[1] He later studied at Queen's College, Hong Kong, and then Columbia University in New York on the Chinese Educational Mission.

[2] Tong was a classmate and close friend of future Columbia president Nicholas Murray Butler.

In 1924, he refused an offer to be foreign minister under warlord Duan Qirui's provisional government in Beijing.

The Kuomintang's intelligence agency Juntong learned about the negotiation, and its chief Dai Li ordered his assassination.

On 30 September 1938, Tang was killed in his living room by a Juntong squad who pretended to be antique sellers.