Hopkins-Nanjing Center Blog

Cady Deck, Certificate '19 + Johns Hopkins SAIS MA '20 shares her favorite class at SAIS. SAIS Paul H. Nitze Building - located just steps from many of the nation’s most prestigious think tanks, research centers, and global corporations as well as famous landmarks like the White House and the U.S. Capitol. Every HNC Certificate + SAIS MA student has to take two Asia Studies classes, and one China Studies class at SAIS in addition to taking economics classes and fulfilling core requirements. One of my favorite classes this semester is a Southeast Asia Studies class called Leaders, Followers, and Political Power. This is not a class about the “great man theory” of history. It is a class designed to answer two main questions: why do leaders lead and why do people follow them. Over the course of the semester, we have analyzed how leaders attain power utilizing different combinations of coercion, charisma, traditional authority, economic reward, or appeals to identity, ide...

Student blogger Amanda Walencewicz (Certificate '20) writes about the volunteer teaching group at the Hopkins-Nanjing Center.   HNC Volunteer teacher Jose Gonzalez leads his class in a game to learn directions. Every Friday, a group of Hopkins-Nanjing Center (HNC) students travels to a nearby elementary school to spend the afternoon teaching English to third grade classes. Splitting into groups, these HNC volunteer teachers work with three classes of 30 students each, teaching for 45 minutes. With the third-grade students' teacher not present, the volunteers lead the classes in games and English drills, giving the students the chance to interact with foreigners in a fun, informal way before they end classes for the week.   The school primarily serves underprivileged students that come from migrant families. Most students likely do not have access to resources like English tutoring outside of class, so the HNC volunteer teachers focus on simple vocabulary and gr...

Student blogger Amanda Walencewicz (Certificate '20) describes the Hopkins-Nanjing Center’s CHINA Town Hall event, which she helped organize in October in conjunction with the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations.    The audience in Kuang Yaming Auditorium watches the CHINA Town Hall national webcast. In October, the Hopkins-Nanjing Center  (HNC)  hosted  its first iteration of CHINA Town Hall , a program run by the National Co mmittee on U.S.-China Relations. The National Committee is  a nonprofit American organization dedicated to constructive engagement wit hin the bilateral relationship, and CHINA Town Hall is one of its f lagship programs. Now in its thir teenth year, the program consists of  two parts:  a live, national webcast with a well-known China expert ; and local events held throughout the United States and China that provide a  forum for community discussion.    This year, owing to the curren...

Student blogger, Brandy Darling, shares her experience traveling with her class to two cities to conduct individual research projects.   Since I am pursuing the Hopkins-Nanjing Center Certificate + Johns Hopkins SAIS MA, I have elected to pursue one English class in addition to the three required Chinese classes. In order to fulfill my international political economy concentration on time when I return to SAIS, I am taking an international law course named Injustices, Discrimination, and Group Identity. In this class, we cover injustices such as genocide, racism, and prejudices. We also learn how these issues are dealt with internationally, especially in the United States and China. Our class research project is over understanding how Africans are treated in Guangzhou, China. Guangzhou is also known as ‘Little Africa’, as it has a relatively high concentration of Africans working primarily in exporting businesses. In recent years, authorities have tightened visa requirement...

Student blogger Amanda  Walencewicz  (Certificate '20) writes about  her experience as one of  five  Hopkins-Nanjing Center   s tudents participating in the  Committee of 1 00 ’s C100  Scholars  Program .   (L-R) Joshua Cartwright, Erica Carvell, Alex Cowen, Eric Lacour, and Amanda Walencewicz receive certificates for their acceptance to the C100 Scholars Program. This year, the  Hopkins-Nanjing Center ( HNC )  was invited to nominate five students for the Committee of 100’s C100 Scholars Program, a program for outstanding Chinese scholars in its fifteenth year that was recently expanded to include American scholars. The 2019 program includes a trip to Shanghai for the C100 Greater China Conference and Gala and a study tour of Shanghai, Suzhou,  Nanjing , and Hangzhou in January 2020.    The Greater China Conference and Gala took place  the first weekend of December  at the Ritz-Carlton Ho...

Student blogger Will Putzier (Certificate '20 + Johns Hopkin SAIS MA '21) writes about local spots and activities in Nanjing. As one of China’s four ancient capitals, most recently during the Republican era in the early 20 th century, Nanjing is a city with a rich and varied history. Accordingly, there are many important sights in the city that students can explore during their time here. Nanjing also offers a plethora of delicious eats for students to take advantage of throughout the year. Near Campus The Hopkins-Nanjing Center is located in the downtown area of Nanjing, meaning students have a rich variety of places to check out near the HNC. Some students brew their own coffee or buy from the student-run coffee shop in the lounge, while others venture to one of several nearby coffee shops on a daily basis. Price, quality, and distance from campus vary, but most of the coffee is quite satisfying. A coffee shop called Jianshe opened this summer around the cor...