The Seymour Library welcomes Christina Rewinski from the Connecticut Museum of Culture and History (formerly the Connecticut Historical Society) to tell the story of the little-known but very influential Chinese Educational Mission.

Yung Wing, the first Chinese student to graduate from a U.S. University came to America under the sponsorship of a missionary and received his degree from Yale in 1854.

In 1872 he founded what came to be known as the Chinese Educational Mission, headquartered in Hartford, Connecticut. Over nine years, 120 boys from China came to Connecticut to participate in a cultural and educational exchange program. The boys boarded ships and trains, leaving everything familiar, with the expectations of a nation on their shoulders. The story of the Chinese Educational Mission boys is a story of hopes, dreams, sacrifice, and the life-changing experience of international exchange.

For more information about this free program please call the Library at 203-888-3903. Registration is not needed for this program.