Students from China at Saint John's University

Li You Ching (1926)

The earliest known student from China at Saint John's was Li You Ching. He arrived from Nanjing (Romanized Nanking), China in 1923 as a college preparatory student.  By 1924 he was enrolled as a college business major. Li was a Catholic and was influenced by Father James Walsh of Maryknoll, Ossining, New York, into coming to SJU. Other early students from China include John S. Chow, also from Nanjing; Laurence Tang of Chengdu (Chengtu); and Nen-Lung Sung and Dominic Koo of Shanghai all of whom attended Saint John's in the 1940s. Taiwanese students, including Hsien Ting P. Chen of Tainan and Robert Huang of Keelung, began coming in the 1950s.  The 1950s also saw the first arrival of students from Hong Kong, such as Leslie Chen and Tse Yiu Kai (James).   Enrollment from China and Hong Kong at CSB+SJU peaked with the class of 2013, which had 41 students from the People's Republic of China and three from the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. These international students shared their culture with others through the Asian Student Association and the China Cross Cultural Communication Club. Celebration of the Asian New Year has been a favorite event.