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Student Stories

Study Abroad Spotlight: China

The Office of International Studies recently sat down with Chris Dunn ’15 to talk about his experiences abroad in China while he was an undergrad at 91pornԭ�� and his subsequent decision to go back after graduation. Chris was a double-major at 91pornԭ��, self-designing majors in Mandarin and Political Science. Though he studied Mandarin at 91pornԭ��, his interest in China started long before that. His innate curiosity about the world settled on China, and he started watching documentaries and reading a lot about the country. While at Northampton Community College he took his first course about China and there was no turning back.

He spent all of 2014 in Shanghai, one of the largest cities in the world with a population topping 24 million. Shanghai is located on China’s east coast and is a major financial and trading hub. It is in this megacity that Chris dove headlong into his language studies at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, immersing himself in language courses in the classroom and cultural exploration in the streets. It was that full year abroad that solidified Chris’s desire to return there for work. The allure of Shanghai’s history, glamor, and mystique took hold of him and wouldn’t let go. Chris has been there now for almost two years and plans on staying for the foreseeable future. Why not? He’s comfortable, he’s happy, and has a job that he really enjoys.

Chris is a teacher of English as a second language at a school called “Malibu Kids English.” He has about 12 students in each of his classes and they range in age from 3 to 12. The school he works at is in the Pudong district in the eastern part of Shanghai. He said that part of the reason he is thinking of staying on at the school is that there are potential leadership opportunities. He envisions himself stepping into a position like that in the future.

At the school he interacts not only with the students in his classes (about 140-150 a year), but also with their parents. Chris has reached an advanced level of speaking in standard Mandarin, which he tries to use in his meetings. Despite his years of intensive language study, he still has to have an interpreter with him as many parents don’t understand him. He said that “there are many dialects and students come from all over” so it’s impossible for him to communicate effectively with many of the parents. Shanghaiese, the dialect spoken in Shanghai, is of Wu origin and not mutually intelligible with Mandarin. It’s the same in the streets. He spends a lot of time engaging the city, but it’s a linguistic challenge.

When he’s not in the classroom, Chris likes to explore the city. There’s so much to see including The Bund, the famous waterfront; Nanjing Road, Shanghai’s principle shopping street; Oriental gardens and temples; world class museums; M50, Shanghai’s contemporary art district; and so much more. Chris also likes to spend time at bars with Chinese friends, just hanging out and relaxing. To escape the city, he has taken trips to Yantai in northeastern Shandong Province north of Beijing (for the beaches); Hangzhou, the capital of the Zhejiang Province and not too far from Shanghai (for the lakes); and Shenzhen, in Guangdong Province and right across from Hong Kong (for the multinational industry).

“Even if it’s not for your major, just go. Do it for the experience.”

Now he can’t imagine not having gone to Shanghai to study. He said he’s gained so many different perspectives on life and has learned to appreciate those perspectives. He no longer takes things for granted either. When he’s back in the US on short visits he sometimes has a hard time dealing with perceptions people here have of China. They don’t appreciate different perspectives and are wed to their misconceptions from the media. “I can’t handle questions any more,” Chris lamented. China, he says, is much more efficient than the US in terms of public transportation. The technology and Internet services are better too. These are hard concepts for Americans to understand.

He said that overall, being overseas has broadened his horizons and has given him a more thorough understanding of how the world works both culturally and politically. He added, “If you’ve never left the country, you can only assume how things work. That’s particularly true in business when you’re dealing with authority figures and relationships. Watching the news or anything else in the media can’t give you a sense of how things really work in the world. You need to experience it.”

Our discussion inevitably turned to politics and the inauguration of Donald Trump as president. Chris said that politics comes up in conversations in Shanghai and based on conversations he’s had, he estimates that 50% of the people there love Trump and the other 50% hate him. They love him for a couple reasons. One is that they think he’ll improve relations between the US and China, thereby helping develop China more. The other reason is that they think Trump with totally destroy the US economy and as a result he’ll make China great again. How do you say LOL in Mandarin?

Chris had some parting advice for 91pornԭ�� students. He said he knows that “even thinking about going abroad can be overwhelming, but you have to take the first step and go talk to someone. Don’t wait, act.” Talk to a professor, a student who’s been abroad already, the Office of International Studies. Next he said that “it’s really important to have an open mind when you go abroad. Understand that you won’t have the same things you have in the US. Don’t expect things to go smoothly either. It’s just part of the experience.”

Story by: Christian Sinclair