 | Yung Wing was the first Chinese student to attend Yale, as well as the first to earn a degree at any Western university. Today there are over 600 students and researchers at Yale every year -- the largest group from any one country. |
The following are some significant dates in Yale-China history.
1835 -- Earliest Contact. Peter Parker, a graduate of Yale College (1831) and the Yale School of Medicine (1834), opens the Ophthalmic Infirmary, the first Western-style hospital in China, in Guangzhou (then Canton). Parker's "medical mission" represented the first long-term contact between a Yale graduate and the people of China.
1854 -- First Graduate. Yung Wing graduates from Yale, becoming the first person from China to earn a degree from an American college or university. A native of Guangdong province, Yung (1828-1912) had been schooled at an institution in Hong Kong run by another Yale-educated missionary, Samuel Robbins Brown, who sent him to be educated in the United States.
1872 -- Early Chinese Students. As part of the Chinese Education Mission he organized, Yung Wing sends 120 young Chinese students to New England for education in engineering and other subjects. Twenty-two of these students enrolled in Yale. Although the Chinese government recalled the mission in 1881, many of the Yale-educated students went on to make important contributions to China's development.
1878 -- Chinese Library Collection. Yung Wing donates many of the 1,237 volumes of his Chinese book collection to Yale. This gift formed the nucleus of the University's East Asia Library, now 445,000 volumes strong and considered one of the major collections of its kind in the United States today.
1878 -- China Enters Curriculum. The study of China becomes part of the Yale curriculum with the appointment to the faculty of Samuel Wells Williams, a former American missionary and diplomat in China. A formal program of Chinese language study was established in 1936, and during the 1940s, Yale pioneered new intensive methods of language instruction and developed textbooks that were widely used throughout the United States for decades by those learning Chinese.
1901 -- Yale-China Association. The Yale-China Association is established by University faculty and alumni. (See story.)
1961 -- Promoting East Asian Studies. The Council on East Asian Studies becomes part of the Yale Center for International and Area Studies. The council and Yale's Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures offer an extensive array of courses and support research and other activities.
1990 -- China Publication Series. The Yale University Press and the China International Publishing Group launch "The Culture and Civilization of China," a series highlighting the cultural riches of China and presenting the best recent scholarship in both in English and Chinese.
2001 -- Yale President in China. Richard C. Levin becomes the first Yale president to visit the People's Republic of China. During this trip and return visits in 2003, 2004 and 2005, Levin and other Yale delegation members met with Chinese government officials and educators to strengthen ties and lay the foundations for future collaborations.
2006 -- Chinese President at Yale. President Hu Jintao of the People's Republic of China speaks at Yale as part of his first state visit to the United States.
T H I S
Looking Back: Yale & China
W E E K ' SS T O R I E S
University will review its Special Student Program
Thirteen are honored for their work promoting town-gown cooperation
Hu's speech to be broadcast, web-streamed
A lesson in egg-drop engineering
YALE & CHINA: HISTORIC TIES, EXPANDING PARTNERSHIPS
China Playing a Key Role in Internationalization of Yale
Conducting Collaborative Research
Promoting Health in China
Living and Learning Together
Preparing for China's Evolving Future
Forging Mutual Understanding: The Yale-China Association
Looking Back: Yale & China
Symposium honors centennial of astronomy researcher
UAE minister speaks with Yale officials, students . . .
Foreign-language and self-guided audio tours of Yale campus . . .
Research demonstrates that neurons in brain communicate . . .
Symposium on 'Rethinking Historicism' honors Annabel Patterson
Peptide that functions like a nanosyringe offers new tool for drug delivery
Research clarifies how animals perceive environmental odors
In Memoriam: William Sloane Coffin Jr.
Graduating nursing student awarded Nightingale Scholarship
Yale Opera production will feature works by German composers
Next Dean's Workshop will explore flow cytometry research
Center to mark anniversary of city's Holocaust Memorial
Five-year grant supports surgeon's work to develop . . .
Event to celebrate students' written stories about their nursing experiences
Campus Notes
Correction
Bulletin Home|Visiting on Campus|Calendar of Events|In the News
Bulletin Board|Classified Ads|Search Archives|Deadlines
Bulletin Staff|Public Affairs|News Releases|
E-Mail Us|Yale Home