Whitman Summer Studies in China

Contents

Program Summary

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The Whitman Summer Studies in China (WSSC) program is a six-week academic program administered by Whitman College in cooperation with Yunnan University in Kunming specifically for Whitman students interested in Chinese Studies. The purpose of the program is to give students an opportunity to study conversational Chinese intensively in an environment where it can be put immediately into practice, as well as a chance to learn firsthand about Chinese culture and contemporary society by living and studying there.

Location

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The WSSC program is located in Kunming, the capital of Yunnan Province in China's southwest. Kunming is a city of 3.5 million set in a valley beneath the Western Hills and known for its year-round spring-like climate. While the city is rapidly modernizing, one can still find pockets of "old Kunming" such as the traditional architecture in the Moslem quarter of the city. Yunnan Province itself offers tremendous opportunities for understanding various cultures within China. The province is one of the most ethnically diverse provinces in China with 24 different ethnic minorities represented. The province is also strikingly beautiful with everything from towering mountains adjoining Tibet in the north to lush jungles bordering Laos and Vietnam in the south.

Host University

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Yunnan University is a comprehensive, national university founded in 1922 with a current study body of approximately 20,000 undergraduate and graduate students. Whitman students attending the program will study at Yunnan University's Center for Chinese Studies, which specializes in teaching Chinese as a second language and hosts about 200 foreign students per year.

Calendar

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WSSC Informational Meeting
Tuesday, October 23 at 4pm in Olin 157

Program Dates for Summer 2008
May 26 thru July 8, 2008

Academic Program

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The academic program is intensive and designed for students who are serious about improving their spoken Chinese language skills and eager to learn about Chinese society firsthand. Program participants are required to enroll in a 4-credit language course, either Chinese 110 or Chinese 210, and a 2-credit seminar in Chinese Studies for a total of 6 credits.

CHN 110: Conversational Chinese I - 4 credits

Instruction

This course will be taught by a Chinese language instructor from Yunnan University. This course teaches conversational Chinese based on the vocabulary and sentence patterns the students have learned from Chinese 105 and 106, plus new phrases the students will need living and studying in China. Classes meet 3 hours per day, 5 days per week for a total of 60 hours.

Prerequisite

Chinese 106 or its equivalent and admission to the Whitman Summer Studies in China (WSSC) Program.

CHN 210: Conversational Chinese II - 4 credits

Instruction

This course will be taught by a Chinese language instructor from Yunnan University. This course teaches conversational Chinese based on the vocabulary and sentence patterns the students have learned from Chinese 205 and 206, plus new phrases the students will need living and studying in China. Classes meet 3 hours per day, 5 days per week for a total of 60 hours.

Prerequisite

Chinese 206 or its equivalent and admission to the Whitman Summer Studies in China (WSSC) Program.

Learning farming practices

AsnS 200: Summer Seminar in Chinese Studies: History of Ethnic Interactions in Yunnan - 2 credits

Instructor

Brian Dott, Associate Professor of History, Whitman College.

Instruction

This course is a general introduction to the history of peoples in Yunnan. Yunnan is the most ethnically diverse province in China and one of the last to be put under central administrative jurisdiction. In the course we will examine interactions between different ethnic groups in Yunnan from the Qing dynasty (1644-1911) up to the present through reading both primary and secondary sources. Classroom work will be supplemented with field trips to important cultural and historic sites in Kunming and in the northwest part of the province.

Special Feature

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Lunch with Language Partner Chinese Language Partners

One special feature of the WSSC program is the Chinese Language Partner component, designed to give students an opportunity to practice their Mandarin Chinese on a regular basis with a Chinese college student. Each Whitman student is paired with an undergraduate student at Yunnan University. During their meetings twice per week, the students are expected to speak primarily in Chinese and encouraged to visit interesting sites together in the city, such as the wholesale flower market or a local tea house.

Chinese Friendship Families

A second special feature of the WSSC program is the Friendship Family program, which is intended to facilitate cultural understanding. One or two WSSC students are assigned to a Chinese family (usually a professor from Yunnan University Whitman students with Chinese Friendship Families and his/her family) with whom they get together once per week for a family activity, such as a home-cooked Sunday dinner or making a day trip to the countryside to visit relatives. This part of the program gives WSSC students a unique opportunity to witness contemporary Chinese family life.

 

Academic Travel

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Students with Village Chief in Napahai a Tibetan Village Academic travel is incorporated into the seminar course. In 2006 the group visited Shanghai, China's commercial and financial capital, as well as several important neighboring towns in this flourishing region on China's eastern seaboard. During the four weeks of intensive language study at Yunnan University in Kunming, the seminar lectures were augmented with field trips in the Kunming area. At the end of the program, the group traveled to northwestern Yunnan Province to the Naxi town of Lijiang and the predominantly Tibetan town of Zhongdian to learn about environmental issues being tackled by China's ethnic minorities. Erin and Hongnoc enjoying the family hearth with Naxi host

Staff

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The Faculty Director of the program is a Whitman professor who accompanies the group to China and provides oversight for the academic program while in China. In 2008 the Faculty Director will be Dr. Brian Dott, Associate Professor of History at Whitman College.

Dr. Dott received his Ph.D. in Chinese history from the University of Pittsburgh in 1998. His field of research is Chinese popular culture during the late imperial period (1500-1911). His book Identity Reflections: Pilgrimages to Mount Tai in Late Imperial China examines the religious practices of a wide spectrum of Chinese society through examining pilgrimages to a sacred mountain in Northern China. His current project is an exploration of the cultural impact of the introduction of the chili pepper from Central America into China. He teaches courses such as Modern East Asia, Early China, Modern China, Modern Japan, Gender in Chinese History and Chinese Revolutions.

Dr. Dott has lived for extended periods in both Mainland China and Taiwan. Most recently, in the summer of 2006, he conducted research for his project on chili peppers in Beijing, Shanghai and Kunming. He also spent time familiarizing himself both with the exchange program at Yunnan University and with the city of Kunming.

Housing and Meals

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Program participants will live in the Foreign Students' Dormitory on the Yunnan University campus along with other foreign students at the University. The rooms are basic, compact double bedrooms with a private bathroom. As a developing country, China's living conditions can be challenging for those who are used to the quality of facilities and infrastructure in the United States. For example, you may not have a telephone in your room and hot water for showers may only be available evenings in the residence hall. Students attending this program will need to be flexible about their living environment.

Students are provided with a weekly meal stipend for purchasing their meals and may choose from a wide variety of places to eat around campus. Yunnan University's student cafeteria is conveniently located near the Foreign Students' Dormitory providing Chinese dishes and snacks at a reasonable price. Numerous small restaurants surround the campus, including some offering western-style meals.

Eligibility

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Requirements for admission into the WSSC program include the following:

  1. Completion of at least 2 semesters of college-level Mandarin Chinese language

  2. Minimum cumulative grade point average of 2.8

  3. Status as a current student at Whitman College

Applications

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Applications are due January 24, 2008 for the Summer 2008 Program. You may download a PDF version of the following forms:

Whitman Summer Studies in China (WSSC) Application

Fees

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The program fee for Summer 2006 was $4200. (Fees for 2008 will be announced Fall 2007.) The program fee covers the following: tuition and room, meal stipend, orientation in Kunming, all group travel, program excursions and field trips, roundtrip airfare to travel with the group departing from Seattle, medical insurance in China, and visa fee.

The program fee does not cover passport fees, U.S. medical insurance, or incidental expenses such as laundry, stationery items, books, souvenirs, entertainment or independent travel.

Enrollment Deposit

Students admitted into the program will be expected to pay a nonrefundable enrollment deposit of $300 by February 21, 2008.

Financial Aid

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David Deal China Exchange Endowment

This endowment provides funding for scholarships to students who wish to attend the Whitman Summer Studies in China Program. Scholarship awards are based on financial need and merit. (Please note that regular Whitman financial aid and federal and state aid may not be applied to the fees of the Whitman Summer Studies in China Program. However, students who have additional federal loan eligibility may be able to obtain additional loan for participation on this program. For questions about loans please contact the Office of Financial Aid Services.)

Freeman Asia Awards

Through an IIE-administered program, generously supported by the Freeman Foundation, the Freeman Awards for Study in Asia program (Freeman-Asia) offers up to $3000 in financial assistance to undergraduates who study in East and Southeast Asia during the summer months. For further information and to access the on-line application, please see the IIE Freeman Asia website.

Comments From Past Participants

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"I gained a greater understanding of China from major cultural differences. China has very different standards for government, academics, beauty, social life, and food than the United States, for example some of us ate chicken feet, considered to be a delicious snack in China."

"Also, I learned about China's environmental problems for the first time, as we saw and experienced smog and other forms of pollution and then met with some of the Chinese people who are trying to work out solutions."
Sarah Anderson, Summer '06 Participant

"This experience gave me a much better understanding of China than I had had before. It was particularly helpful and interesting studying in China because we were able to immediately apply what we were learning in the classroom. Because we studied Chinese in Kunming and traveled in the Northwest Yunnan Province we were able to experience both city and rural life as well as understand some of the differences both linguistically and environmentally."
Chantal Stieber, Summer '06 Participant

"Going to China taught me that people are basically the same the world over, and that nationalistic fervor and predudice has no place in the 21st century. Perspective, perspective, perspective....people speak about the Whitman bubble but they fail to acknowledge the American bubble, which is infinitely more harmful because it sets a bad example of stubborn, selfish nationalism for other countries. Though the chinese people were fairly positive about America, they taught me to see the shortcoming's of the "american dream". Hopefully being back in the U.S. won't lead me back to complacency. I hope you will consider taking time to participate".
Jonathan Rue, Summer '06 Participant

"Living in Kunming for a summer was an excellent opportunity for language and cultural immersion.  Not only did I benefit from the three hours of language class every morning, but I grew even more from living and speaking in the native language environment around the clock.  The people of Kunming are so welcoming and friendly that I had no trouble making friends outside of the program.

The small size of each class gave us the chance to receive personal, individualized attention from the teachers.  In addition to teaching in the classroom, they invited us to their houses on weekends to learn about other aspects of culture, such as making Chinese dumplings and tasting special local teas.  It was even my language teacher who helped me find a local music teacher, giving me the chance to embark on the study of a classical Chinese musical instrument.  I feel that, in addition to becoming a second home, living in Kunming for a summer helped me begin to understand a culture previously foreign to me.  I'd repeat the experience in a heartbeat."
Michael Pinkham, Summer '04 Participant

"The Whitman Program in China was a great way for me to be introduced to Chinese people, culture and language.  China can be an overwhelming place and I was more than impressed with Whitman's guidance and subsequent encouragement to go out and explore.  The program is unique because we had the comfort of a relatively familiar group of Whitties to hang out with, but also had the opportunity to independently meet Chinese friends through the study partners, friendship families, and activities the program sponsors.  I appreciated the small, intimate conversational classes, the regal accommodations, and (of course) the great food. "
Patricia Hayward, Summer '04 Participant 

This program is funded by the David Deal China Exchange Endowment created from the generous gift of an anonymous donor in honor of David Deal, Professor of History.