California dreaming through Chinese eyes

Chinese have been a big part of California's success story. From the arrival of immigrants during the California Gold Rush after 1840, to the beginnings of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Chinese have helped make California what it is today.

The world-famous rocket science center was co-founded in the 1940s by a multicultural group of five Caltech doctoral candidates performing experiments with rocketry.

One of those students was Qian Xuesen, a graduate of Shanghai Jiaotong University, who earned a Master's degree at MIT and went on to Caltech. He became a jet propulsion professor at the university, even applying for US citizenship in 1949.