Now, a century later, Chinese international students can be found at almost every higher educational institution in the U.S., with over 235,000 students studying in the American higher education sector, more than any other foreign nationality, according to the Institute of International Education.

Kuo would be proud to see the importance that this student population has on contemporary American higher education.

"[P]erhaps the strongest, and most significant cultural relationship between China and America lies in the movement for sending Chinese students to America for higher education," said Kuo, in the 1925 publication China and the United States, surprising still quite relevant today.

Adding to Kuo's long and influential legacy, the J.T. Tai & Co. Foundation created the Kuo Ping Wen scholarship for Chinese students studying at Teachers College. The recipients attended the symposium and were excited to continue the important legacy between Kuo, Teachers College, and China.

In hosting the symposium, Teachers College is continuing to build upon its storied history of support and cooperation it has had with China. Chinese students first started to enroll at Teachers College around 1905 and continued to attract talented students from China who would go on to have a major impact in their fields, including Kuo and other educators such as Jiang Menglin and Tao Xingzhi.

Likewise, famed Teachers College professors such as John Dewey and Paul Monroe made visits to China throughout the early twentieth century. Reaffirming this strong historical connection, the Center on Chinese Education was founded in 2000 and continues to bring scholars to the U.S. from China and vice versa.

Who is the next Kuo Ping Wen?

One of the liveliest panels of the entire symposium was entitled "Who is the Next Kuo Ping Wen?". The panelist came from a variety of disciplines and institutions, including Tom Moore, Vice President of the China Institute, who suggested that the next Kuo might not need to be Chinese, and that it might be more prudent for an American to take on this legacy.

There has been an increase in Americans studying in China, but the levels are nowhere near that of Chinese students coming to U.S. institutions. Concurrently, China remains somewhat of a mystery to the larger U.S. population. The cross-cultural mismatch between these two nations is nothing new, and it was even concerning to Kuo back in the 1920s.

"Americans have gone out to China to teach, but few to learn. Many Chinese students have come to America to receive what America has to give, but few American students have been sent to China to receive what China has to offer," said Kuo in China and the United States. "Millions of dollars are spent every year to educate the Chinese to know America, but comparatively little has been done to teach America to know China."

Indeed, Americans need to have a greater understanding of China. Kuo Ping Wen recognized this early on and the organizers of the symposium hoped that his inspiration is now growing amongst Chinese and American students and educators who have a new found reverence for past figures such as Kuo. His legacy will live on through these students, the institutions that he was a part of, and the people that he inspires. 

The author is a contributing writer to Beijing Review, living in New York City