Since 1986, the Johns Hopkins University - Nanjing University Center for Chinese and American Studies (hereinafter referred to as the "Hopkins-Nanjing Center") has always adhered to the characteristics of cross-linguistic, cross-cultural, cross-disciplinary, and cross-border talent cultivation, and has become an educational platform for cultivating international talents with a broad international outlook, profound humanistic background, and a good understanding of different languages and cultures, as well as strong professional knowledge and the ability to solve complex problems.
In this issue, we focus on exploring the dimensions of "cross-culture" and "cross-discipline". Through the perspectives of two current students of the class of 2023, we show how they realize the deep integration of culture and cross-boundary knowledge in the unique educational environment of the Hopkins-Nanjing Center.
Cross-Culture (Zhou, XinYu):
Dialogue and collision of different cultures happen every day in the Hopkins-Nanjing Center. I still remember the first time I chatted with everyone in the hallway in front of my dorm room at night, the first time I ate Indian food, the first time I identified a burger and a sandwich, the first time I made dumplings together, and the first time I participated in a cocktail party....... The cross-cultural environment gives every day of my life here a chance to open the door to a new world.
I think the most memorable part was the holiday party that my classmates worked together to organize. On Halloween, everyone dressed up the Center inside and out, with everyone wearing elaborate costumes. In addition to a variety of games, the students and teachers built an immersive and interactive "haunted house" in the gym. There was a long queue of people, one time was not enough for many of them. In the evening's costume show, Jacqualine and I acted as hosts, inviting the contestants on stage to show off their costumes and organizing the voting for the best costume. That night was both thrilling and memorable!
I remember when it snowed heavily in Nanjing just before Christmas, the students ran up to the terrace and started to roll snowballs and have snowball fights, and the whole Center was filled with an exciting and happy atmosphere. On Christmas Day, students dressed up the whole Center as a cozy "living room", sat down together, enjoyed a buffet dinner prepared by the Center, and exchanged gifts under the Christmas tree in the student activity room.
Oh yes, there was also the Center's popular "Contemporary Chinese Cinema and Social Culture" class! In this class, both Chinese and foreign students worked together, from topic selection to planning, from script to shooting, to complete the work together. At the end of the day, the four "cinema-quality" films were shown in the Kuang Yaming Lecture Hall of the Center, which attracted many students and teachers of the Center to come and watch.
I think the cross-cultural atmosphere of the Center is just in the smallest of things. Here, everyone is brave to express themselves, and at the same time, they understand each other through communication and cooperation. This is the most attractive part of life at the Center.
Cross-Discipline (An, Kang):
Interdisciplinarity was a popular term during my undergraduate years, after all, the modern academic community can easily become "big but not strong" because of the overly decentralized division of disciplines, and someone has to be the screw, someone has to be the bridge. However, it often become a vice to be purposely interdisciplinary. However, the students of the Center come from all over the world and have various backgrounds, the quality of the Center's courses is high, and the teachers are "relentless" in throwing out problems within the discipline, so they let everyone show their abilities, but instead, they show their interdisciplinary nature.
As a philosophy student, I have also taken a lot of law and computer science courses, so I thought that interdisciplinary may not be a difficult task, but the reality is quite the opposite. On reflection, it is probably because of the fundamental differences in paradigms and methodologies between some of the disciplines, some of which are in conflict and some of which are compatible. For example, the economics course I took is based on statistics and logic, and the academic style is similar to that of British and American analytical philosophy; international law courses can be divided into two categories, one emphasizing the mastery of the established system and jurisprudence to enhance legal skills, and the other emphasizing the academic analysis of legal principles and legal issues to exercise analytical skills. No matter which of the above mentioned categories, both of them supplemented the basic empirical knowledge, which benefited me a lot. However, in addition to the dip into a wide range of such "1 + 1 + 1…" knowledge, I think that more gains lie in my still shallow, small-minded but more advanced understanding about the overall network of various disciplines.
The Center's courses are inherently multidisciplinary, and students are tacitly encouraged to come from a variety of disciplines, and over the course of decades, a style of interdisciplinary study has emerged that is implicitly more compatible with this. I wouldn't say it's the only or the most appropriate, but it's the closest thing to an "interdisciplinary learning" experience I've ever had.
Through an in-depth understanding of the personal experiences of two current students of the Class of 2023, the group was able to see the big picture from their own stories in a small way, truly recreating the scenes of learning and living at Hopkins-Nanjing Center. It is this unique educational environment that nurtures future leaders who are able to comfortably navigate between different cultures and languages and solve international problems.
Admissions for the 2024 Certificate Program is ongoing, and we welcome you, who are reading this, to join the family of Hopkins-Nanjing Center!
