Hopkins-Nanjing Center Blog

Cady Deck Certificate ’19 shares her experience participating in the dragon boat festival.    This year 端午节 (Dragon Boat Festival) occurred at the end of the Hopkins-Nanjing Center’s semester. One of the main activities during this festival is racing dragon boats. There are multiple races in every city across China. This year the Hopkins-Nanjing Center entered two boats into the local race. I was the team captain of “The 龙 (long, or dragon) Shots” and had the responsibility of coordinating practices, filling out lots of paperwork, and selecting positions for my teammates. For our competition, teams consisted of a 舵手 (steerer), a 鼓手 (drummer), and 14 桨手 (oarsmen). Each team was also allowed to have up to four substitutes. Both teams practiced for several weeks leading up to the competition on a small river behind Nanjing University’s Xianlin campus, which is about an hour away from Nanjing University’s Gulou campus (where the Hopkins-Nanjing Center is located). We also pra...

On June 14, the Hopkins-Nanjing Center held its 33rd commencement ceremony to celebrate the hard work of the Certificate and Master of Arts in International Studies (MAIS) students. Congratulations to the Hopkins-Nanjing Center class of 2019! The ceremony started off with opening remarks by Chinese Co-Director Chen Yunsong. He welcomed the guests to the Hopkins-Nanjing Center and thanked the staff, faculty, and students for their hard work. He wished the students luck for the future, and reminded them that graduation is not only the ending of one chapter, but a new start for their next endeavors. Elizabeth Knup congratulates the graduates during her commencement address Elizabeth Knup, Country Director and Representative for the Ford Foundation in China, and former American Co-Director of the Hopkins-Nanjing Center (1998-2001), gave a commencement address congratulating students on completing their studies at the Hopkins-Nanjing Center. She reflected on her time in Nanjing and s...

Student Blogger Hope Parker, Master of Arts in International Studies (MAIS) ’20, shares students’ favorite events and activities in Nanjing. As the spring semester comes to an end, certificate students and second-year MAIS students are finishing up their last weeks in Nanjing. I asked some of my classmates what their favorite places in Nanjing are and what they will miss most when they leave. Wall Walk Each year the Hopkins-Nanjing Center organizes a Wall Walk on the old Nanjing city wall. Portions of the wall have not been maintained, but the group can still walk where the wall used to be. In total, the walk is a little over 26 miles, making it a full-day event. Students are encouraged to go on the Wall Walk because it is an opportunity to meet and get to know lots of people from the Hopkins-Nanjing Center community. Over the course of the day, students and professors who attend can learn about each other’s backgrounds and interests before the semester gets busy.   Live Music ...

Student Blogger Hope Parker, Master of Arts in International Studies ’20, shares some pictures from Nanjing and a lecture in Shanghai. Most of the photos are from daily life and sites in Nanjing, such as Xuanwu Lake and other places near the Hopkins-Nanjing Center. This installment of our “Wordless Wednesday” series can be more accurately described as “Almost Wordless Wednesday”—we include a few words below to help you learn more about Nanjing and the surrounding area. Xuanwu Lake at the beginning of spring. The view from Sun Yat-sen’s mausoleum. Students have the opportunity to attend the annual Barnett-Oksenberg Lecture in Shanghai, which features a different speaker each year to discuss their perspective on Sino-US relations. This year Susan Thornton, former Acting Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, delivered the lecture. The Hopkins-Nanjing Center is situated close to many of the former embassies in China. The former US Emba...