The activism of Simone Chun (Government Department) was reported in The Suffolk Journal. The journal cited that Chun is one of the professors whose “activism, scholarship, and progressive teaching create a thriving atmosphere for students’ desires. Neither boastful nor brazen, professors of the government department take on trials of the world with modest portrayals and inspiring intentions.”
Da Zheng has just published the Chinese language version of his well-received 2010 book on Chiang Yee. The Chinese language version is titled Xixing huaji: Jiang Yi zhuan 西行畫記: 蔣彝傳 (The Silent Traveler in the West: A Biography of Chiang Yee) (Beijing, Commercial Press, 2013).
Chiang Yee (1903-1977 ) was a poet, painter, scholar, and an exile who lived most of his adult life in the West, principally in England and the United States. In his many publications and through his drawings, he captured the flavor of Western life as seen through an Asian sensibility. Zheng’s new book begins with 16 plates, most in color, that serve as a visual introduction to the elegantly written text which follows. Other sketches and photos in black and white illustrate the text. Chiang’s poetry, translated in the English edition of Da’s book, is available here in the original Chinese version. The book’s publisher, the Commercial Press (商務印書館) is one of China’s most established publishing houses.
Amazon China link.
We arrived in Beijing 北京on 20 December 2012 as a light snow was falling. Jonghyun and I had enjoyed an early Christmas party in Cambridge where I was able to be Santa for a passel of our friend’s young children. It felt like the holidays as the Beijing flurries continued while we checked in to the Raffles Hotel and then took a walk in the December evening. Christmas Eve was spent being entertained by little girls dressed as snowflakes singing winter songs in Chinese and a chamber orchestra playing Western Christmas carols. We invited our friend Jeff who lives in the city for a holiday buffet at the hotel. We first met him when he arrived in Boston for university in 2000, and he is now a manager at a large international PR firm. We spent Christmas Day visiting the newly re-opened National Museum of China (中國國家博物館), where the galleries are nicely done, but stop before the West arrives in force and the historical interpretations are not so easy to make for Chinese scholars. The Museum’s official analysis of modern history, as seen in the modern history galleries, blames the French and English for their imperialism, but makes little reference to the US, unlike earlier decades in China during the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s when America was vilified.
Jonghyun and I then flew to Changchun 長春 and into the Manchurian winter of Northeast China. Temperatures ranged from highs of -19C to lows of -24C, with light snow in the mornings. After the Japanese occupied the region in 1931, they changed the city name to Hsingking (New Capital 新京), then in 1934 installed the last Qing emperor, the previously deposed Pu Yi 浦儀, as head of their puppet state of Manchukuo (滿洲帝國). I was happy to see that a great many buildings remain from that era and, indeed, many are still in daily use as university or administrative structures. Most have been designated as historic places for preservation. We also visited the palace the Japanese built for Pu Yi (溥儀皇宮) and found it impressive with tasteful interior appointments and a lot of handsome wood paneling, even if on a modest scale for someone of emperor rank.
A village in Manchuria
Professor Qu Xiaofan 曲曉范, who had assisted in the translation of my study of civil government in Manchuria for the Chinese edition that was published earlier in 2012, took me for a private viewing of the rare book collection at Northeast Normal University (東北師範大學) where he teaches. We spent New Years’ Eve with Professor Li Juan 李娟and her young baby, relaxing with her family and home-made food. One day Jonghyun and I took a three hour walk through a part of the city where many of the Japanese-built structures were in use as facilities of Jilin University (吉林大學). It was fun while in the city to sight buildings from the 1920s and 1930s, with their low and solid architectural styles, a contrast to the rising skyscrapers of today.
A week before we arrived a new fast train had just started service to Harbin 哈爾濱, so from our reserved seats we saw the snow-bound white landscape of Manchuria whiz by as we headed farther north. The spacious and gleaming stations of marble for the new service were practically empty, yet fully operational. It was colder in Harbin, with highs of -21C and lows of -27C, except when the wind made it feel like -34C, as the local newspaper reported. Everything was covered with a coat of ice, so both vehicles and pedestrians moved in slow motion, especially at intersections. The famous ice festival sculptures were everywhere, with replicas of buildings and gates and towers, all lit with neon lights from the inside, so at night they turned into fairyland palaces of pink and green and yellow and blue. Ice sculptures were in the nearby park and also in the middle of the pedestrian road near our Modern Hotel (Madieer, the French pronunciation of the word, written as 馬迭爾). This hotel keeps its 1920s ambiance and graces.
Ron and Jonghyun in an ice cave in Harbin
One evening we walked onto the frozen Songhua River 松花江. Out towards the middle, I did not want to continue, because there was a brisk wind sharp as knives, and I had seen the river in the spring, deep and flowing quickly. But then I noticed four-wheel-drive jeeps going back and forth, so was reassured about the thickness of the ice, although we nevertheless turned and headed back to shore.
I am scheduled for a conference on the Russian-built Chinese Eastern Railway (中東鐵路) in Washington, DC in January, so I was interested to see what remained of CER buildings in the city. Many buildings still stand, it turns out, mostly constructed from the late 1800s to about 1906 (the Japanese defeated Russia in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905) and all showing signs of old Moscow with cupolas, arched windows, filigree decorations, and the buildings often painted in a European yellow, soft green or deep pink. The impact of Czarist Russia’s investment in this region is clear to see from the infrastructure they created, of buildings, rail lines, highways, and modern city life. Among the remaining influences from Russia are the markets filled with smoked sausages, blocks of cheese, and fresh-baked breads, all eagerly enjoyed by the Chinese citizens of Harbin, as well as by Ron and Jonghyun.
We ended our trip with a few days in Shanghai 上海 to re-acclimatize to normal winter weather. At the Great Border Guandi Temple (大境關帝廟 , it sits alongside the sliver of Shanghai’s old city wall that still remains), we came upon a Daoist ceremony to carry the soul of the deceased safely over the difficulties of the underworld (超渡亡靈). Given the informal state of Daoist ceremonies, I was able to stand close to the priests as they chanted and also stood behind the chief priest to read the scripture over his shoulder as he recited the lines aloud. This was a treat for me!
In each city I was able to collect research materials at the used book and antique markets. Professor Qu in Changchun showed me the mutual friendships of respect he has developed with the antique book dealers in his city, and I’ve taken it as a guide for my own interactions with these dealers in the future. It is fun to chat with the book sellers, some of whom are retired workers and have little idea of the actual content or even the market value of the hand-written materials they are selling. Sometimes, seeing my interest, they quote me a low price just to encourage this strange foreign guy who seems so eager to learn about China in the past hundred and fifty years—this happened twice during our visit.
We left Shanghai on 9 January 2013 and our room at the historic Astor House Hotel (浦江飯店), whose guests have included President Ulysses S. Grant, Bertrand Russell, Albert Einstein, Edgar Snow, Zhou Enlai, Ron and Jonghyun. The hotel preserves the dark wood and heavy furniture preferred in earlier times.
I learned a lot during this visit, but will close with the most satisfying event. On an earlier visit to Beijing I made a small donation to the Baiyun Daoist Temple (白雲觀) to allow them to print books for free distribution at the temple. The donor gains merit – good karma –and the public may take away any of the books available. On this visit I found one of the free books where my name was listed! It was an essay supposedly by the master philosopher Lao Tse (Laozi老子) on actions and responses in Daoism (太上感應篇 ). Across all of the miles, I have become a member of the temple community.
Lisa Coynes, Prashant Sharma, and Carmen Veloria have joined the Asian Studies Program recently. Each with a distinctive teaching record, scholarship, and passion in Asian Studies, these colleagues from different fields and backgrounds bring fresh perspectives and energy to the Program. Welcome!
Dr. Carmen N. Veloria is an Assistant Professor in the Sociology Department and Director of the Education Studies Program. Her research interests include urban sociology/education, inter-section of race, class, ethnicity, and gender, as well as the saliency of language, literacy, and culture. She is interested in the increasing ethnic and linguistic diversity that exist in urban centers and the notion of hybrid, mixed, and multiple identities, as well as biculturalism. These social constructs converge and intersect in ways that are complex, and poses challenges to existing racial/ethnic categories. From a personal standpoint, her children identify as both Asian/Latin@ – Latin@/Asian.
As a faculty at a multicultural institution like Suffolk University, Dr. Prashant Sharma seeks opportunities to know more about modern Asian culture. The growing influence of Asia in science and technology and the rapid cultural change that Asia is undergoing, are creating increasing number of employment opportunities many of which are relevant for our graduates. This makes it of utmost importance that we stay in tune with this cultural revolution so that we can meaningfully participate in the growth of this economic powerhouse.
Dr. Lisa Coyne’s purpose in the Clinical Psychology Doctoral Program at Suffolk, stated very simply, is to train Suffolk students to conduct sound research, and to provide the best, culturally sensitive, sustainable mental health services she possibly can. “I understand, both through the scientific literature and through my interactions with Asian families that there is a fine balance between negotiating one’s newly chosen culture, and retaining one’s own cultural identity. Thus, it is critical to ensure that mental health services are sensitive to that need for balance, and important to be able to describe and disseminate effective ways of doing so.”
Allan Tow is the honorable MC
Full House!
Jenny Chung (below) and Carl Anderson shared their Shanghai experience
Norelis Popovic and Dan McCarthy talked about their Korean experience
Chris and a picture of his younger self
Janet Scott showing students Chinese kids’ caps
Ron and some of his favorite things
Simone explained why Shakespeare is one of her favorite novelists.
(L to R) Ambassador Lohr (Suffolk’s Ambassador in Residence); Prof. Allan Tow (Government); two CHSNE scholarship recipients, Jason Wong and Jonathan Huang; Ronald Suleski (Rosenberg Institute); Prof. Robert Hannigan (History); Da Zheng (Asian Studies and English)
The Rosenberg Institute was pleased to be present at the annual dinner and meeting of the Chinese Historical Society of New England (CHSNE) at the China Pearl Restaurant in Boston.
Two Suffolk students spent the summer of 2012 in Seoul, Korea. In the mornings they studied Korean at the Korean Summer Language Institute at Yonsei University. In the afternoons they each had an internship at a Korean cable TV station. The students were funded by the Jongha Scholarship Foundation, which is operated by KCC Corporation.
The photo was taken at the ceremony when both students were presented with their scholarship checks.
(L to R) SH Lee (President of KCC Corporation); Suffolk students Daniel J. McCarthy (who was with SBS-CNBC); Norelis Popovic (Chosun TV); CY Lee (Chairman and Founder of KCC Corporation)
This was the second year of the Seoul internship program and KCC has indicated their desire to continue this program with Suffolk.
From Dan McCarthy:
My bags were packed, and the butterflies were in my stomach. I’d traveled abroad before; however, this was the first time that I would be on my own in another country. I was undoubtedly intimidated; my only prior experience with Korean culture involved a barbeque. There were doubts, concerns and unanswered questions; as well as plenty of friends and family back home that were unafraid to share them with me. But sometimes you just need to go for it, and be amazed by what happens next.
I arrived in Seoul, South Korea on June 19th, and from there it was pretty hard to look back. I attended the Korean Language Institute at Yonsei University, while simultaneously interning at media-giant Seoul Broadcasting Systems (SBS), in the CNBC branch. With classes five days a week from 9AM-1PM and work four days a week from 2PM-7PM, I immediately learned that time was a luxury and needed to be managed as such.
The language classes were unlike any I’d taken in my life. Going from “A-B-C-D,” to “아, 어, 오, 우,” was overwhelming at first, and in many ways it still is. Sitting in a classroom with a majority of Koreans made it easy to stand out when stuttering through counting to ten and naming fruits and vegetables. There’s a great deal of shame that comes with being a “dunce” in Asian culture, and I understood exactly what that meant for the first time in my life. It was quite a way of getting me inspired to hit the books!
Another reason I felt the need to learn the language quickly was due to my experience at SBS-CNBC. Of the dozens of employees working in both the studio and office of the company, I could count on one hand the number of people who spoke English. However, those who could speak English, and even those who couldn’t were extremely friendly, and succeeded in making my internship a memorable one.
The highlight of my time with SBS came on the last day, when I spoke on camera about the developing Apple vs. Samsung case, and helped define some American slang-words used in the trial that would otherwise be lost in translation to Koreans. While explaining what a “knock-off” was, I used a box of cereal that was clearly a rip-off of Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes. It will probably go down as the strangest news broadcast I’ll ever do, but almost certainly my favorite as well!
During my time in Korea, I had the opportunity to live with over 200 students in the program. They were close to the same age as myself, but from a VAST variety of backgrounds and cultures that differed from my own.
Malaysia, Quebec, Switzerland, Germany, Hong Kong, Jamaica, and even South Dakota were just some of the places and cultures that my classmates called their own. Retelling some of my stories to friends back home often sounded like the beginning of a bad joke; “So an American, a Dane, and a French-Korean guy walk into a bar…”
However, we did far more than just goof off. We studied together. Learned together. Traveled South Korea together. While I was one of fewer than 10 non-Korean students in the program, it was truly enlightening to realize how none of that matter to us from the very first day of the program. Their passion for the Korean culture gave birth to a passion of my own.
The trip was as historical as it was hysterical. No day I spent in Seoul was like the day before or after it. Whether I was peering over the Demilitarized Zone, practicing Taekwondo on the beautiful campus of Yonsei, standing in front of the camera at SBS-CNBC, or losing my voice at Norebang with some of the best friends I’ll ever have, the only thing I couldn’t do over those 6 weeks was wipe a smile off my face.
I’ve been back in the United States for over two months now, but the experience continues to have an effect on me. I’m looking to resume studying the Korean language, however outside of the classroom since Suffolk doesn’t currently teach Korean. My goal is to return to South Korea in 2018 as a media member for the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, and I figure my best bet to make that happen is with a firm grasp of Hangeul. Plus, I’d like to be able to say “this round’s on me,” to my friends in the program, using the language that brought us all together.
If you’re looking to travel; if you’re looking to immerse yourself in a culture far from your own; if you’re looking to build friendships that transcend race or nation; if you’re looking to fully take advantage of the opportunities Suffolk University has to offer, then get involved in this program. You’ll be glad you did.
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