Yung Wing, who was born in a village in southern China in 1828 and became the first Chinese person ever to be educated at a major US college, graduating from Yale in 1854. He returned to China and visited the Taiping rebel capital of Nanjing, giving active consideration to helping them in their struggle to overthrow the Manchu government. He was a part of the missionary Christian community of the United States, and a great believer in the strengths and benefits of Western civilization, but also fiercely patriotic and proud of being Chinese.