Photo, above: The Chinese Educational Mission Building in Hartford, 1887. This photograph shows the building at 352 Collins Street, Hartford, after it had become Bowen’s School for Boys    --Connecticut Historical Society.

Yung Wing was the first Chinese student to be graduated from a university in the United States. A former resident of Avon, Wing was a political activist, reformer, and educational pioneer who helped bridge cultural gaps between the US and China in the 19th century. Born in 1828, Yung Wing grew up in poverty near Macao, a Portuguese colony in China. He attended missionary schools there and in British-owned Hong Kong. When Reverend Samuel Robbins Brown, the headmaster of the school in Hong Kong, returned to the US in 1847, he brought Wing and two other students with him.

Yung Wing lived with the Brown family and attended Monson Academy in western Massachusetts. In 1850, he enrolled in Yale College and just two years later became a US citizen. In 1854 Wing earned his BA from Yale. Although other Chinese students had attended US universities by this time, Wing was the first to graduate from one.

Upon returning to China, Wing lobbied the Chinese government to establish a program allowing Chinese students to study overseas. His efforts came to fruition with the establishment of the Chinese Educational Mission (CEM) in 1872. The program sent 120 Chinese boys to the United States over a four-year period. Yung Wing returned to the US to oversee the program’s implementation.

JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW

Hour One

Sunday  5 May   2014 / Hour 1, Block A: People's Liberation Army Navy: Combat System Technology, 1949-2010 by Bussert, James C. and Elleman, Bruce A. (1 of 2)

Sunday  5 May   2014 / Hour 1, Block B: People's Liberation Army Navy: Combat System Technology, 1949-2010 by Bussert, James C. and Elleman, Bruce A. (2 of 2)

Sunday  5 May   2014 / Hour 1, Block C: The Lucky Ones: One Family and the Extraordinary Invention of Chinese America by Ngai, Mae (1 of 2)

Sunday  5 May   2014 / Hour 1, Block D: The Lucky Ones: One Family and the Extraordinary Invention of Chinese America by Ngai, Mae (2 of 2)

Hour Two

Sunday  5 May   2014 / Hour 2, Block A: American Phoenix: The Remarkable Story of William Skinner, a Man Who Turned Disaster into Destiny by Kilborne, Sarah S. (1 of 4)

Sunday  5 May   2014 / Hour 2, Block B: American Phoenix: The Remarkable Story of William Skinner, a Man Who Turned Disaster into Destiny by Kilborne, Sarah S. (2 of 4)

Sunday  5 May   2014 / Hour 2, Block C: American Phoenix: The Remarkable Story of William Skinner, a Man Who Turned Disaster into Destiny by Kilborne, Sarah S. (3 of 4)

Sunday  5 May   2014 / Hour 2, Block D: American Phoenix: The Remarkable Story of William Skinner, a Man Who Turned Disaster into Destiny by Kilborne, Sarah S. (4 of 4)

Hour Three

Sunday  5 May   2014 / Hour 3, Block A: Escape from North Korea: The Untold Story of Asia's Underground Railroad by Kirkpatrick, Melanie  (1 of 4)

Sunday  5 May   2014 / Hour 3, Block B: Escape from North Korea: The Untold Story of Asia's Underground Railroad by Kirkpatrick, Melanie  (2 of 4)

Sunday  5 May   2014 / Hour 3, Block C: Escape from North Korea: The Untold Story of Asia's Underground Railroad by Kirkpatrick, Melanie  (3 of 4)

Sunday  5 May   2014 / Hour 3, Block D: Escape from North Korea: The Untold Story of Asia's Underground Railroad by Kirkpatrick, Melanie  (4 of 4)

Hour Four

Sunday  5 May   2014 / Hour 4, Block A: Fortunate Sons: The 120 Chinese Boys Who Came to America, Went to School, and Revolutionized an Ancient Civilization... by Leibovitz, Liel and Miller, Matthew (1 of 4)

Sunday  5 May   2014 / Hour 4, Block B: Fortunate Sons: The 120 Chinese Boys Who Came to America, Went to School, and Revolutionized an Ancient Civilization... by Leibovitz, Liel and Miller, Matthew (2 of 4)

Sunday  5 May   2014 / Hour 4, Block C: Fortunate Sons: The 120 Chinese Boys Who Came to America, Went to School, and Revolutionized an Ancient Civilization... by Leibovitz, Liel and Miller, Matthew (3 of 4)

Sunday  5 May   2014 / Hour 4, Block D: Fortunate Sons: The 120 Chinese Boys Who Came to America, Went to School, and Revolutionized an Ancient Civilization... by Leibovitz, Liel and Miller, Matthew (4 of 4)

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