East Asia

The University of Pennsylvania’s engagement with China and East Asia is marked by a proud tradition of ‘firsts’ and a long history of two-way exchange of talent and ideas in research, education, and service.

Beginning in the early 19th century, graduates of Penn’s medical school were among the first physicians to introduce Western medicine in China. By the late 19th century, Penn’s first Japanese student received a Bachelor of Science (in 1879) and Penn’s first Chinese student received a doctorate in dental medicine (in 1899). In 1909, Kwang Pu Chen became China’s first graduate of the Wharton School and in short order went on to establish himself as a pivotal and innovative figure in the history of modern Chinese banking. Penn has also graduated more than two dozen Chinese students of architecture and design who, in the early twentieth century, returned to China to establish the field of modern architecture.

Penn is also among the first universities in the United States to offer courses on East Asian studies and language. In the 1920s, Penn began to offer degrees in the Department of Oriental Studies, which has since become the Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations. After World War II, the University then spearheaded the study of modern East Asia, leading to the founding of the Center for East Asian Studies in 1995. Since, engagement with China and East Asia has surged, anchored by the establishment of the Center for the Study of Contemporary China in 2012, the opening of the Penn Wharton China Center in Beijing in 2015, and the dedication of the James Joo-Jin Kim Center for Korean Studies in 2024, which has led to the creation of many new initiatives, innovative programs, and collaborative events that advance the frontiers of education and research on the region and the East Asian diaspora.