Welcome!

Whether it is your first time in China or if you have visited several times before, The Beijing Center is the best place to discover, engage, and dialogue with China.

A word from simon koo - executive director of TBC

Welcome to the Beijing center!

The Beijing Center for Chinese Studies (TBC) provides a unique environment for students from all over the world to begin their engagement with China. Our mission is to promote mutual understanding between China and other cultures. What makes us unique is our placement in a long and storied tradition of Jesuit education, one that teaches us that true cultural engagement starts first with friendship.

Matteo Ricci, S.J. (利玛窦) came to Beijing in 1601. Like TBC students today, he and his companions studied the Chinese language and culture and used that knowledge to engage in the academic life of the day. Like our students today, these people were great adventurers and showed great courage, humility, and respect for what they found here. Ricci found a particularly close friendship with Xu Guangqi (徐光启), who taught him the Chinese way of life. In turn, Ricci shared his knowledge of the West. We seek to follow in these footsteps as we provide students with the supportive environment to start their own adventures in China.

We achieve our mission by offering an outstanding immersive semester abroad program, short-term programs tailored for your group’s best initial engagement with China, and a research library with over 27,000 volumes in English used by scholars not only in China, but from around the world. We achieve our mission with TBC’s professional and dedicated staff.

So whether you are a newcomer or an old China hand, the experiences TBC provides will change and challenge the way you think about China and in turn, change your life.


SIMON KOO (古嘉文) – TBC Executive Director

Simon Koo 古嘉文
Simon Koo 古嘉文Ph.D. Purdue University

Executive Director

Based in Beijing

 

Dr. Simon Koo joined TBC in 2017, bringing over a decade of teaching, research, and administration experience in higher education. He is currently the Executive Director of TBC.

Interests
  • International Education
  • Social Entrepreneurship
  • STEM Education
  • Data Science