Amanda Walencewicz, Certificate '20, had an opportunity to speak with Professor Yang Liu, who teaches film at the Hopkins-Nanjing Center. This interview was conducted in Chinese and is presented here in translation.
First, can you
introduce the course that you teach at the Hopkins-Nanjing Center?
I teach the course“Film,
Society, and Culture in Contemporary China.” To explain it simply, using
Chinese films from the 1990s and beyond as an object of study and a medium, we can observe Chinese
society’s cultural issues, economic issues, and historical issues, including the
development of consumer society, the trend of globalization and modernization, gender
studies, research of popular
culture, and many other issues. Besides that, we also focus on the contents of
the Chinese films themselves, such as cinematic aesthetics, specific shooting styles, and the film industry. My
hope is that through the course, students will better realize the interactions
between film and social culture in contemporary China, and have a deeper
understanding of the social, political, and economic forces that have shaped
the past development of China. Finally, students can cultivate their own critical,
independent ideas toward Chinese film
and society.
Next, can you talk
about your research background?
In my undergraduate studies I was a literature student, but
as a graduate student I came to find new media more interesting. So I slowly
changed the direction of my interest of research, from literature to film. During
this transition, I realized that film studies included film theory, film
aesthetics, its own ontology, these areas I thought already have had
breakthroughs. And I slowly found that these topics were too general to connect
with
the reality today. Afterward,
I think I realized in fact that film reflects a kind of societal change, and
that was the part that attracted me more and more. So I changed my research
focus to the intersection of film and society in contemporary China. By a kind
of cross-disciplinary approach, I explored several significant and interesting
topics, such as Chinese middle class culture and youth subcultures within contemporary
commercial cinema. Now I am working on the study of Chinese low-budget
commercial films, particularly comedies and genre films which increasingly are
able to reflect social contradictions and integrate social culture into a
story.
You did research at Columbia University;
what do you think are some differences between the HNC and American
universities?
I was a visiting
scholar in the film department for a year at Columbia. It was indeed a happy
and fruitful time. I like New York because the city is so diverse and indifferent
that it lets you be yourself easily. I feel like I found myself there, all of a
sudden. At Columbia I audited 7 graduate courses and learned a lot at the department.
But if you ask me what the differences are between the two schools, I think
there definitely are some. Columbia gives you a ton of resources, a lot of
activities, numerous films, countless reading materials. In that way it’s extremely
intensive. Even at my most hardworking, I couldn’t finish all of the reading
materials. But the benefit is that it compels you, that it uses this enormous,
indifferent environment that respects the individual to allow you to go down
this “elite” path.
Now, I also very
much like the Hopkins-Nanjing Center. As soon as I came to the HNC, it felt very familiar to me. I
think it’s a small community that’s full of people who care about one another.
Everyone knows everyone, all of the teachers know most of the students. In this
group you can get a kind of recognition and encouragement, from your students,
from your colleagues. And I think the HNC’s administrative staff is amazing.
I’ve only recently come here but I’ve never felt like I was a “new faculty.”
There’s this sense of belonging, which isn’t something that Columbia gave me.
Another benefit of
the Hopkins-Nanjing Center is that it’s bilingual. This allows me to use my own language to
express the finer points of my specialty more. Using my second language,
English, while I’m researching or writing articles, is better, but I’m not too
sure what the effect would be using it to teach. So I’m thankful for the HNC
creating this bilingual environment.
The class you teach at the Hopkins-Nanjing Center
is a bit different from others here, as it relates to art and visual studies.
What do you think are the benefits of social science students taking this kind
of class?
First, I think
social sciences are the hardest. Why do I say that? If you’re doing science and
engineering, you need a very rational, mathematical mind in order to grasp
those skills. I think the subject is very pure in that way. Now when working in
the humanities, that’s different. Humanities requires subjective value critique
and aesthetic influence, as you’re studying cultural and art objects, etc. But
social science is in the middle. On the one hand, social science is very
rational, relying on data to act as its foundation, this empirical evidence. On
the other hand, you also must have concern and sympathy for people, must have a
feeling of responsibility to society. You have to synthesize these two sides
really well in order to be an excellent social scientist. So that’s the first
reason I think social science students need to take some humanities courses.
Second is from an
educational perspective. Today, the knowledge we teach in university might be on
the path to becoming outdated, to the point that once you graduate, it’s probably
already useless. It’s the information age, where everyone can acquire knowledge
through the internet. So just acquiring knowledge in your studies isn’t that
important. Your worldview and your line of thinking, as well as your
people-to-people, face-to-face communication, those are the things that the
internet can’t give you. In class, we can discuss human issues, discuss
sociological phenomena in films, have these unique discussions that the
knowledge found on the internet can’t provide.
I’d also like to ask, as a professor, what
are your favorite parts of the job? Teaching, research?
For both teaching
and research I have parts I like and parts I don’t. For example, with teaching,
I love the opportunity to pass on the ideas that I think are important to the
students. But even better is to be able to get feedback from them, which is the
mutual, constructive process of teaching and learning. It’s the process of
teaching topics while simultaneously learning about them, which I really like.
Students give me excellent revelations about the topics I teach. Everyone’s participation
in discussions is encouraging for me to continue doing this job, it’s what
makes it meaningful.
The part I don’t
like, then, is this feeling of repetition, because there are some issues that,
after all, are necessary to teach, knowledge that’s necessary to convey, but as
time goes on you can have this feeling of repetition, of tediousness. So every
year I will change the contents of what I teach a little bit to overcome it.
I like research
because it allows me to think deeply. It lets me take these limitless questions
I always think about and take what I believe are the most important phenomena
into specific research projects. I believe the value of independent research is
creativity and innovation. The part I don’t like about it is that it’s not quantifiable.
It’s not easy to see the “numbers.” But because we’re in this university
system, with the stress of professional evaluations, it can force you to do
more research in a short period of time. But that’s not rational, research
isn’t conducted at a uniform speed.
What advice would you give to someone
preparing to come to the HNC?
My first piece of
advice would be to have an independent personality, so that you can adapt more
quickly to this “target language” environment as well as resolve any issues you
have being here, whether those are life problems or academic problems.
Second is to
protect your health and wellbeing as much as possible. This is very important
because after coming here there might be a lot of academic stress,
environmental stress, cultural stress, and if you’re not healthy, it can be
very hard to cope with these things. Of course, this isn’t just the HNC, this
is something I’ve seen in all my years of teaching.
My third piece of
advice is that if you’re able to come to the HNC, be happy, because this is a
very warm place. It’s a community that feels very different than a lot of
others, different from a lot of universities. You’ll see that it’s a very
friendly and caring place, and feel that warmth, that very cozy academic environment.
