麻豆视频

Some years ago, there was a student at the 麻豆视频 who had never spoken Mandarin and never been to China, who had the opportunity to study abroad in China and then to major in Chinese at CU after returning.

The experience was life-changing and horizon-broadening鈥攏ot only for that student but also now for those who benefit from that alum鈥檚 generosity.

Four years ago, the CU-Boulder Center for Asian Studies received a $1.2 million gift from the Tang Fund of New York. The largest endowed gift ever made to the center was designed to allow students to experience China through a study abroad program.

The anonymous donor鈥檚 gift stemmed from the first-hand experience of studying abroad and the desire to share that experience with those who might not otherwise have the chance.

The program has been even more successful than anticipated, say the center鈥檚 director and faculty members who have led the resulting study-abroad courses.

鈥淭he gift has been doing exactly what it was supposed to do,鈥� said Laurel Rasplica Rodd, the center鈥檚 director. Three summer programs have been led by a diverse group of faculty members including those specializing in journalism, geography and the humanities.

After returning from studying in China, students characterize their experience with words like 鈥渢ransformational,鈥� Rodd said. 鈥淚t opens their eyes to an area they had not considered.鈥�

Rodd began teaching in 1974, a time when her field, Japanese, was a 鈥渞eally exotic language.鈥� Now, Japanese is the fourth most-studied foreign language in the United States. And today, Asia is 鈥渃entral to just about every decision we鈥檙e going to make in the future.鈥�

The new program is not restricted to students majoring in Asian Studies and seeks to expose a broad spectrum of students to Chinese culture, Rodd said. The program also differs from many study abroad programs in that most expenses are covered by the endowed gift.

Anja Lange, instructor in CU-Boulder鈥檚 Herbst Program for Humanities for Engineers, led the first summer study abroad session funded by the Tang Fund.

鈥淲hat I really enjoyed is that I got to take students who could otherwise not afford to go,鈥� Lange said.

Lange鈥檚 course included about half engineering students and half non-engineering students. A dozen joined her in China in 2010.

鈥淚t鈥檚 a course that appeals to everybody because it鈥檚 an introduction to China. But once we are on-site 鈥� I can actually challenge each student individually, because the course is so small,鈥� Lange said.

Lange took her students to Jiatong University in Xi鈥檃n, famous for its terracotta warriors inside the Qin Shi Huang Mausoleum.

The course took place on Jiatong University鈥檚 campus. The students lived in dormitories and fraternized with Chinese students, most of whom study engineering.

鈥淭hey can really experience, to some extent, the life of a Chinese student,鈥� Lange said. In the process, students study contemporary and historical China. Most students couldn鈥檛 distinguish dynasties when they apply, she said.

鈥淏ut by the time they leave Xi鈥檃n, they know what the Tang Dynasty is, and they can even tell you what makes Tang Tang.鈥�

鈥淚 had many students who had never been abroad, who had never experienced jet lag.鈥� Once they recover from the journey, they begin an intensive program of language and other instruction, along with academic excursions in the evening.

The course itself is in cultural studies. Lange uses text that explores 鈥渢he other鈥� and the perspective one takes on another culture. One example is 鈥淭he Good Earth,鈥� the controversial novel by Pearl S. Buck.

After CU-Boulder students are introduced to real Chinese students in their homeland, they discuss 鈥淭he Good Earth鈥� from the divergent vantage points of America and China.

鈥淚t all depends on perspective: Who are we? Who are they?鈥� Lange added: 鈥淪o the course really aims at breaking down barriers of prejudice, fear 鈥μ� and you see how comfortable (the students) feel after four weeks, when at first they were very fearful about even venturing out, because it鈥檚 a different place,鈥� and because western students tend to look different from their peers in the East.

鈥淚f you have a 20-year-old student who鈥檚 never been abroad, China is quite a leap to take.鈥� But for those willing to take that jump鈥攖o grapple with a difficult language, to be an object of curiosity, to feel extraordinarily out of one鈥檚 element鈥攊t can be rewarding, Lange said.

She cites one student of applied mathematics who now works in Namibia. The student told Lange: 鈥淚 always imagined my life to be in some little cubicle, but now I realize there is so much I can do with my applied-math degree. I had no idea I could go out and help the world with a math degree.鈥�

鈥淚鈥檓 not making Chinese experts. You come home, and you know a little bit about Chinese culture,鈥� Lange said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 really about navigating culture.鈥�

Meg Moritz, a journalism professor who led the 2011 Tang Fund study-abroad course, helped her students view China through the lens of the mass media.

Moritz鈥� course was called China through Time, which examined China from the different viewpoints of Time magazine and the nation on which it focused much of its journalistic energy. Through the decades, Time has dedicated more than 100 cover stories to China, and the magazine鈥檚 founder Henry Luce, was born in China.

鈥淭hroughout most of the 20th Century, Time magazine was extremely influential and Luce was fiercely anti-Communist. Almost every reference to China was a reference to 鈥楻ed China,鈥� a term journalists no longer use.鈥�

Moritz took 11 students to Beijing and Shanghai after guiding them through several seminars in Boulder.

Students met with western and Chinese journalists, including the Beijing bureau chiefs of Reuters, CNN and The Christian Science Monitor along with correspondents from Time and Al Jazeera, the Arabic news outlet based in Qatar.

Students also had thoughtful discussions with journalists from CCTV, China鈥檚 major broadcaster, China Daily, Beijing News and Shanghai Media Group.

Students would compare two different media outlets, say NPR or CCTV or China Daily. They follow the itinerary of President Nixon鈥檚 landmark 1972 visit to China. 鈥淏y time we ended, we鈥檇 met with 15 journalists and writers,鈥� Moritz said.

Additionally, CU students met with Chinese students for journalism exercises at four different universities. Besides the classroom portion of the course, CU students mingled with Chinese students their own age.

In the process, they had to reassess or at least defend their views of the respective virtues of the American and Chinese press. 鈥淚 tried to get them to look very hard at ways in which the U.S. press exercises censorship,鈥� Moritz said, adding:

鈥淭his idea that the U.S. has a free press and China does not is simplistic.鈥�

Some of Moritz鈥� students say the experience transformed their view of China and the world. 鈥淭ravel is an education experience in and of itself.鈥�

For more information about the CU-Boulder Center for Asian Studies, see听.