Bates Semester In Nanjing, China

During fall semester 2000, Bates College will sponsor a semester-abroad program in Nanjing, China, where currently enrolled students and entering first-year students can study Chinese language, culture and economics. No prior experience with Chinese language is required.
Beginning in late August, students participate in a one-week orientation program on the Bates campus. The orientation session gives students information on social conditions in China, teaches some basic sentence patterns and phrases in Mandarin and prepares students to get along in Chinese society.
Between September and December, students continue their language instruction in Nanjing at the level that best suits their proficiency. Students also take two courses taught by Bates faculty in English. Students live in a dormitory for international students at Nanjing University. Each dormitory room is air conditioned with its own bathroom. Students can choose either a Bates student or a Nanjing University Chinese student as a roommate.

Nanjing, also known in English as Nanking, (meaning "southern capital") has served as China's capital for six dynasties since the third century, and has a recorded history dating back to the Warring States Period (476-221 B.C.). Today, Nanjing is a modern metropolis with a population of approximately 4.5 million, and is one of China's major cultural centers. The downtown area is a green and pleasant place, with broad, tree-lined boulevards.
Nanjing University, one of the top three universities in China and the first to enroll international students, is generally acknowledged as having the best Chinese-as-second-language program in Asia.

Self and Society in Chinese Culture:
Classics and Folktales
Professor Shuhui Yang
This course explores concepts of self and society expounded in classics and reflected in traditional tales, popular stories and legends. How does selfhood differ in East and West? How do heroes and protagonists diversely express their authors' vision? How do stories, poems and plays express and/or reveal different views on interpersonal relationships? Such questions will be approached from both literary and nonliterary perspectives. The first half of the course is devoted to the reading of a number of classical texts of Confucian, Taoist and Buddhist thoughts, and the second half to literary works in which these thoughts are reflected.
China's Current Economic Situation:
Achievements and Controversial Issues
Professor Margaret Maurer-Fazio
China, which now has the world's third largest economy, has experienced stellar economic growth and performance in the post-Mao period. Gross National Product today is more than four times its 1978 level. One hundred and sixty million people have been raised above the poverty line - one of the greatest improvements in human welfare anywhere at any time. The dynamism of China's economy creates opportunities and challenges for itself, for its trading partners and for its East Asian neighbors.
This special-topics course investigates the policies and institutions that have contributed to China's recent economic and social development as well as some of the controversial issues that challenge China today. Topics examined include: the decollectivization of agricultural production, the surplus rural labor force, family-planning policies, the Three Gorges Dam, the reform of the social-security system, the effects of the reforms on women's status and the environmental effects of the rapid growth of the last two decades. These issues are explored both inside and outside the classroom.
Intensive Chinese
Professors from Nanjing University
Courses at beginning, intermediate and advanced levels, taught by professors from Nanjing University, are designed to help students conduct themselves in the surrounding culture. All the courses work toward a rapid improvement of comprehension, speaking, reading and writing skills.
Extra Curricular Opportunities
Lessons in martial arts, Tai Chi Chuan (Taiji), Chinese painting, calligraphy and traditional Chinese music can be arranged.

Margaret Maurer-Fazio, co-director, assistant professor of economics and member of the Asian Studies Committee at Bates, speaks fluent Chinese and is knowledgeable about modern and contemporary Chinese society and economics. She has visited China a number of times, beginning in 1981, and also lived in Taiwan for two years while studying Chinese and carrying out dissertation research. Her current research focuses on labor-market issues in China. She took students to Taiwan in 1996 and co-directed the 1997 Bates Fall Semester Program in Nanjing. She traveled extensively in China with students in the spring of 1999 while teaching environmental protection and economic development issues.
Shuhui Yang, co-director and associate professor of Chinese, is an expert on Chinese literature, philosophy and society. He was born and raised in China and is a native speaker of Chinese. His current research focuses on Ming and Qing Dynasty vernacular fiction, a genre that originated in the area where the program is based. In 1996, he took students to Beijing, Taishan and Qifu, Confucius' hometown. In 1997, he co-directed the Bates Fall Semester program in Nanjing.
Rosey Ling Peng, program assistant, was born and raised in Taiwan. She is a native speaker of Chinese. After graduating from university, she worked as television news anchor in Taipei. She also served as an assistant in Chinese language at Bates College from 1997 to 1999. She is currently a teaching fellow in Chinese language at Vassar College.

Extensive travel within China is an integral part of the program. We plan to visit:

Silk Road sites in China's Northwest
The bustling port of Shanghai
The Great Wall and Forbidden City in Beijing
The underground, life-size terra cotta army of the Qin dynasty (221-206 B.C.) in Xi'an
Tibetan villages and temples in the legendary Shangri-la area of Yunnan
The Shaolin Temple in Henan, famed for its martial arts
Other relevant sites.

This program is an integral part of the Bates curriculum. Completion of fall semester 2000 provides participants with four Bates credits, three in Chinese language and culture, and one in economics. Grades count toward students' cumulative averages.

All expenses, including travel to and from China and course-related field trips, are covered by regular Bates fees. Students may want to bring personal spending money for entertainment, gifts and weekend trips not part of the program.

Entering first-year students and interested students from other colleges should contact one of the program organizers listed below.

For on-campus Bates students, there will be information sessions about the program at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 17, 1999 and at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 26, 2000 in Room G65, Pettengill Hall.

Professor Margaret Maurer-Fazio
Department of Economics
276 Pettengill Hall, Bates College
Lewiston, ME 04240
(207) 786-6087
Fax: (207) 786-8338
e-mail: mmaurer@bates.edu

Professor Shuhui Yang
Chinese Language and Literature
203 Hathorn Hall, Bates College
Lewiston, ME 04240
(207) 786-6406
Fax: (207) 786-8331
e-mail: syang@bates.edu

Georgette Dumais
Hathorn Hall Administrative Assistant
200 Hathorn Hall, Bates College
Lewiston, ME 04240
(207) 786-8293
Fax: (207) 786-8331
e-mail: gdumais@bates.edu