Hopkins-Nanjing Center Blog

Some of you might remember Rebecca from our post introducing the banwei. This week, one of our resident banwei, and first-year SAIS-Bologna student, gives us tips on how to close the gap on the learning curve during our first semester at the HNC.  Before starting my studies at the Hopkins-Nanjing Center, I was pursuing my first master’s in Teaching English as a Second Language (TESOL) at California State University, Los Angeles. As teacher-in-training, I spent the first year of my program learning about the English language in detail: from the finer points of its grammar to the many ways one can pronounce “t” (of which there are over seven just in North American English alone). In my second year I learned more about using language in academia, teaching practicums, and how to teach language virtually and online, completing my own practicum in an online-hybrid course on writing.   With HNC classes online thanks to the pandemic, my peers and I have found ourselves in an interesti...

First-year MAIS student and Career Services student worker Albert Heidecke reflects on the unique career opportunities that students have access to once they join the Hopkins-Nanjing Center (HNC). 深造  shenzao.   A great word that I heard many times in the first few weeks of starting at the HNC. It’s a response to a question that everyone wants to ask:  “Why did you come to the HNC ?”  Shenzao ,  literally translated to English as something like “deep creative” is typically used to describe  efforts in pursuing one’s study  – but it’s not the only reason why we’re at the HNC. The fact is,  shenzao  is not a means to an end; we’re here to develop valuable skills that wil l aid us in our professional careers.  The HNC community is home to students interested in a wide range of interests pertaining to everything from climate strategies to Indo-Pacific security.  Here’s the rub: how are we supposed to take advantage of all the great...

On November 4th, Co-Director Adam Webb hosted a discussion with HNC ’88 alumnus Brian Linden, the co-founder of the Linden Centre in Xizhou, China. This event was an excellent opportunity to hear Brian Linden introduce his forthcoming book,   Redefining Diplomacy: One Village at a Time,   and to hear about his fascinating life as he became interested in China and the Hopkins-Nanjing Center. Brian Linden was part of the HNC's second cohort. His book traces what he describes as an “unlikely journey from working-class America to China.” Adam first asked Brian to elaborate on becoming interested in China and attending the HNC. Brian replied:  “I am very honored to have spent that one year at the Hopkins Nanjing Center, and it still resonates. I got a great education, but I also met my future wife there, an Asian American studying Mandarin in Nanjing. When I say I am lucky, I use that term because I come from a working-class background. I had no exposure to China at all. In fa...

Hopkins-Nanjing Center (HNC) Career Services student worker and first-year MAIS student Nathan Rose gives us the inside scoop on the lessons learned from planning one of the famous HNC Career Treks.                  Hi! My name is Nathan Rose, and aside from being a normal HNC student I also work at the Career Services office.  This month I was involved with organizing the HNC China Virtual Finance Panel. In organizing this event, I learned a lot about the possibilities HNC-ers can take advantage of. First, when researching which alumni to reach out to, I was surprised to find out how many different places and sectors HNC alumni find themselves in. If one looks at the HNC LinkedIn Page, it is certainly clear that alumni tend to find work in state institutions (many, for example, gravitate towards the State Department). This is understandable, as the State Department and Ministry of Foreign Affairs seem like natural choices for students p...

As students continue the semester virtually, our   banwei (student committee)  are working on creative ways to bring the student community together. At the beginning of the semester, the   banwei   organized a WeChat group for matching international and Chinese students as language partners. In this group students could share brief introductions about themselves and their academic or personal interests, so that others could get to know them and become their language partner. Alternatively, students could also fill out a short survey and be automatically matched to a language buddy . This week, I sat down with Naeem Chowdhury ( 秋纳愔  ) and Leyao Shang  商勒瑶  (Ella) to talk about their experience as language partners. Naeem is a first-year MAIS student concentrating in comparative and international law. Ella is a first-year MAIS student concentrating in Economics.  Describe your experience with your language partner.     Naeem:  Be...