The University of Michigan in China

The friendship between the University of Michigan and China spans more than a century and a half. Through years of peace and years of war; through political turmoil and the shifting winds of public opinion; since the first years of U-M’s Ann Arbor campus and the last years of China’s Qing Dynasty, the University and China have been partners. 

This book tells the story of twenty remarkable individuals, the country they transformed, and the University that helped them do it. There are many “firsts” in this book—first Chinese students at U-M, first female college president of China—and there are many “fathers” of disciplines: Wu Dayou, father of physics in China; Zheng Zuoxin, father of Chinese ornithology; Zeng Chengkui, father of marine botany. 

While much has been written about these leaders and scholars in both English and Chinese, nowhere else is their collective story told or their shared bond with the University of Michigan celebrated. 


The University of Michigan in China celebrates this nearly 200-year-old legacy.