The first wave of study in the US by students from the PRC came in the early 1980s, when the mainland first allowed such study after the establishment of formal diplomatic relations between the US and the PRC. The second wave began after the June 4 Tiananmen Incident. We are currently in the third wave. One side seems to be ascending, the other declining.
自美中（共）建交後，大陸開始准許學生出國留學，形成第一波留學熱；一九八九年六四天安門事件後，開始第二波留學熱，現在則是第三波留學熱。