Hopkins-Nanjing Center Blog

This past May, Hopkins-Nanjing Center Professor Paul Armstrong-Taylor held an online lecture on personal finance. HNC certificate’22 student Eljoy summarizes the lessons he learned.  The “Wednesday Morning” newsletter is a tradition that the HNC started to keep students updated on campus-hosted events and other important reminders for the week. They have included interest group discussions, Friday lectures by HNC and non-HNC professors, and virtual meetings with alumni. One such event was an online lecture that HNC Professor Paul Armstrong-Taylor held regarding personal finance. The session introduced some principles for managing borrowing, saving, investment, insurance, and other financial decisions. We live in an era where more and more people are looking for different ways to invest in a financially secure future. Young professionals, including myself, constantly feel the pressure to invest early and not “get left behind.” However, it can be scary to sacrifice some of one’s curr...

Jacob Davis was one of several students who relocated to Taiwan for the spring 2022 semester. While taking classes at National Taiwan University (NTU) alongside his main virtual coursework with HNC has been challenging, field trips for various classes have proven rewarding in enhancing students' knowledge about the region. Jacob discusses an excursion taken with his NTU geology class.    Being a student in HNC classes as well as NTU classes can be a pretty exhausting experience. But it also provides the chance to experience some unique places. A few of us students got to take advantage of one such opportunity when three of us traveled down to the Hengchun Peninsula on a geological excursion. This is a special class at NTU that just meets on the weekends and, while its primary goal is to learn about the formation of Taiwan and characteristics of its different geographies, it also seeks to let international students explore southern Taiwan.    We headed out a...

Elizabeth Gonzales (Certificate '22) interviewed a few Hopkins-Nanjing Center Chinese students, who share the inside scoop about their experience studying at the HNC.    成睿  Cheng Rui (Ryan), MAIS '23: 告诉我你在HNC的经历 。 T ell me about your experience at the HNC.   我本科毕业于距离 HNC 只有不到 50 米的南京大学商学院，主修国际经济与贸易。如果说，本科阶段的学习让我建立了用经济模型与数据认识世界、解释世界的框架，那么在中心这不到一年的时间的学习则让我认识到了自己身上的更多可能性。 I grad uated from the Business School of Nanjing University, which is less than 50 meters away from the HNC campus, [and I majored] in International Economics and Trade. If my undergraduate study allowed me t o establish a framework for understanding and explaining the world with economic models and data, then the less than a year's study at the Center has allowed me to realize more of my own potential .   我和来自各个国家各个不同学术背景的朋友们在电影课上探讨被 ” 收编 “  的当代青年亚文化，在能源技术与政策的课堂上讨论藻基生物燃料与人类能源的未来，在社会学课堂上探讨究竟该如何用布尔迪厄的文化资本论来解释当下中国社会的阶级流动 …… 这些看似偏离了国际关系这一话题本身的讨论，却恰恰塑造了我们 HNC 学生的开放、多元以及独立思考的能力，让我在面临现...

Grace Faerber (HNC MAIS International Politics ‘22) wraps up her master's degree at the HNC! I successfully defended my thesis! Just like I did with other steps throughout my process as a second-year MA in International Studies (MAIS) student - the most signature component of which is the thesis - I will write about my experience here and give some insight into what happens behind-the-scenes. For those who may be unfamiliar, the thesis defense is one of the last major milestones in the HNC MAIS program. In addition to completing all of your course requirements, you go through several steps when it comes to your last semester to qualify for graduation:   Written thesis  The first is completing your written thesis. I went through several rounds of edits and meetings with my thesis advisor before my final thesis draft was approved by her in May.    Paperwork After sending your final draft to HNC administration staff ,they share with you some paperwork requiring more inf...

The inaugural HNC-in-the-World trip, a Hopkins-Nanjing Center initiative to explore China’s global relations, HNC-in-Peru was held during the center’s Spring Break from April 1 st  to April 10 th . Co-Director Webb, accompanied by 7 students, including myself, led a research and study trip across Lima and the highland village of Morococha (old and new) to answer the question of what China’s relations in the world look like, via a case study in Peru.  Studying topics of culture, diaspora, mining, industry, development and politics, and interviewing individuals from all aspects of Peruvian society - from the heads of NGOs and the holdouts of the abandoned Morococha mining village in the highlands, to the leaders of mining companies and Peruvian diplomats -  students left the trip with a foundational understanding of both Peruvian society and China’s growing role and influence on it.  A nation with a strong democratic civil spirit, the people of Peru are quite disillusi...