Hopkins-Nanjing Center Blog

Last month, SAIS China, in cooperation with Project Pengyou, co-hosted Building Your China Career: Opportunities in the U.S.-China Space at Johns Hopkins SAIS in Washington, DC. Project Pengyou is part of a growing national movement to increase the number and diversity of Americans studying abroad in China. The event included a panel discussion that explored the rewards and challenges of working across U.S.-China sectors as well as the growing opportunities that China is creating in the U.S. job market. The three panelists currently work in the U.S.-China relations sphere across a variety of sectors. Panelist Serena Lin from CCTV America was part of the founding team of CCTV America in Washington, DC. Gabriel Morris, previously the Vice President of Chinese-owned enterprise CITIC Securities and now working for Goldman Sachs Gao Hua Securities, shared his experiences from the financial sector. Travis Thompson, Executive for the Brunswick Group, shared his perspective from the pub...

“Through 30 years of ups and downs in the relationship between China and the United States, the HNC has overcome its own challenges and thrived.  It has done so because at its core is a simple, and vital, mission – to help Americans learn about the real China and Chinese to learn about the real United States.” — Former U.S Secretary of State Madeleine Albright speaking at  the Hopkins-Nanjing Center’s 30th Anniversary Convocation, June 2016 Keynote speakers, former Chinese Minister of Commerce Chen Deming and former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright  More than 200 Chinese and international alumni of the Hopkins-Nanjing Center returned to Nanjing June 17 to June 19 to help celebrate the 30th anniversary of the HNC,  joined by the leaders of Johns Hopkins University and Nanjing University, distinguished guests, and several hundred students, friends, and supporters.  The centerpiece of the weekend was the 30th Anniversary Convocation, featuring for...

The Hopkins-Nanjing Center's 30th Anniversary Celebration kicked off on June 17 with commencement at the HNC. Congratulations to to the class of 2016! The commencement ceremony featured keynote remarks by Lisa Heller, Acting Deputy Chief of Mission and Minister Counselor for Public Affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, and Zhou Wei, Deputy Director-General at the Jiangsu Province Foreign Affairs Office. President of Nanjing University, Chen Jun and President of Johns Hopkins University, Ronald J. Daniels also made remarks to the class of 2016. 2016 MAIS graduates Emily Shea, International Student Representative International student and MAIS graduate, Emily Shea, and Chinese student, Caixiao Chen were selected as student representatives. In the spirit of the HNC's bilingual community, student representatives delivered their addresses in their target languages.  Below is the full transcript of Emily's speech. 尊敬的各位来宾、老师，亲爱的同学们， 大家好 ! 我叫沈琳，我是今年二年级硕士...

The Hopkins-Nanjing Center’s 30th Anniversary Celebration is just one week away! In honor of the 30th anniversary year, we have compiled a list of 30 things to love about the HNC. HNC graduates become part of the 2600 HNC alumni network who occupy positions of responsibility in all areas of China’s global relations. The HNC has intellectual freedom to discuss, debate and learn with Chinese peers and faculty. HNC students form a dragon boat team and participate in the Nanjing dragon boat competition, a time honored tradition in China. This year the HNC team placed third in the final competition! 2016 HNC Dragon Boat Team Nanjing is less than a 2 hour train ride away from the international center of Shanghai. HNC Students and faculty have access to the HNC’s uncensored library with over 120,000 volumes in Chinese and English.   Hopkins-Nanjing Center Library Students get one-on-one attention from faculty members with small class sizes and weekly office hours. HN...

Hi Everyone! Today I wanted to highlight one of my favorite classes at the center I’m taking this semester—Professor Mushkat’s International Dispute Resolution course. MAIS students at the Hopkins Nanjing Center are required to take at least one class in every concentration. While I’m not concentrating in International Law at the HNC, but I took this course to fulfill this requirement. On top of that, the course sounded really interesting to me as it touches on legal aspects and mechanisms vital to international relations and negotiations. First and foremost, I will say I have the utmost respect for Professor Mushkat. I say this because I am definitely challenged in her class even though it is in my native language. However, Professor Mushkat makes the class accessible for non-law concentration students and non-native English language students. She provides useful readings, which she supplements with her succinct in-class lectures.  Don’t expect to be sittin...

Hey everyone! Today I wanted to highlight one of the Hopkins Nanjing Center’s most popular weekly student-run events, HNC Student TED Talks. Every Friday before the Student Committee (banwei) student mixer, a student will volunteer to give a presentation on a topic of their interest. There is always a large turnout given the range of interesting topics. Some previous topics HNC students have presented on include: Deforestation in Indonesia, Suppression of Women in Chinese History, Milk Industry in China and Global Wine Trade. Joaquin Matek, a first year MAIS student at the HNC, presented one of the most recent TED Talks on Memory and Mnemonics. HNC Student Joaquin Matek gives a TED Talk on Memory and Mnemonics I asked him to give a brief statement for the blog on his presentation. He explains, “We often think of memory as something mechanical and humdrum, but it is actually fundamental to our creative prowess as humans, and the greatest feats of memory are predicated on the...

Hi Everyone! While studying at the HNC you’ll have a fall break, Chun Jie vacation, and spring break. We just had our spring break and I decided to travel domestically and further south than the ancient southern capital of China we at the HNC call home. You can get to Guilin, Guangxi, China by train (~20 hours) or plane (~2 hours) from Nanjing. If you have time, I suggest you take the train. It’s a good way to meet people on the train (just say hi! or ask if someone wants to play cards with you) and it’s a nice way to see more scenery. Guilin Elephant Trunk Hill Guilin was the jumping off point for the beginning of my trip, so I only had time to check out Guilin’s famous Elephant Trunk Hill. Elephant Trunk Hill is a hill in a lake that looks like an elephant drinking water, which has become a well-known landmark in Guilin. The excursion was short lived though as I was forced inside by a downpour. I didn’t mind because it gave me a chance to enjoy a cup of coffee and get some re...