Zhixing China, Shanghai Discovery: DKU’s Presence in Sino-US Exchange

FUDAN UNIVERSITY, SHANGHAI—

A DKU delegation of around 30 American students travelled to Shanghai to participate in a Sino-US educational exchange program at the end of last January.

Titled “Zhixing China: Shanghai Discovery,” the program represented the latest efforts by the Chinese government to back up recent commitments for increased educational exchange for American students in China.

Hosted by the China Education Association for Educational Exchange (CEAIE) and organized by Fudan University, the exchange brought together American and Chinese students studying in universities throughout China, as well as visiting students from the US.

*Students gather in the lobby of the Crown Plaza Shanghai Fudan to set off on the tour.* *Image taken by Graham Wood.*

DKU’s delegation left on Friday, Jan 26 for the four day program which centered around the Fudan Handan campus, but also included excursions around Shanghai to historical locations, community facilities, companies, and more.

The choreographed government tour followed Chinese President Xi Jinping’s announcement at the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) conference in San Francisco last November of the invitation of 50 thousand American students to China over the next five years for educational exchange and study.

Participants were divided into four groups differentiated by topics concerning urban life including “Public Governance and Sustainability,” “AI Intelligence and Modern Life,” “Social Change and Heritage Protection,” and “Urban Planning and Development.”

Fudan Campus

Part of the campus tour of Fudan University’s Handan Campus, students visit the Center for American Studies (复旦大学美国研究中心). The center is the “first entity researching on American studies in institutes of higher learning” in China.

The tour of Fudan included a visit to both the Handan (邯郸校区) and Jiangwan (江湾校区) campuses. The Handan campus saw the visit of the Center for American Studies (CAS, 复旦大学美国研究中心), where students were introduced to the oldest school of American studies in China and participated in traditional Chinese cultural activities.

*American and Chinese students view a recording of the 40th President of the United States, Ronald Reagan, deliver a speech to Fudan University on April 30, 1984 at the Xianghuitang Theater.*

Students toured the Xianghuitang Theater where they watched a speech by President Ronald Reagan delivered in the same hall in 1984.

*A “flexible fabric display system” showcased at a laboratory on Fudan’s Jiangwan campus.*

At the Jiangwan campus, attendees toured Fudan’s laboratories of molecular engineering of polymers and advanced materials.

Shanghai

The tour featured leading companies in industries including robotics, AI and health care, primarily in the Pudong District as well as a historical location named Zhang Yuan (张园), an old longtang district that has been repurposed into a shopping mall.

A Night on the Bund

Concluding with a river cruise, US Consular General of Shanghai Scott Walker, Chinese Minister of Education Huai Jinpeng (怀进鹏), a Representative from the Shanghai Municipal Government, President of Fudan University Jin Li (金力) and Vice Chancellor of NYU Shanghai Jeffrey S. Lehman, gave concluding remarks.

Chinese Leader Xi & Small Town USA

In addition to organizing American and Chinese students from universities throughout China, the Chinese government flew out a delegation of students from Muscatine High School of Muscatine, Iowa, to Beijing who visited the capital and Hebei Province before arriving in Shanghai for the final tour.

Invited personally by Chinese leader Xi Jinping, the invitation of Muscatine High School followed a letter from Sarah Lande, a Muscatine resident who hosted Xi and his colleagues for dinner during their agricultural research tour of the US in 1985.

In the letter, Lande asked President Xi to include consider students of Muscatine among the 50 thousand he proposed to visit the People’s Republic in the next five years.

The Shanghai tour also saw the flying in of American “Chinese Bridge” (汉语桥) competition participants. A competition for Chinese language proficiency for foreign students, Chinese Bridge or “Hanyuqiao” is a subsidiary of the Center for Language Cooperation under the Chinese Ministry of Education (MOE).

Graham Wood

Graham Wood is the Deputy Editor-in-Chief of The LilyPad. Fourth-year Political Science student under the Global China Studies Track at Duke Kunshan University in Kunshan, Jiangsu Province, China. Passionate about all things China, whether it be Chinese language, politics, economics, history, or culture, I work to bridge gaps in knowledge and communication between the East and West.