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The Presence of International Students in Vanderbilt’s Second Decade

From 1885 to 1895, in Vanderbilt’s second decade, international students from different countries come to campus, mainly studying under the divinity school for missionary purposes. Charles Soong, one of the students transferred from Duke to Vanderbilt, enrolled in Vanderbilt’s Biblical Department in 1882. Later, Soong received a degree in 1885. He didn’t have any serious interest in religion, even less in preaching. In actual fact, when he went back to China, some business enterprises became his interest. Later on, his children and himself were called the “Soong Dynasty” in China that they have influenced deeply about Chinese history.