"A study has now found that some of the ancestors of Native Americans in the Americas included people from China! It does appear counterintuitive as China and the US are separated by the vast Pacific Ocean and human migrations, particularly in prehistoric periods did not appear to involve crossing of large water bodies. It was widely held before that ancestors of Native Americans came from modern-day Siberia. They crossed the prehistoric land bridge that joined eastern tip of Russia with Alaska and entered the American continent.

"But now, a research says that the some of those people who migrated to the Americas included those from China.

“'Our findings indicate that besides the previously indicated ancestral sources of Native Americans in Siberia, the northern coastal China also served as a genetic reservoir contributing to the gene pool,' said Yu-Chun Li, one of the report authors as quoted in a report by The Guardian.

"Li also added that during what was called the second migration, some of the people of that lineage settled in Japan.

"Kunming Institute of Zoology researchers studied the lineage known as D4h. It is associated with Mitochondrial DNA which is passed on to next generation only by mothers.

"The team of researchers analysed 100,000 modern and 15000 ancient DNA samples to hunt for D4h. The researchers at the end, landed on 216 contemporary and 39 ancient individuals.

"They studied the mutations that had occurred over time. By looking at the samples' geographical location and by using carbon dating, the researchers were able to get an idea of D4h's origin and expansion history."

You can read a lot more in an article edited by Manas Joshi and published in the wionews.com web site at: https://www.wionews.com/science/some-ancestors-of-native-americans-came-from-china-says-study-590927

I found it interesting that the study claimed it was not a one-time migration. It stated there were a number of different migrations and some perhaps were by different routes.