Bates Fall Semester Abroad, China
Professors Yang (Chinese) and Maurer-Fazio (Economics)
During the fall semester 2006, Bates students, including entering first-year students, can study Chinese language, culture, and economics in Nanjing, China. Nanjing served as China's capital for six dynasties and has a recorded history dating back to the Warring States Period (476–221 B.C.E.) Today Nanjing is a modern metropolis of 6 million people, and one of China's major cultural centers. In addition to course work, the program includes travel to Shanghai, Beijing, the Silk Road of northwest China, Manchuria, Inner Mongolia, and Tibetan counties in western Sichuan. No prior experience with Chinese language is required.
The program begins in late August with one-week orientation on the Bates campus, which provides information on social conditions in China, teaches basic Mandarin sentence patterns and phrases, and prepares students to get along in Chinese society. Between September and December, students continue language instruction in Nanjing, and they take two courses taught by Bates faculty. Students live at Nanjing University.
CoursesBSAN 001. Self and Society in Chinese Culture: Classics and Folktales.
This course explores concepts of self and society expressed in classics and reflected in traditional tales, popular stories, and legends. How does selfhood differ in East and West? How do heroes and protagonists diversely express their authors' vision? How do stories, poems, and plays express and/or reveal different views on interpersonal relationships? The first half of the course is devoted to the reading of classical texts of Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism, and second half, to literary works in which these ideas are reflected. Open to first-year students. S. Yang.
BSAN 002. China's Economy: Selected Topics.
China has experienced stellar economic growth and performance in the post-Mao period. Its economy is now the world's third largest. Hundreds of millions of people have been raised above the poverty line—one of the most significant improvements in human welfare in history. The dynamism of China's economy creates opportunities and challenges for itself, its trading partners, and its East Asian neighbors. This course investigates the policies and institutions that have contributed to China's economic and social development as well as some of the controversial issues that challenge China today. Topics include the decollectivization of agriculture, the surplus rural labor force, family planning policies, the Three Gorges Dam, the reform of the social security system, the effects of reforms of women's status, China's entry into the World Trade Organization, and environmental effects of economic growth. Open to first-year students. M. Maurer-Fazio.
BSAN 003. Intensive Chinese I.
Open to first-year students. Staff.
BSAN 004. Intensive Chinese II.
Open to first-year students. Staff.