University of Minnesota and China
1914
University Professor Richard Mather established
the Chinese language and literature program at the
University of Minnesota3.
1922
Wong Jee Lum, who earned a doctorate in dental surgery in 1922, was
the first Chinese student to graduate from the School of Dentistry1.
1952
Joseph Ling earned his doctorate in sanitary
engineering in 1952 and became a distinguished
environmental engineer and vice president at 3M4.
1962
The University welcomed the Foo-Hsing Theatre from Taiwan, whose
performance troupe included 50 Chinese children1.
1945
The University worked with the Food and Agricultural Organization of
the United Nations to welcome 10 Chinese students to the University
to study agricultural engineering. They went on to become the first
generation of agricultural engineering scientists in the People’s Republic
of China2.
1914
- 3 students
1924
- 11 students
1934
- 11 graduate students
2009
1995
1949
The first three students from
China—Pan Wen Huen, Pan
Wen Ping, and Kwong Yih
Kum—enrolled at the University
of Minnesota1.
Chinese Student Enrollment Trend9
Celebrating 100 Years of Engagement
The University of Minnesota-Morris signed a partnership agreement
with Shanghai University of Finance and Economics. The partnership
offers qualified Chinese students the opportunity to complete their first
year of baccalaureate study in Shanghai and then transfer to the Morris
campus. Students then earn a bachelor’s degree from the University of
Minnesota7.
President Nils Hasselmo led
two University presidential
delegations to China in 1995
and 19962.
2001
1979
Regent Wenda Moore headed the first University of Minnesota
delegation to China2.
University of Minnesota
and China:
2013
The University of Minnesota-Duluth’s
Labovitz School of Business and
Economics course “Business and Economy
in China” took students to China to tour
various companies and learn about doing
business in China8.
100-Year History Timeline
President Eric Kaler led a University presidential delegation to Hong
Kong, Shanghai, Beijing, Tianjin, and Taipei. He renewed agreements
with nine partners including the Chinese Academy of Sciences2.
The Carlson School of Management’s China Executive Master of Business
Administration program was established in 2001 in collaboration with
Sun Yat-Sen University Lingnan College6.
1981
Ralph Rapson, head of the School
of Architecture, sent the first
group of architecture students
to Tianjin University in Tianjin,
China, in 19815.
1944
- 36 graduate students
2011
The University’s American Cultural Center for Sport was established to
bring culturally oriented instruction, exchanges, and engagement to Chinese
people. It is a collaboration between the University of Minnesota’s China
Center and School of Kinesiology, and Tianjin University of Sport2.
1954
- 54 graduate students
1964
- 198 students
1974
- 401 students
1984
- 602 students
1994
- 767 students
2004
- 897 students
2013
2014 marks the 100th anniversary of the
first students from China at the University
of Minnesota. Today the University boasts
some 10,000 Chinese alumni and has sent six
presidential delegations to China, leading to
more than 30 current strategic partnerships with
Chinese universities. University students are
studying in Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau,
and Taiwan while world-renowned University
faculty members are working with Chinese
researchers to address some of the world’s most
pressing problems. The University of Minnesota
anticipates another 100 years of spectacular
exchange with China!
www.china100.umn.edu
- 2,815 students
1914 - 2014
University of Minnesota and China:
100-Year History Timeline
1914 The first three Chinese students enrolled at the University of Minnesota:
Pan Wen Ping, Pan Wen Huen, and Kwong Yih Kum (Harding). They all
played on the University soccer team and made significant contributions to
the championship won during the 1914 season.
1915 The Chinese Students’ Club at the University was founded. For more than
four decades, the student organization created opportunities for students to develop
fellowship, especially among Chinese students.
1916 Journalist and statesman Ng Poon Chew was invited to speak at the University.
He was known as the “father of Chinese journalism on the West Coast,” and was the
first known person from China to give a presentation on the University campus.
1918 The foremost woman physician of China, Dr. Kin Yamai, gave a lecture on
China and the war. She was hosted by the University’s student organization, the
Cosmopolitan Club.
1919 Chinese students at the University staged a drama, titled “In the Last Days of
the Manchus,” written by Chinese student Lin Shuming, who was a junior in the
College of Agriculture.
1919 The University’s Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA) created the
campaign “The Women of Minnesota for the Women of China” and raised $1,700 for
alumna Alice Anderson to work in China for five years as a special representative of
the University at the international YWCA.
1921 University Professor Harold S. Quigley, from the Department of Political
Science, taught at Tsinghua College in China from 1921 to 1923. During his stay, he
developed personal contacts with Chinese leaders including Dr. Hu Shih, philosopher
Liang Chi-chao, General Chiang Kai-shek, Feng Yu-hsiang, and others.
1921 The University provided funds to the American Relief Administration to address
famine in China. The University’s Chinese Students’ Club staged a play titled “The
Double Tenth” to raise funds.
1924 University Professor Dr. Marshal Hertig received funding from the Rockefeller
Foundation to do research on the control of the disease known as Kala-azar in China.
1925 University Professor C. Walter Young, from the Department of Political
Science, was awarded the Willard Straight Fellowship to perform research in China.
In 1932, Young served on the Manchurian Commission of Inquiry in Shanghai. Sir
Eric Drummond, secretary-general of the League of Nations, appointed him to this
position.
1926 Kuo Pingwen gave a lecture on the University campus titled “The Student
Movement in China.” He was from National Southeast University in Nanking, China.
1927 Alumnus Perry O. Hanson, who was the principal of the Academy for Chinese
Boys at Taianfu, Shantung, published an announcement in the Minnesota Alumni
Weekly requesting funds to support his initiatives in China. He established two
middle schools in Taianfu.
1934 Alumnus C.F. Remer published a book titled “Foreign Investment in China.”
The book was translated into Chinese and is considered to be the first on the topic of
foreign investments in China.
1935 The University displayed an exhibit of Chinese robes and puppets on campus.
1938 Dr. Hu Shih, a famous Chinese philosopher and author, visited the University
and gave a lecture titled “Chinese Nationalism.” Some 40 Chinese students met with
the distinguished philosopher.
1944 Diplomat Hilda Yen delivered a lecture titled “Spirit of New China” on campus.
1945 10 students sponsored by the Chinese government arrived at the University
of Minnesota. After receiving master of science degrees in agricultural engineering
and completing a one-year farm internship, the students returned to China in 1948
and became the first generation of agricultural engineering scientists in the People’s
Republic of China.
1948 The Chinese Students’ Club, which was renamed the Chinese Students
Association, was well established. Members of the organization were from diverse
provinces in China and across the U.S. They held academic seminars and believed
“the future cooperation in the reconstruction of China can be started here.”
1949 University Professor Richard Mather established the Chinese language
and literature program at the University of Minnesota.
1953 University Professor Werner Levi published a book titled “Modern China’s
Foreign Policy” that was published by the University of Minnesota Press.
1956 There were around 80 Chinese students on campus and University Professor
O.M. Leland hosted a holiday party for the students in Dinkytown.
1960 University Professor Richard Mather offered the first graduate courses in Chinese
at the University. Graduate assistantships were offered along with these courses.
1960 The University welcomed the Foo-Hsing Theatre from Taiwan, whose
performance troupe included 50 Chinese children.
1967 The Chinese American Association of Minnesota was established and had close
relationships with the Chinese student organizations at the University. This is the first
time that the professional, business, ministry, and student communities of Chinese
Americans in Minnesota worked together under one organization.
1967 Well-known artist Zhao Rulan of Harvard University delivered a lecture about
the Peking opera at the University.
1973 University Professor Robert J. Poor visited China and gave two lectures. He
went as part of the second U.S. delegation to China after U.S. President Richard
Nixon’s trip in 1972.
1973 The Chinese government invited University Professor Chih-Chun Hsiao to give
a lecture in China. He had the distinction of being one of the first U.S.-based, Chinaborn scientists to receive such an invitation.
1973 The National Chinese Opera Theatre from Taiwan performed at the University.
The company of 80 presented singing, dancing, mime, ritual sword fighting, the art
of Kung Fu, and acrobatics.
1974 An agricultural delegation led by University alumnus and Henan
Agricultural College Professor Wu Shaokui was the first Chinese delegation
to visit the University. This delegation was sponsored by the U.S. National
Academy of Science’s Committee on Scholarly Communication with the
People’s Republic of China.
1974 Alumnus and 1970 Nobel Peace Prize recipient Dr. Norman Borlaug traveled to
China with President Richard Nixon’s delegation in 1972 and again in 1974 as part
of a U.S. agricultural science delegation. He traveled extensively throughout China
for the next three decades.
1974 University Professor Jack C. Merwin, from the College of Education and Human
Development, joined the first delegation of professional educators to China.
1975 University Professor Huai C. Chiang, who is credited for the extensive
agricultural research partnership between the University and China, was invited to
visit China by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences.
1975 The Chinese Student Service Center was established, and the University’s
Coffman Memorial Union hosted an exhibit on Chinese calligraphy and painting.
1976 University faculty joined representatives from the Minnesota business
community to visit five cities in China.
1978 A Chinese geography delegation led by Dr. Huang Bingwei, director of the
Institute of Geography at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, visited the University.
This delegation visited 24 cities and 16 universities in the U.S., and is regarded as the
“icebreaker journey” of geography exchanges between the U.S. and China.
1979 The University sent its first delegation to China, led by Regent Wenda
Moore, where four agreements were signed with Chinese universities. The
delegation was received by Chinese Vice Prime Minister Fang Yi at the Great
Hall of the People.
1979 The University established the “China Desk” (precursor to the China Center) to
build bridges between the University and the greater China area.
1979 University Medical School Professor Paul Quie and Professor Philip Peterson
hosted visiting scholar Dr. Wu Xi-Ru, a research fellow in pediatric neurology. Dr. Wu
went on to become a famous Chinese pediatric neurologist.
1980 The University student band toured China as the first foreign band to the
country after the Cultural Revolution.
1980 University students participated in the first study abroad program to China
titled “Summer Intensive Chinese Language Institute” at Nankai University. The
program had 37 total participants from the University and other U.S. universities.
1981 University President C. Peter Magrath led the first University
presidential delegation to China. They met with more than 100 alumni who
brought pictures from their years in Minnesota and sang the Minnesota
Rouser together, which President Magrath noted as the most moving moment.
1981 The Chinese women’s national basketball team visited the University and
played exhibition games against the Gopher women’s basketball team.
1981 Ralph Rapson, head of the University’s School of Architecture, sent the first
group of architecture students to China. It offered them the unique opportunity to
observe, understand, and record challenges faced by the newly industrialized country.
1982 University of Minnesota-Duluth Professor Cheng Khee Chee, a world-renowned
watercolor artist, led the campus’ first art craft tour to China.
1982 The University’s College of Veterinary Medicine collaborated with the Beijing
Agricultural University to host a symposium in Beijing, China.
1982 The Chinese national hockey team competed in an exhibition game at the
University.
1984 The University of Minnesota-Duluth campus established a three-year scientific
exchange program with China. The campus also established an exchange agreement
with Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts.
1985 The University hosted delegations from the Chinese Ministry of Culture,
Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chinese Academy of Social Science, Fudan University,
Beijing Agricultural University, Jilin University of Technology, Nankai University, and
Xi’an Jiaotong University.
1986 The University hosted delegations from Henan Agricultural University, led by
President Jiang Jianping; Tsinghua University, led by Vice President Zhang Guangdou;
and Central-South University of Technology, led by President Wang Dianzou.
1987 The University’s China Center sponsored two Chinese plays, “Rickshaw Boy”
and “Thunderstorm,” performed by the Nankai University theater group.
1988 The University hosted visits from Tian Jiyun, vice premier of the People’s
Republic of China; Han Xu, Chinese ambassador to the U.S.; and Vinston A. Lord,
U.S. ambassador to the People’s Republic of China.
1989 The University’s student organization Friendship Association of Chinese
Students and Scholars responded to the Tiananmen Square tragedy by forming the
Subcommittee for Chinese Democracy.
1992 The University’s China Center published the book “East Gate of Kaifeng: a
Jewish World Inside China.”
1992 University Professor Robert J. Poor was invited to participate in the first joint
China and U.S. archaeology expedition.
1993 The University hosted a Mid-autumn Festival Party at the University Arboretum.
1994 24 students from Taiwan’s National Tsing Hua University participated in a
Summer English Language and Culture short course held on campus.
1995 University President Nils Hasselmo led the second University presidential
delegation to the greater China area. The visit represented a strong effort by the
University to reconnect and develop strong ties with Chinese alumni and friends.
1995 The first University of Minnesota Alumni Association chapter in China
was formalized in Beijing.
1996 University President Nils Hasselmo visited China and Taiwan. During the trip,
he awarded an honorary doctorate degree to Professor Tang Peisong, the father of
plant physiology, who was 94 years old at the time.
1996 Tsiang Yien-Si received an honorary doctorate of law degree from the University.
Tsiang received master of science and doctorate degrees from the College of Agriculture
in the 1940s and was known for six decades of public service in Taiwan. He was also
well known for his role as a key architect of the Taiwan Economic Miracle.
1997 University of Minnesota Alumni Association Taiwan Chapter President Arnold
Chang led a delegation to visit the University.
1998 University President Mark Yudof joined Minnesota Governor Arne Carlson on
a trade mission to China and was welcomed by the University of Minnesota Alumni
Association chapter in Beijing.
2000 University President Mark Yudof led the fourth University presidential delegation
to the greater China area. He visited Hong Kong, Guangzhou, Xi’an, Beijing, Guilin,
and Taipei to promote educational, business, and alumni ties spanning decades.
2001 With official approval by the Chinese Ministry of Education and the
Academic Degrees Committee of the State Council, the Carlson School of
Management established its China Executive MBA (CHEMBA) program in
Guangzhou, in collaboration with Sun Yat-Sen University Lingnan College.
2001 The University’s China Center established the Mingda Institute for Leadership
Training with the first trainees arriving from the Administrative Department of
Zhejiang Province.
2002 Jiang Zhenghua, vice chair of the Standing Committee of the Chinese National
People’s Congress, visited the University. He was the highest-ranking Chinese official
ever to visit campus. An agreement between the Chinese National Bureau of Statistics
and the University’s Minnesota Population Center was announced.
2002 The University’s Institute of Technology offered its first Global Seminar in
China.
2002 China West Educational Investment Corporation made a donation to the
University’s China Center to establish the China West Scholarship. This was the first
scholarship endowed by a China-based company at the University and supported
students interested in studying abroad in China.
2003 The “Summer in Minnesota” picnic for Chinese students, scholars, and their
families and friends was held in June at Como Park.
2004 University President Robert Bruininks led the fifth University presidential
delegation to the greater China area, and visited partners and alumni in Beijing,
Shanghai, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, and Taiwan.
2005 The first bilateral research forum between the University and the Chinese
Academy of Sciences was held in Beijing.
2006 The University’s Law School collaborated with China University of Political
Science and Law to offer a master of laws program and a summer study abroad
program to China.
2006 University of Minnesota-Crookston Vice Chancellor Joe Massey and Chancellor
Emeritus Donald Sargeant traveled to Hangzhou, China, to develop cooperative
agreements with Zhejiang Economic and Trade Polytechnic.
2007 China’s State Food and Drug Administration sent a delegation of 20 government
officials to attend a two-week training program on “Food and Drug Administration in
the United States” at the University.
2008 The Confucius Institute at the University of Minnesota was established to
promote the study of Chinese language and culture throughout Minnesota. It is a
collaborative initiative between the University of Minnesota, the Confucius Institute
Headquarters, and Capital Normal University in Beijing.
2008 A Taiwanese delegation led by Chiang Pin-Kung, vice chairman of the Chinese
Nationalist Party, visited the University. The group included several Taiwanese
legislators from the Chinese Nationalist Party and the Democratic Progressive Party.
2009 The University’s Law School collaborated with China’s Renmin University to
offer a summer study abroad program about Chinese law.
2009 The Chinese Ministry of Education sent a delegation of 20 Chinese university
presidents and vice presidents to the University for a two-week training program on
higher education policy and administration.
2009 The University’s first international office was established in Beijing to
promote alumni relations, support international admissions, and facilitate
partnerships in China.
2009 The University of Minnesota-Morris signed a partnership agreement with
Shanghai University of Finance and Economics.
2010 The Beijing Municipal Government sent a delegation of 22 government officials
for a two-week training program on social work management at the University.
2011 Governor Zhao Zhengyong and his delegation from Shaanxi Province,
Minnesota’s sister state in China, visited the University.
2011 The University’s American Cultural Center for Sport was established in
collaboration between the University of Minnesota’s China Center and School of
Kinesiology, and Tianjin University of Sport.
2011 The University’s Medical School, Masonic Cancer Center, School of Public
Health, and College of Science and Engineering hosted the honorary doctorate
conferral ceremony for China’s Minister of Health Chen Zhu.
2013 The University of Minnesota-Crookston partnered with Zhejiang Economic and
Trade Polytechnic to establish the American Cultural Center for Culture Exchange in
Hangzhou, China.
2013 University President Eric Kaler led a delegation to Hong Kong, Shanghai,
Beijing, Tianjin, and Taipei. It was the sixth University presidential delegation to the
greater China area.
You can also view the timeline and accompanying photos online at:
www.china100.umn.edu.
About China 100
China 100 is a yearlong celebration honoring the first students from
China and the wealth of connections that have come since. It is a
University-wide celebration made possible through coordination by
the University of Minnesota’s China Center, Beijing Office, and the
Global Programs and Strategy Alliance. Learn more about China 100 at
www.china100.umn.edu.
Research for China 100 materials including the website, historical
timeline, alumni stories and biographies, and exhibition were conducted
by China Center Project Assistant Hui Bi under the direction of China
Center Assistant Director Mandy Bai. A special thanks to the University
of Minnesota Archives, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities and all
of the people who contributed their stories, photos, and time to the
project.
Footnotes
1
Image courtesy of the University of Minnesota Archives, University of Minnesota
2
Image courtesy of the University of Minnesota China Center
3
Image courtesy of Joseph Allen
4
Image courtesy of Weiming Lu
5
Image courtesy of Tom Walsh
6
Image courtesy of Carlson Global Institute
7
Image courtesy of the University of Minnesota-Morris
8
Image courtesy of the University of Minnesota-Duluth
9
Available enrollment data varied by year. For academic years from 1930 to 1955,
only the number of Chinese graduate students was available. Prior to 1980, the
total count of Chinese students was not consistently inclusive of Mainland China,
Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan.
© 2014 Regents of the University of Minnesota. All rights reserved. The University of
Minnesota is an equal opportunity educator and employer.