Hopkins-Nanjing Center Blog

On June 12, the Hopkins-Nanjing Center (HNC) held its 34th Commencement Ceremony to celebrate the hard work and resilience of the Class of 2020. Though we have been honored to host many graduations over the past three decades, this year was our first virtual ceremony, emerging from the social and travel restrictions in place as a result of the current global COVID-19 pandemic. It was an immense honor to have two recent HNC graduates , Andrew Meador (HNC '18) and Wang Qilong (HNC '17)  share their experiences and encouragement with graduating students as commencement speakers; b oth of whom served on the frontlines of the pandemic in New York City and Wuhan, respectively. Despite this being uncharted territory, the Hopkins-Nanjing Center community, spread far and wide across the globe, came together to host a celebratory and meaningful virtual graduation ceremony. B elow are a few highlights: Commencement Speakers Andrew Meador (HNC '18) , Special Operations Forc...

Name:  Amanda Walencewicz (HNC '20) Program:  Certificate in Chinese and American Studies Hometown:   St. Clair Shores, MI, USA Undergraduate Institution and Major:  Tufts University '17 - BA International Literary and Visual Studies; Chinese How did you become interested in China? Have you had any prior experiences here? I was interested in China from an early age, which came from things like calligraphy and traditional architecture and Disney's Mulan, these touchstones that represent Chinese culture to the average American. From the vantage point of suburban Detroit, it seemed like this radically different and kind of unknowable place. So when I was offered the chance to take Chinese in high school it was an opportunity I couldn't pass up, that would finally allow me to dig a little deeper into this culture. I made my first trip to China after my first year of studying the language, and it was sort  of bewildering. There's nothing in Chinese clas...