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On a rainy November morning at Guangxi University in
Nanning, China, just north of the border with Vietnam, two faculty
colleagues and I walked into a convert hall behind our hosts. After we
seated ourselves, we listened to a concert of traditional Chinese
music, played on traditional Chinese instruments, some of which had
been hand made by the Guangxi Music faculty. The students were dressed
in colorful Chinese costumes, and the music they made was delicate and
other worldly. The music stopped. The students readjusted themselves,
and they suddenly burst forth in a lively rendition of John Philip
Sousa’s “Stars and Stripes Forever” on those same traditional Chinese
instruments! It was a moving and almost giddy moment for the three
American guests of honor. Later that morning, my colleague, Grammy
Award winning Angelin Chang, retuned the favor by laying classical
piano pieces for our Chinese hosts and giving a maser class to some of
their best music students. That morning, music built bridges that mere
talk could not.
This was just one stop on a successful 11-day, five city tour that I
took last November with my colleagues Dr.Qingshan Tan, a professor in
our Department of Political Science and Dr. Chang. I had wanted for
some time now to open our college up to China, and over the summer of
2013 the opportunities arrived…all at once. The purpose of this
particular trip was to explore partnerships with three different
Chinese institutions of higher education: Guangxi University, Jilin
University (in Shenyang), and Northeast University (in Changchun),
each of which had previously expressed interest in cooperating with
CSU. (We also had encouraging discussions with the leadership of the
Shanghai Conservatory of Music.) At each stop, we typically met with
deans and faculty leaders in the areas of music, English, and
political science. The food and the hospitality were unparalleled. The
CSU delegation gave lectures or performances to eager student
audiences. (Dr. Tan spoke on Sino-American relations, and I spoke
about the state of the humanities in America.) A full range of
partnership activities, including student exchanges, faculty
exchanges, joint degree programs, and summer programs were considered.
Moreover, several of the universities were interested in recruiting
American students to come to China to teach English. As an earnest on
future cooperation, we signed Memoranda of Understanding with each of
the three universities.
A trip like this, wonderful as it was, is only the first step in the
long process of building active and productive inter-university
partnerships. International partnerships, like flower gardens, need
constant tending. Last year we were fortunate to have a visiting
scholar from Jilin University, Ronglan Zhu, in our Department of
Modern Languages. Next year we will host another such scholar. These
human connections are invaluable for making our ties concrete. In
addition, over the spring semester I will be working with our
colleagues in the College of Education and Human services to craft a
2+2+1 program in English and the Teaching of English as a Second
Language specifically for Chinese students and looking for CSU
graduates who might be interested in traveling to China to teach
English. These efforts will, we hope, fully integrate CLASS into the
larger CSU initiative of building ties to that giant, ancient, and
emerging neighbor just across the Pacific. |
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