Beijing, China

June 1 - July 21, 2008

Why NYU in Beijing? | Facilities | Housing | Passports & Visas | Faculty | Links

Directors of the Program:
Xudong Zhang, Professor of Chinese & Comparative Literature, Shiqi Liao, Chinese Language Lecturer

Why NYU in Beijing?

Experience history in the making right before your eyes. NYU in Beijing gives its students a unique opportunity to observe at close range the rapid socioeconomic and cultural change in a city with a history of three thousand years, eight hundred of which as the nation's capital. Today, Beijing is the unparalleled political, cultural, and educational center in the largest nation on earth. Overshadowed by the forever majestic Great Wall and Forbidden City, reshaped by some of the most audacious architectural projects in the world, Beijing sets the stage for the dazzling interplay of the old and new, the traditional and modern in its full complexity. It is a city amidst a hurried and conflicted remaking, typifying the drastic transformation of today's China. It is where the age of globalization is living its dream and reality. NYU in Beijing aims to provide its students with the means of understanding this once-in-a-lifetime historical transformation in the dual context of lived experience as well as informed analysis.

NYU in Beijing is hosted by Peking University, a school with special historical heritage and intellectual eminence that is simply unmatched by any other school in the country. Its students initiated the May 4th Movement, marking the official birth of modern China. Members of its faculty played leading role in the New Cultural Movement, which in many ways still defines the terms of China's on-going search for a new identity. Today, the school attracts the best students and teachers around the country. It boasts one of the largest and best research library in China, with a collection of more than four and half million items, counting, at one time, the young Mao Zedong among its employees.

THE SEVEN-WEEK NYU IN BEIJING program combines classroom study of the Chinese language, history, and culture with activities and excursions in the city, from visits to museums, temples and palaces, evening outings to Peking Opera and Chinese folk music performances, to walking tours through "Hutong," the traditional Beijing neighborhood that is fast disappearing. For the final week of the program, student will travel to parts of China with distinctive cultural heritage.

The curriculum of NYU in Beijing offers intensive Chinese language courses from beginner through advanced levels, giving special attention to listening and speaking. More advanced students can take advantage of the third or fourth-year-level Chinese course to further improve their Chinese language proficiency and practice Chinese in real-life situations.

The curriculum also offers content courses in English on Chinese history, literature, and civilization taught by NYU faculty. In addition, there are NYU faculty-coordinated guest lecture series on current topics on contemporary Chinese economy, politics, society, which is designed to introduce the leading scholars, intellectuals, journalists, writers, filmmakers, artists, educators, and business leaders to NYU students. The purpose of this lecture series, in addition to its inherent educational value, is to help NYU students establish personal contacts with the guest speakers whom they may find helpful in their future study in or on China.

The academic programs of NYU in Beijing are further strengthened by the NYU-Peking University Research Cooperation Center now in development. This Center will host regular faculty and graduate student exchanges and collaborations between the two universities in arts and science disciplines, law, business, performing arts, medicine, and engineering. While completing coursework offered by the summer program, NYU students are welcome and encouraged to participate in research projects in various disciplines co-organized by the students' home department and school at NYU.

All the classes are small in size and teaching excellence is central to each course. Extracurricular activities and excursions include language exchange opportunities with Peking University students, movie screenings, theater, and calligraphy classes. Through these activities, students not only improve their Chinese language skills but also broaden their knowledge and understanding of China, past and present.

Facilities

All classes are held on Peking University's campus.

Housing

Students stay at Beijing Post & Telecommunication Conference Center, a short five-minute walk to the campus. The Center offers modern air-conditioned single and double rooms, each with fully equipped bathroom, TV, phone and plug-in jacket for internet connection (nominal fee required). The Center also has recreational facilities such as swimming pool, fitness room, table tennis and bowling lanes, all accessible with nominal fees. Students can eat at the hotel's in-house restaurant or at Peking University's on-campus cafeteria for foreign students.

Faculty

Xudong Zhang, Ph. D., Duke (1995), B.A. (1986) Peking University. Professor of East Asian Studies & Comparative Literature. Chair, East Asian Studies.

Shiqi Liao, MA, Peking, (1989), B.A. Institute of International Relations, Beijing. Lecturer, Chinese Language, Chinese Language Coordinator

Passport & Visas

Passports

Everyone needs a valid passport for travel overseas and to re-enter the U.S. If you already have a passport and it is due to expire during the Beijing study abroad program, renew it now. Please send us your passport via certified mail or deliver it to our program at the East Asian Studies Program at New York University: 715 Broadway, 3rd Floor, New York, NY 10003.

If you deliver your passport to the program, please leave it with either the program director or the administrative assistant of the East Asian Studies Program. Make two copies before sending the original one, keep one for yourself and consider giving a copy to your parent/guardian for security in the event that it is lost or stolen.

International students holding F1 or J1 visas should contact the Office of International Students and Scholars or other appropriate office at their home institution for information regarding F1 or J1 visas.

Visas

All participants in the NYU in Beijing program will need a student visa. We will collect your passport and apply for a visa for you. Citizens of the People's Republic of China, who hold a green card, do not need a student visa to enter the PRC; however, they need to complete and turn in the visa/passport application form.

Two forms are necessary to obtain the visa: Visa/Passport Information for China and the Visa Application Form. These forms are available online in pdf format on the "Info for Accepted Students" page. You must include a $50 visa processing fee together with your passport, visa/passport information form, and visa application that you submit to us.

Links

http://www.usembassy-china.gov - U.S Embassy in Beijing

http://www.china-embassy.org - Chinese Embassy in Washington

http://travel.state.gov/studentinfo.html - Helpful Tips for Traveling Abroad

http://www.usatoday.com/weather/basemaps/nw1002820.htm - Weather in Beijing

http://www.sh.com/china/travel/scenery/scene10.htm - Beauty of Beijing