The initiative encouraging officials and gentry to travel abroad was formalized in 1903 (the 29th year of the Guangxu’s reign) when figures such as Zhang Baixi (张百熙), Rongqing (荣庆), and Zhang Zhidong (张之洞) established school regulations, including appendices, to encourage official travel. Nonetheless, over a decade before, the government had already commenced dispatching officials from the capital on observational tours to various countries, both Eastern and Western.