The time that Ling Kuei Mang spent at the University of Wyoming eight decades ago might have been only a ripple in a pond were it not for the work of Xu Youwei, a professor visiting Laramie from Shanghai University as part of an academic exchange.

Two chance encounters led Xu to unearth the details of Ling's life both in Wyoming and after he returned to China.

A professor of modern Chinese history, Xu came to Laramie in 2007 as part of an academic exchange started three years earlier. A delegation from Shanghai University visited Laramie in 2004 to expand cooperative endeavors between the two schools. UW's College of Arts and Sciences and Department of Sociology had sponsored several faculty exchanges and student study-abroad opportunities with Shanghai University. Under the new agreement, Xu became the first visiting Chinese scholar to the UW Department of History.

"Last summer, I taught a five-week course on the French Revolution at the University of Shanghai," History department head Mark Potter says. "Xu was my host. When he came to Laramie, I was able to return the favor."

At UW, Xu had a chance to observe American university teaching—interactive and student-centered—and to do research.

Not long after Xu arrived in Laramie, history professor Phil Roberts advised him to read Wilson Clough's "A History of the University of Wyoming, 1897–1936." The worn and slightly faded book, published in 1937, referred to Ling as a "well-known Chinese student on campus."

Qu Xiaofan, a history professor at Northeastern China Normal University in Changchun and one of Xu's colleagues, let him know that a well-known Chinese scholar had once spent time at UW. The student, Ling, had later lived a quiet and respectable life as professor and director of the English Language Program at Northeastern China Normal University.

Xu soon made his way to the American Heritage Center, a world-class repository. The black, cone-shaped building at the east end of the UW campus houses the university's rare books, and manuscripts.

Ling, a political science student, enrolled at UW in 1929 as a 28-year-old student. He had served in the Chinese Army before entering college with a scholarship available to certain ethnic minority students in China.

At the time, UW was a much different place. The university's Office of Institutional Analysis shows the enrollment that fall was 1,054 students. But some aspects—campus buildings, for instance—are the same. Among those facilities was the men's residence hall (now McWhinnie Hall) that opened in 1928.

"It felt like I was in the same time period as him, seeing things through his eyes," Xu says during an interview attended by two translators—student Jun Li, a woman from Shanghai; and Kyle Clark of Laramie, who studies Chinese language at UW.

As he talks about Ling and what he has discovered, his enthusiasm for his subject is clear in his wide arm gestures and animation.

Bits and pieces of Ling's life emerged from the archives of the Branding Iron, the UW student newspaper that had begun publishing six years before Ling arrived. The headline on Oct. 17, 1929, read, "Ling Kuei Mang, aspiring to Chinese diplomacy, is impressed with America."

The weekly paper offered several more articles about Ling. In a July 23, 1930, article, Ling was asked why he had chosen UW. He explained he preferred a small institution and wanted to experience authentic American life. The foremost reason for his choice was "this is the only state institution without any Chinese students!"

Xu's research showed that, in many ways, Ling's life mirrored the tumultuous 20th century China, with a mixture of hope, struggle, and tragedy. Ling completed his degree in 1932 and returned to China to take a faculty position at a Shanghai University. Xu writes in his research paper that Ling's academic life was soon disrupted when Japan launched a fullscale invasion of China in 1937.

"At the age of 36, Ling once again joined the army to fight for his country. First serving in an artillery unit, he was later transferred to the Central Military Academy as a political instructor. Ling remained in the army until the end of the war (1945)," Xu wrote.

When China fell under communist rule, he returned to teaching. Xu points out that Ling, as an intellectual, was targeted by Mao Zedong's Cultural Revolution, and suffered personal turmoil as well.

He divorced his wife, who had been an underground communist with a high position at a Chinese university in Beijing before she was persecuted herself.

Ling was one of millions of victims of political persecution. Xu writes, "In the summer of 1968, after suffering two years of relentless political persecution, physical abuse, and hardship, Ling ended his life in despair in a small lake near his university. In 1978, the authorities held a postmortem funeral to restore Ling's good name and honor his lifetime contribution to his country."

Xu says he was saddened but not surprised to learn of Ling's suicide. He says many Chinese chose to take their own lives rather than continue to tolerate Mao's persecution.

Like Ling, Xu spent his time in Wyoming and at the university experiencing American life. He ate Thanksgiving dinner at the home of a friend and attended church to see how Americans worship. Xu says he was emotionally moved when he visited a couple who had adopted a Chinese child.

He had the chance on a trip to Fort Collins, Colo., to see a stretch of the Union Pacific Railroad. UW sociology professor David Ashley told him about the Chinese workers who had come to the West to build the railroad. Xu says he was honored to learn about the Chinese contributions to America's expansion.

He also followed portions of the Oregon Trail that pass through Wyoming. "It was touching and meaningful to see wagon tracks in the stone," he said. The experience gave him a clearer understanding of how difficult settling the American West was.

"The people of Wyoming are downto-earth and warm-hearted," he says. That warm-heartedness was reflected in the many gifts he received from colleagues and friends, including more than a dozen books from the history department faculty with help from Potter, the department head.

A historian himself, Xu has weighed the significance of his presence on campus by listing his own historic firsts: "I am not only the first visiting Chinese history scholar on campus, I am the first to conduct research about University of Wyoming history."