegraph Co.
Later Positions Secretary of the Jiangnan Docks and Engineering Co., Shanghai until his death.1
Employment Sector(s) Telegraph Service; Business Administration
Final Rank, if in Gov't Service  
Father's Name  
Mother's Name  
Wife/wives Kwei-Kyung Nie 倪桂金 (Ni Guijin), 1865-1945 – eldest daughter of Rev. Yuan-shan Nie 倪蕴山, minister trained by the London Missionary Society evangelists.1
Family Relations w/ other CEM Students Became the brother-in-law of Won Bing Chung (Wen Bingzhong 温秉忠 II, 36) who married Ni Xiuzhen 倪秀珍 3rd sister of New's wife.3
Children's Names Sons: 牛惠霖 Way-ling (Huilin), 1889-1937; 牛惠生 Way-sung (Huisheng), 1892-19371; both sons were prominent physicians and surgeons in China, with graduate medical degrees from Cambridge and Harvard, respectively.  Both had taught at St. John's University in Shanghai, jointly established the 霖生医院 (Lin-Sheng Hospital), held leadership roles in Chinese medical associations and engaged in much humanitarian medical work. 
Daughters: 惠珠 Wai-tsu (Huizhu), b. 1897 (deceased); 惠珍 Wai-ten (Huizhen), b. 1900.1  Both were respected educators in China.
Descendants GS (son of Way-sung): Dr. Peter Kong-ming 康民 New (1928-1985): medical sociologist-anthropologist; formerly Prof. of Sociology at University of South Florida, U. of Toronto, etc.; former president of the Society for Applied Anthropology, which established a “Peter K. New Award for Student Research” in his honor.1

GD: 牛恩德 Lily New (Niu Ende 1934-2012), D. Mus. (Ohio), d. of Niu Huilin, was an American citizen and an acclaimed concert pianist, praised by New York Newsday as an East-West cultural ambassador.  
Other

According to information provided by descendants, New was orphaned before he became a CEM student. This source also indicated that he was a devout Christian.4

Prior to joining the CEM, he was attending the boys' boarding school established in Shanghai by the American Episcopal Mission and run by Lydia Mary Fay.  Tso Ki Foo (Cao Jifu 曹吉福 I, 20) and Chin Mon Fay (Qian Wenkiu 钱文魁 I, 28) also attended the school before they joined the CEM.5

Named as "S.C. New (Phillips, Exeter)", New sat on the panel of judges for a debate held in Chinese YMCA in Shanghai, 1 May 1901.  Conducted in English, it was on the motion: "Resolved, that the Boxer Uprising will be for the ultimate good of China."6  Also on the panel was Wong Kai Kah (Huang Kaijia 黄开甲 I, 17).
 

Notes and Sources

1.  New (1984) , 81-95 passim.  Dates of death and biographical data supplied by great great grandnephew, Roger Lee.

2.  Digitized copy of the two extracts from The Exonian kindly made available by Phillips Exeter Academy.  Departure notice cited from "P.E.A.NUTS", The Exonian, Saturday 9 Oct. 1880.  The reason for his early return to China is unclear.

3. New and Won Bing Chung were also related by marriage to Charlie Soong 宋嘉树,who married Ni Guizhen 倪桂珍,daughter of Rev. Nie.

4. Huang Sufeng: "Chronology of Niu Huisheng (Draft)" 黄素封: 「牛惠生年谱(初稿)」, kindly provided by Roger Lee.

5. Rhoads (2011), p. 33f.

6. "A Debate on the Results of the Boxer Uprising", North China Herald, 8 May 1901, p. 904.

With additional information from Prof. Edward Rhoads and from “Chinese Students”, Springfield Republican, Sunday, 30 March 1902, p. 11.