Hopkins-Nanjing Center Blog

The Hopkins-Nanjing Center (HNC) is a unique academic community where students with diverse interests converge, united by a shared focus on US-China relations. Below, students Alec Nash, Yan Manshu, and Wyatt Crooks share their paths at the HNC, individual passions, and multifaceted experiences in international relations. Also, be sure to check out last semester's student profiles . Alec Nash 亚历山大 MAIS '24 Concentration: International Economics Hometown: Atlanta, Georgia Undergraduate Institution: Emory University  Yan Manshu 严曼舒 HNC Certificate '24 Hometown: Nanjing, China Wyatt Crooks 康沃业 HNC Certificate + MAIR '25 Concentration: Governance, Politics, and Society Hometown: Charlotte, North Carolina Undergraduate Institution: North Carolina State University Tell us about your background, how you became interested in China, and what led you to the HNC. Alec Nash Alec: During my undergraduate years at Emory University I studied international relations. At the tim...

Ever wonder if you can tour an electric vehicle factory in China? Three HNC students did their research and recently took a road trip to visit a NIO factory in neighboring Anhui province. China's EV market is massive and competitive, which makes China a fascinating place to experience this aspect of the green energy transition. Chris (right) and two classmates at the NIO Factory Experience Center On an overcast April morning, I arrived in Hefei, the capital city of Anhui province, with two classmates. Our destination was a NIO car factory which produces top-of-the-line electric vehicles. NIO has become famous in China and abroad for its unique battery-swapping, rather than charging, technology. NIO owners can pull into any of the nearly 2,500 battery swapping stations to receive a new battery pack and be on their way. This automated process lifts the car, removes the depleted battery, stores it in an underground vault, and replaces it with a fully charged battery. The whole process...

The Hopkins-Nanjing Center hosts an array of interest groups and extracurricular activities. This semester, students are connecting in classes on calligraphy, ping pong, and erhu. Students are also enjoying interest groups like badminton, afternoon tea, chess, and Quiz Bowl. Below are a few highlighted groups. To read about other interest groups at the HNC, check out the Connecting Through Hobbies blog from last semester. Many HNC students at a recent happy hour Ping Pong Class Ping pong tables are always set up in the HNC's west auditorium and are only taken down for events every now and then. Whether class has just let out or if students need a 20-minute study break, the large room usually emits the sweet sound of ping pong. Besides spontaneous ping pong matches, HNC students are able to take a ping pong class that is taught by a semi-professional player. The teacher and students meet every Sunday for practice, technique, and intense fun. Not only have students been able to let ...

A group of American HNC students recently visited the U.S. Consulate General Shanghai  for a career trek. They had conversations with foreign service officers and consular fellows about their careers and opportunities at U.S. embassies and consulates. Students gained valuable insights into the day-to-day responsibilities of diplomatic professionals and learned about the diverse pathways available for pursuing a career in international relations. Deputy Principal Officer We were first welcomed to the Consulate General with an opening half-hour discussion with the deputy principal officer. He detailed his storied experience of worldwide service as a foreign service officer (FSO). The officer shared with us what skills you will build as an FSO including subject matter expertise, thinking strategically, building a generalist knowledge base, and gaining insights from multiple different rotations. These compound on one another to build a more generalist perspective as you move up in the ...

During the first week of class in the spring 2024 semester, Hopkins-Nanjing Center students gathered to elect their student representatives, a group of four students known as the Banwei (班委) who serve for one-semester terms. Cheng Rui, Yan Yixin, Sophie Kelley, and Nathaniel Fousek were selected to drive this new blossoming semester. Meet the Spring 2024 Banwei (left to right) Nathaniel, Yixin, Sophie, and Rui 成瑞 Cheng Rui (MAIS 2024) From Nantong, Jiangsu, Rui majored in international economics and trade at Nanjing University and is concentrating on energy, recourses, and environment at the HNC. Rui is the Nanjing Bureau Chief for the SAIS Observer and was a 2022-2023 Nanjing Scholar at SAIS DC.  严翌昕 Yan Yixin (MAIS 2025) Born and raised in Xiamen, Fujian, Yixin studied Korean at Nanjing University and studied abroad at Korea University. At the HNC, she is concentrating on international politics. Nathaniel Fousek (MAIS 2024) From Austin, Texas, Nathaniel graduated from the Univers...

At the HNC, China becomes an extended classroom, seamlessly integrating academic insights with real-world experiences. In our latest blog, Ellie Randolph, MAIS '24, shares her academic journey as a foreigner in Nanjing and her travels across China. Ellie Randolph “Hello Foreigner! Are you Russian? 老外！你是俄罗斯人吗？”  The question asked by the cashier, high school student, or the old man yelling through his cigarette from across the street.  “不是，我是美国人。” No, I’m an American. This answer never upsets anyone, they just assumed otherwise. It is not hard to understand why. According to the New York Times, there are only 350 American students currently in China, and a significant portion of those are here at the Hopkins-Nanjing Center. Even the advisability of  business travel between the US and China is being questioned. Russians in China are a more common sight, especially in the south (Guangdong is Siberia’s Miami).  When speaking with the international students at Nanjing U...

Hopkins-Nanjing Center students began class this week following the Lunar New Year holiday. Chris Hankin, MAIS '24, seized the time off to travel China. In our latest blog post, Chris provides insights into the landscape of New Energy Vehicles in China, one of his academic interests at the Hopkins-Nanjing Center. In a cabin in northeast China           As the Spring Festival winds down and classes at the Hopkins-Nanjing Center return to normal, State-run media is awash in statistics about the holiday travel. Data released by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism revealed that between February 10th and 18th, travelers made 474 million domestic trips. That represents a 34.4% increase compared to the same period during 2023. More importantly, that represents a 19% increase compared with 2019.           If you read that and think, “who cares?” you are not alone. Chinese government offices measure and report even the most mundane da...