From 1872 to 1874, the Chinese Educational Mission of the Ching dynasty imperial government selected 120 outstanding young scholars to study in the United States. These overseas students, genuinely "little" (their ages ranged from 10 to 15), were the first batch of Chinese students publicly funded to study overseas.
同治十一至十三年（西元一八七二﹘﹘七四年），也就是距今一百一十餘年前，清朝「幼童出洋肄業局」開徵，選出一百廿名資性穎悟、稍通中國文理的幼童赴美學習，這批年紀從十到十五歲的幼童是中國有史以來第一批官費留學生，也是道道地地的「小」留學生。