Global China Studies Newsletter, Fall 2013

Abstract



SCHOOL OF HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCE THE HONG KONG UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY Global China Studies Newsletter Fall, 2013 GLOBAL CHINA SEMINARS GLOBAL EXPOSURE INTERNSHIP Editor in Chief: Agnes Ku Assistant Editor & Designer: FeiHuang Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong http://www.shss.ust.hk NEWSLETTER, FALL, 2013 GCS students visiting the News Information Services Division at Television Broadcasts Limited in December, 2012 'Global China' as a New Way of Thinking Whar does it mean w look at China from a global perspective? The term 'Global China' is intended w call forth a new intellectual framework that enables us to explore critical issues relacing ro China comparatively, globally and across disciplinary lines. In the past year, we launched several Global China Seminars to facilitate dialogue and exchange among faculty and srudems in thinking through the meaning of the global, as well as the implications for the local, in the context of Greater China. The discussion indeed inspired us to think about China and the world differently. Global Exposure During the past year, 32 GCS s tudents went on exchange either for one semester in Asia, Europe and d1e United States or for the summer in Shanghai. Experiences such as these expand students' global horizons immensely. As one student puts it, 'the comparative perspective and global experience provided by our Global China Studies program is indeed beneficial for observers of China.' You will find more shating by our students further on in the newsletter. The Jefferson Global Seminars, joinrly organized by the University of Virginia and our School, is another highlight of our global learning ioiriarive. Internship as Social Engagement Over the past summer, we launched ow· first GCS T nrernsh.ip Program on an expansive scale with some 30 students, mosdy from our first cohort, joining me program. As diversity is our hallmark, the internships were wide-rangi ng including (a) mass media, (b) culture and publishing, (c) politics and NGOs, and (d) business corporations. This newsletter features student sharing on d1.cir unforgenable .internship experiences in all these areas. We train our stude nts to be concerned and engaged citizens, globally and locally. --Pro£ Agnes Ku, Associate Dean, SHSS GCS sn1dems in Paris, Spring 2013 .MEDIA INTERNSHIPS 'My second year at UST has been all too wonderful with my perspective being broadened through my internship. Even though working at a TV St.'ltion was nor something I had ever dared dream of, J was given the golden opportunity to work at DTB this past summer. There I encountered great people and was assigned some very exciting tasks. The most unforgettable experience during my internship was being assigned to interview several important figures, including Dr. Ko Wing-man, Secretary for Food and Health. T never imagined T would get to hold a microphone, stand amongst the ocher reporters, and ask pertinent questions.' --Ho Chum Him, Si.mba '1 still remember how e..xcited I was ro find our our School had an internship offer from TVB. Working in the media has been a lifelong dream and I am really grateful ro have been given the chance to intern as a reporter. Working as a journalist is in no way easy; sometimes you have ro wake up very early and other times you have ro go out in .really terrible weather. The upshot is that you have ro know why you love this job and then stick by it. Every day reporters meet different people through their work. If you were impolite, people might refuse ro help you and then you wouldn't be able ro finish the tasks at hand. \Vorse still, people may complain about your bad attitude to your boss. Therefore you have to be passionate and professional in your job and just go for it. During the internship period, l learnt a lor about d1e media industry and tried my best to perform well. I am very thankful ro 1VB and the School for such a great experience.' -- Lingling Ng BUSINESS INTERNSHIPS ''Working in the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong (AmCham) was the most fruitful and valuable internship ever! During the three month internship, I learnt a lot about executing tasks which covered aspects of both government relations and public affairs. I was entrusted with things like providing administrative support for advocacy items relating to the HKSAR Government, and ensuring a liaison between Hong Kong and Washington D.C. The learning journey provided me exciting intellectual challenges and global connections I never had before. Furthermore, a meaningful project, AmCham Annual China Conference - Hong Kong's role in China's next round of reforms, has further cultivated my desire to dig more deeply into recent China issues for my final-year capstone projecL This unique experience has inspired me to keep abreast of current issues in China and the world, and ro become a mo.rc critical thinker. T am so glad to be a GCS student! The Bsc Global China Studies program has provided me with all-round experiences that have definitely enriched my university life! Thank you GCS. '- Wai Tin Ying, Sk)'ing '1 was fortunate to have worked for Goldman Sachs in their Hong Kong office this summer for 10 weeks. The interntailored evenrs have enabled me to understand d1e f.t.rm from multiple perspectives. I was particularly impressed by the unique corporate culture. What I learned from the internship experience is that, skillsets aside, people will evaluate you on three attributes no matter what you are doing: having a hardworking attitude, effective communication and practicing humility. These are important not only for job seeking but for living a healthy well-rounded life in general and so everyone, including me, is better off harnessing and improving d1eir character by talking to different people, learning how ro incorporate constructive feedback, and planning ahead for your future.'- Jin H yung Won CULTURAL INTERNSHIPS 'My internship at the Antiquities and Monwnents Office enriched me with knowledge in museum operation, as well as an understanding of heritage sites and monuments. I understand more about the preservation of historic buildings as well as declared monuments, and appreciate their value in linking the past and present community development in Hong Kong. I found that being an intern is sometimes rough but overall an enjoyable experience.'--Kong Ka Suen POLITICAL & SOCIAL SERVICE INTERNSHIPS Politics and social service include a variety of internships including political parties, NGOs, social enterprises and also the Legislative CounciL Kcivis Li interned as a campaign assistant at Oxfam conducting research on green eating habits, vegetarianism and 'I interned at the Tung Wah Museum, through which I learned a lot about the history of Hong Kong regarding the role played by the Tung Wah Group of Hospitals in society. In particular, l learned how this organization affected the development of medical services, and d1e linkage between China and Hong Kong. I also had the chance to learn and practice archival skills in managing differem sources of documents and information. I am incredibly grateful that my supervisor not only explained every single derail of my work to me, bur the meaning behind ir.'-- Cheng Wing Shan food waste. Other students were exposed to other social issues and got involved in projects in imeresting areas such as organic farming and community work. 'My internship experience at Sino United Publishing has been very inspiring as I learned usefu l out-of-classroom skms in technical areas I've never encountered before. Not only that, J met wonderful friendly staff and coUcagues here that made my journey in d1e company an unforgettable experience.'-- Au Ka Yi, Ada 'Through my internship at Sino United Publishing, T became familiar with the e-book industry and got involved in the Hong Kong Book Fair. The Book Fair was the busiest and most important event for the company and l was glad to be part of the team from the preparation to the cud. It was not just a great learning experience, 1 also made some good friends among the other interns.'- Ngan Yu Ning, Elaine '1 engaged in the major daily operations of the organic farm of a social enterprise. For any occupation, there is specialized knowledge that you can't gain if you don't fully engage yourself. For me this is an u11forgerrable experience. '--Fok Woon On, Winnie 'The internship with a political party provided me with oppornuuties to get in rouch with people from all walks of life, gain first hand experience and know more about social problems people in our society face. lr really was a very meaningful experience.'-Leung Nga Yan,Joanna 'The internship at the Legislative Council far exceeded my expectations, allowing me to have a thorough understanding of the behind the scenes operations of the legislarure.' --Yau Ka Cheuk, Stanley 'It was a rewarding experience working at HKSKY Lady MacLehosc Centre.] gai ned a much deeper understanding of the concept of social responsibility and the missions of HongKong social enrerprises.'-- Chan Yi Yan Global China Se111inars The seminar series starred \vith d1e topic of 'China & the World: Historical & Comparative Perspectives' (Profs. James Lee, Li Bozhong and He Wenkai). The dominant dunking in Western literature views China's development as less advanced than that in the West and seeks to explain why. The speakers instead suggest that we avoid stereotyping either China or the West when comparing them and put things in their proper historical contexts. The discussion also brought to light a global way of thinking by highlighting the lustorical global flow of people, goods and ideas that have made China and the world. Very interesting issues were raised regarding what constitutes China/ the Chinese identity, and the difference between a using national framework and a multi-centric framework to make global comparisons. 'Lots of national narratives emphasize the difference in nationality. Most of social science studies are still trying to put themselves into these frames to prove the staremenr of 'national state', an idea dating back to the 19th or 20th century. Nowadays they still do not open their minds to 6.nding out what .really happens in our society beyond these frames. 'China Studies' implies distinctiveness and centralization while the 'Global China' frame is more open. There is no global study in any other regional study; we are the pioneers.' (Professor James Lee) Other topics include: 'China's Global Relations' (Profs. David Zweig, Barry Sautman, and David Chang); 'Rethinking Global China from Local Perspective~' (Profs. Pun 1 gai, Cai Yongshen, and Ma Jianxiong); 'DecoJlstructing 'China': Chinese & Wes[ern Perspectives' (Profs. Chen Jianhua; Shaw J\.fay-yi; Kenny g). JEFFERSON GLOBAL SEMINARS The Jefferson Global Semmars is a unique program that combines the insrruction of faculty from the L niversity of Virginia and HKL'ST ro offer studenrs from dtffcrcnt umvcrsities a mulri-facered perspecri\'e of their coursework. Dunng the summer of 2013, our School and the l nrerdisciplinar) Program Office at llKL'ST co-bosred the seminar, comprising the modules 'Global llumanities' and 'Global Technology, En\'tronmenr, and Soctcty'. The most exciting thing about the course 'Max \Xebcr, the \X'esr, and the World' jointly taught by Prof. Krishan Kumar, L\'a and Prof. Joshua Derman, H KL'ST, was that everyone contributed. Teachers played key roles as leaders of the discussions, helping to set the agenda for each session and, ar rimes, providing profound insights into students' consultation. llighly motivated college students, of different nationalities and educational backgrounds, spared no effort to explore the possible merits and demerits of every thesis they encountered. It's really worrhwhiJc and beneficial for my academic prospects. For me, to n:ad the original version of fundamental works like The Protes/a111 Etbir a11d t/;e Spitil o/ C.apitrlii.r111 was to gain first-hand knowledge and to communicate directly with the master of the field. Challenging as ir was, J did enjoy every night trying to figure our the inner logic of Weber's theory together with the refutation from the California School and preparing for 'the spark of idcas' the following day. l hope this sort of scminar can be held more and more frequently in the near future! -- Zhang Pengfei @ScieVtces Po) Par-is Undoubtedly exchange was a real eye-opener for me, nor only deepening my knowledge but also introducing a new perspective on life and people. Learning in Paris is full of fun and not restricted ro the classroom. In the course 'History of Paris', we traced the inception of Paris in rcrms of architccrural hisrory and urban planning. StGermain des Pres, Notre Dame, Pont Alexander Tll, Tour Eiffcl and so on are renowned tourist attractions, but they arc also significant architectural structures which represent different pans of Parisian history. Through examining the political, social and cultural reasons these structures were built and the archirccrural features which have specific meanings, we can understand the political siruation and social activities at that rime. T really treasure this learning experience, and this is undoubtedly a very special and precious experience to me as T have never learned history in this way before. -- L:IU Kai Yiu, Yoyo I had many 'firsts' during my exchange program. I tried new food, became a backpacker, talked ro strangers and so much more. The world is huge! There arc so many places you haven't heard of before, and people have their own ways of life there. The world is also small! An airplane rakes you ro anywhere around the world within a couple of hours. This trip equipped me with a better sense of the world and encouraged me to endeavor to know mo re about d1e globe. -- Tai Tsz Yan, Angie GLOBAL E P SURE EXCHANGE @UCLA) U.S. I became clearer about my academic interests after exploting the different disciplines at UCLA During my exchange there, a new world became open to me. The thoughts of philosophers such as ictzsche, Foucault, Bourdieu, Kant, lead, Coffman and Freud have profoundly changed my understanding of modern societies and people around me. More importantly, tl1ey partly answered my question about the meaning of life. lmeracring with friends from various cultural and religious backgrounds, 1 have experienced cultural differences but 1 have learned to listen to the perspectives of people who don't share my ,·alues and co respect their stances. The more effort I make ro develop connections among different people, the more J appreciate my friendships. My understanding of American society and the Western world has expanded and deepened. It in turn has shaped my understanding of Chinese society and culture. My experience proved that the comparative perspective and global experience provided by our Global China Studies program is indeed highly beneficial for observers of China.--Wang Yuqian ~- l n Spring 2013, l obtained the great opporrunity tO study Culture, 1\rt and Philosophy in Seoul National University in Korea. Because l am Korean, to some people, it might seem I didn'r have any new experience or lessons from the exchange program. However, l can say that those classes especially d1e ones related to .\esthetics, are c>:pcriences l treasure dearly. I believe in this spring semester 1 became more confident in my learning and I looked more deeply inside myself. This resulted in me gro,ving up both spirirually and academically. - Kim Hyun-Jcong @SJTU) SltlaVtgltlai During my summer exchange at Shanghai Jiaorong University, l experienced a different type of school life at an elite university in China. 1 also went to almost every part of Shanghai and learnt things about the city's street life rhar rarely appear in academic articles. I also visited places like Suzhou, I lang:thou and Nanjing d1at represent different unique dimensions of China. lt was indeed a fantastic experience that has had an everlasting impact on me.-- Dominic Chan