“Long story short, I was in the middle of Beijing, in traffic, and no idea where Forbidden City was… Before I knew it the taxi driver and I were having an exciting conversation about crazy Chinese foods and making jokes! At that moment I realized the vast improvement I have made in my speaking abilities.” Tiana Winstead {Rhodes College}
Housing We offer two housing arrangements in Beijing: the International Student Dorm for Popular Culture and Social Change students and host families for Intensive Chinese Language students. Find your footing on campus with help from your Chinese language partner. These local students will meet with you a few times per week for one-on-one tutoring and introduce you to Beijing’s youth culture.
Activities Outside the classroom, we arrange weekly cultural activities that allow you to explore another side of Beijing. • Try your hand at Chinese calligraphy
or martial arts • Tour the peaceful maze of traditional
hutong neighborhoods near Houhai Lake • Get the inside scoop on contemporary
art with lectures from local musicians and filmmakers • Meet with U.S. and foreign diplomats
stationed in Beijing • Volunteer with local non-profits pro-
moting English language literacy
POPULAR CULTURE AND SOCIAL CHANGE This semester program invites you to examine the currents driving contemporary Chinese society through the lens of popular and political culture.
If you want to make rapid gains in Chinese language, this program is for you, with 20 hours of full-immersion language instruction per week and a language pledge.
Academics
Academics You enroll in a 6-credit Chinese language course, plus an English-taught core course and two electives worth 3 credits each, for a total of 15 credits. You complete a capstone research project as part of the core course. No prior language study is required. REQUIRED COURSES CHIN 100-600 Chinese
INTENSIVE CHINESE LANGUAGE
You enroll in 15 credits of Chinese language study. You may also take one optional 3-credit course in English from the Popular Culture and Social Change program’s electives. Two semesters of Chinese language study are required prior to arrival. REQUIRED COURSES
Language
SOCI 260 Contemporary Culture and Social
Change in China
ELECTIVE COURSES FILM 360 Contemporary
China through Film
IAFF 370 Continuity and Change in Chinese Foreign Policy MUSC 365 Chinese Culture through the Contemporary Music Scene
CHIN 200-600 Intensive
Chinese Language
Field Study Trip Your language skills are put to work on a week-long field study trip outside of Beijing in destinations such as Yunnan Province. China’s linguistic landscape is richly textured, and getting out there to speak to people is the best way to explore it!
Field Study Trip Our week-long field study trip introduces you to China’s social, economic, and geographic diversity in destinations such as Qinghai Province. Explore the unique cultures of different ethnic communities and come back with greater context for your understanding of Beijing. Study in Beijing
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