Monday, June 19 — The first Chinese student to graduate from an American college was Yung Wing, a naturalized American who received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, this month in 1854. That year, some 16,000 Chinese immigrants arrived in California, though ensuing restrictions greatly reduced the annual arrivals for decades thereafter.
Today, there are almost 4 million Americans of Chinese descent, and they are no longer a rarity on college campuses. Over two-thirds of the school age Chinese-American population have a college background or are currently enrolled in undergraduate programs or graduate school. Twenty-seven percent of Chinese-American adults have graduate or professional degrees.
You can find more facts about America’s people, places and economy, from the American Community Survey here.
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