Tsinghua's far-flung sons and daughters

NEW YORK - As Beijing Tsinghua University celebrates its 100th anniversary, the university estimates that approximately 20,000 graduates are overseas, with the majority in North America and about 10,000 in California's Silicon Valley, says alumni organizer Yu Jiangtao, in an interview with China Daily.

"Silicon Valley is probably the world's central hub for hi-tech, biotech and clean-tech companies," she says. "Many Tsinghua graduates go abroad for higher education and quite a good percentage of them go on to find jobs in the Silicon Valley area."

Tsinghua is considered to be the most prestigious university in China, counting numerous top-level government officials among its alumni. Notable Tsinghua scions who have achieved great success in Silicon Valley include Feng Deng, the founding managing director of Northern Light Investment, Xie Qing, a co-founder of Netscreen and founder of Fortinet, which went public in 2009, and Wu Ping, who upon returning to China established Spreadtrum, a Nasdaq-listed company.