Hopkins-Nanjing Center Blog

Student blogger Brandy Darling (HNC Certificate '20 + SAIS MA '21) reflects on her nature-filled winter break trip to Thailand in light of Earth Day 2020.  Earth Day 2020. The 50th year anniversary of a new environmental revolution. People all around the world participate in a movement to create a healthier and cleaner world. In 2012, more than 100,000 people rode bikes in China to reduce CO2 emissions. I enjoy being in nature, and being in a big city makes me crave alone time in a scenic place. Even though there are a great number of big cities in China, there are many scenic destinations across the country, such as the Tianshan Mountains in Xinjiang, the beautiful beach of Yalong Bay in Hainan, and even the parks on Chongming Island near Shanghai. Holidays and weekends at the Hopkins-Nanjing Center are great times to explore nearby Chinese cities and towns.  F or this past Winter Break, I decided to take advantage of the opportunity to travel to another Asian country: T...

Name: Morgan Brown (HNC '20) Program: Master of Arts International Studies, China Studies concentration Hometown: Phoenix, AZ Undergraduate Institution and Major:  University of Colorado Boulder; Chinese Language and Literature, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology How did you become interested in China? Have you had any prior experiences here? I happened to stumble upon China during my Sophomore year of high school when I saw a poster advertising an exchange program with a sister school in Chengdu. They needed more people to host students who were visiting from China for 10 days and I volunteered to help. We then had the opportunity to reverse exchange, traveling to Chengdu for 10 days on a scholarship provided by my school to stay with the same people who we had hosted. Traveling to China for the first time was an amazing experience, and completely changed my life. My host family tried to give me the real China experience and I was blown away by the food, culture, sense of...

COVID-19 has impacted students all around the world. Cady Deck, HNC Certificate '19 + SAIS MA '20, interviewed current HNC students about adjusting to online classes and stay-at-home orders.  Contributors Joe (HNC Certificate to MAIS): Guizhou, China Dwight (2nd year MAIS): Nanjing, China Morgan (2nd year MAIS): Washington, DC Randall (HNC Certificate + SAIS MA, China Studies): South Carolina Alex (HNC Certificate + SAIS MA, International Development): Washington, DC Ryan (HNC Certificate + SAIS MA, China Studies): Washington, DC Empty Metro station in Washington, DC. How is the adjustment to online classes going? Morgan: The adjustment to online classes hasn't been too bad. Luckily, I took nearly all of my classes at the HNC during my first 3 semesters. This semester I am only taking one class so I can focus on writing my thesis. The class I’m taking, 全球环境基础 (Global Environmental Fundamentals), has been as good as can be expected! Professor 张海...