The Beijing Center

the beijing center for chinese studies

NEWS & EVENTS

CELEBRATING QINGMING JIE AT MATTEO RICCI’S TOMB!

04/06/2016

Although to the best of my knowledge none of this year’s Ricci class has any actual ancestors buried in China, we did visit something of an honorary ancestor: Matteo Ricci. Over the last year we’ve traced his life, voyaging from Rome to Beijing, seeking fame, fortune and adventure (or at least successful research projects). Thus, it was fitting that we should pay our respects at his grave in Beijing over the Tomb Sweeping Day (清明节, Qingming Jie) weekend.

EMPEROR QIN’S TERRA COTTA ARMY (秦陵兵马俑)

03/31/2016

For many years now, I have been building up a bucket list. Learn Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, Italian, Gaelic, Portuguese, etc. Go to every Disney Park in the world. See the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Eat at restaurant in France that has three Michelin Stars. The list keeps growing with each passing day and I wonder if I will ever complete it; however, just recently, I checked a big one off that list on my trip to Xi’An (西安): I saw Emperor Qin’s Terra Cotta Army (秦陵兵马俑).

GETTING AROUND BEIJING

03/27/2016

Although I’d always considered myself a city person, coming to Beijing was my first encounter with a public transportation system of this size. Minneapolis has a fairly decent bus system and recently added a new line to the light rail, but compared to the double decker buses and sprawling subway system of Beijing, Minneapolis seems incredibly small.

CHINESE NEW YEAR: YEAR OF THE MONKEY

02/20/2016

2016 is the year of the monkey and London held quite a celebration for this Chinese New Year. People of all ages and backgrounds were in attendance and it was exciting to experience the largest Chinese New Year celebration outside of Asia. With events being held in Trafalgar Square and nearby China Town there was an abundance of things to see and do, as people rang in the new year.

欢迎来云南！WELCOME TO YUNNAN! PART 1!

02/19/2016

The Beijing Center takes students on a two-week excursion every semester. In the fall, students travel the route of the Silk Road; in the spring, students travel around the Yunnan Province. Yunnan means “south of the clouds” and its weather is known as being eternal spring. It’s the furthest province south in China, bordering Myanmar and Burma. I’ll be writing about my day to day experiences and perceptions of China for the next two weeks of my excursion travels.

欢迎来北京！WELCOME TO BEIJING!

02/01/2016

Being in Beijing for the past two weeks has been quite an experience! After getting off our 13-hour flight and getting through customs we hopped on the bus and headed to UIBE (University of International Business and Economics) in Beijing. Since it was dark out, it was hard to make out the details of the city, but it was intriguing to see the night light of Beijing with street vendors and tons of motorcyclists weaving through people and traffic.

WHY STUDY ABROAD?

11/30/2015

The best way to learn about another culture is to walk in its shoes. There is no greater way to understand another culture without submersing yourself fully into its environment. The opportunity to study abroad will be a life changing and benefiting experience, where you will bring back cultural knowledge to help our nation better understand the world.

TRAVELING DURING NATIONAL HOLIDAY

11/26/2015

When you choose to study abroad, you hope that you get to travel so you can make the most of the experience. Early on in the semester, you could already hear of the different travel plans other students were trying to fit into our semester here in Beijing. Xi’an, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Thailand and Korea were just some of the many options we all had to choose from. While on the Silk Road trip a few months back, some of us asked Bill, one of the TBC staff members, what he recommended we do for the National Holiday Break that we were all eagerly anticipating. Quite frankly, he said “Leave China”.

SHANGHAI ADVENTURES

11/25/2015

At the beginning of October, China had its National Holiday. This meant that we would have our first semester vacation! A group of friends and I decided that it was time to go to Shanghai and explore this popular metropolitan area. We booked flights and an Airbnb and headed down for a long weekend adventure.

Tags

Student Footprints

Global Connections

Academic Highlights

Cultural Dialogues

Feature post