AS 236 - Exploring China: Business, Culture & Language

• Gain valuable insight into Chinese business, culture, and language
• Three credits in Asian Studies
• Beijing, Xi'an, and Shanghai will be visited
• No prior knowledge of Chinese required

Highlights

• Attend seminars (in English) given by Chinese and American scholars on diverse topics ranging from Chinese economics, globalization, and US-China relations to environmental challenges
• Debate and discuss social, political, and economic issues with students from Beijing University
• Learn survival Chinese in real-world situations, and practice Chinese while doing business with local people
• Visit China's "Silicon Valley" in Beijing, a Chinese auto manufacturer in Shanghai, and American Chamber of Commerce-Shanghai office
• Visit Chinese traditional hospital, a mountain village, a doctor's family, and migrant worker's dwelling
• Talk to Vanderbilt alumni who are working and doing business in China
• Field trips and sightseeing tours to the Great Wall, Tian'anmen Square, Forbidden City, 798 Art Village - Beijing's equivalent of Greenwich Village - , Olympic Park, Shanghai World Financial Center, the tallest building in the world, Terracotta soldiers in Xi'an, and much more

Student Comments

What a phenomenal trip! It has been a great pleasure traveling to China these last few weeks. I have experienced the rigors of the fastest-growing economy in the world, have witnessed globalization's effects on a developing nation, have become more in tune with the human element of China (which is all too often lost in textbooks), and have become more enlightened about a culture that thinks in ways fundamentally different from my own. I am extremely fortunate to have had this opportunity in a world where China is of ever-increasing importance, and I really do look forward to going back one day.

Student Comments

I enjoyed my time here thoroughly, and made many friends (and maybe enemies with the vendors) along the way. I practiced my Chinese with natives. I learned many useful facts and tips about working in China as a profession. I went to places in China way off the beaten path which gave me an idea of how the majority of China really was. This was one of the most memorable experiences of my life.

Student Comments

My favorite experiences in China (the mountain village, the Great Wall, perusing history museums, the lectures and open discussions with students, touring the heart of Beijing on limited Chinese, and speaking with the gentleman at the American Chamber of Commerce about real Chinese business and government) are all derived from a desire to experience what I came to believe as real China, one of the most intricate, exciting, and novel places an American can visit.

Contact

For more information, contact Professor Xianmin Liu at xianmin.liu@vanderbilt.edu.