Issue 8 - Fall 2012 - BYU Chinese Flagship Center

美国中文领航项目南京中心期刊
Chinese Flagship Program
Nanjing Center News Letter
September 2012
The U.S. National Chinese Flagship Program Nanjing Center is off to
a great start. The students have all started the semester by picking
classes, finding roommates, starting their tutoring, and discussing topics all related to China and her culture. However, it isn’t only academ-­
ics for our Flagship students!
The students are very active this year; they are learning Chinese culture and also bringing a little of their own culture to China. We had a
trip to the great Huang Mountain, Zhong Shanling, and even a B-boy
competition.
美国中文领航项目南京中心期刊
Chinese Flagship Program
Nanjing Center News Letter
September 2012
B-boys in Nanjing
Brigham Young student, Shunta Nagano, is a familiar face around the Bboy scene. After watching the movie “You’ve Got Served,” Shunta started teaching himself some B-boy moves. He really got into B-boy competitions when he went to BYU and started meeting other dancers.
“Back then B-boying was just a hobby. It was just something we did together for fun when we had free time, but it’s become an important part of my life. I guess you can even call it a way of life.” -Shunta
So it was natural for Shunta to seek out the local B-boy group here in Nanjing on his first week at the Flagship Center. On September 15th and 16th,
Shunta entered a local competition that included some of the best B-boys
from Nanjing, Shanghai, the U.S., and Beijing. After two days of B-boy
battling, Shunta made it to the top 4 group before being eliminated.
“I am grateful to dance here mostly because I’ve met a lot of Chinese dancers who are passionate about B-boying. …I hope that I am able to in-­
spire these Chinese B-boys by showing them how B-boying has influenced
my life for the better.” -Shunta
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美国中文领航项目南京中心期刊
Chinese Flagship Program
Nanjing Center News Letter
September 2012
Sarah Schrader
Western Kentucky University
Flagship Student
This year we have our first ever Western Kentucky Flagship student. We
asked her a few questions to get an idea of her Chinese study here at the
Nanjing Center.
—————————————————–——————————Flagship: Can you tell us a little bit about your first impressions of the
Flagship Nanjing Center and your classes?
Sarah: Well, I guess the first impression I had of the Flagship center was
that everyone was super welcoming, and when I got in there they just
started taking care of everything and telling me what I should do. I was
really taken back that they were so on top of things. So that was really
cool.
It was a little bit hard getting settled in to live here. I’m mean just living on my own; I mean I have done that before, I just came back from Korea
and I was there for 6 months living on my own but it is just a little bit different here because I have
the studying dynamic and
going to classes and things
that I didn’t have before.
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美国中文领航项目南京中心期刊
Chinese Flagship Program
Nanjing Center News Letter
September 2012
Sarah-Continued
I really enjoyed the classes so far; it is only the 4th week, I think. But, all
of the Flagship classes are really interesting. I’m a science major and I study biology and chemistry so these media classes and writing classes are
not things I have learned before so I think it’s beneficial that I’m exposed to that kind of thing, especially in Chinese. I think taking classes in my
major is really cool too. I don’t have a very good background in that vo-­
cabulary in China, but I know enough in English so when they are talking I
can figure out what they are talking about and I can learn the words that
way. So it kind of makes me excited when I know what they are talking
about.
Flagship: Why did you start learning Chinese; what is your background?
Sarah: It was kind of a sui bian de decision. So it was a random decision;
I didn’t really premeditate it. When I was in my sophomore year of high school, I tested into a residential high school in Western Kentucky University campus and so I was going to go live on the campus for my junior and
senior year of high school and take college classes. So when I was getting
signed up for classes through there, I think there was a questionnaire that
said “are you interested in learning Chinese?” I was like “Ok!” So, I checked the box and then over the summer they contacted me cause they
were just starting the Flagship program at Western and they were trying to
get people to do it. So I talked to the director and she called me and I was
like “oh, I don’t know if I can learn it;; I’ve heard it is really hard.” And she was like, “oh, you should try it.” So, I was like, “ok!”
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美国中文领航项目南京中心期刊
Chinese Flagship Program
Nanjing Center News Letter
September 2012
Friendship on Huang Mountain
The students this semester were quick to
take advantage of the beautiful scenery
China has to offer. On September 15 and
16, many students went to Huang Mountain
for a 2 day hike to see the sun rise the next
morning.
Two members of this trip were ChristyLau (ASU student) and Xu Hongxia
(Nanjing University student and Christy’s roommate). Here is what they had to say:
“This semester, not only am I one of Flagship’s student assistants, I am also Christy Lau’s roommate (current Flagship student). Christy and I have lived together
for almost a month now and we are usually
always together from morning to night.
Even one of the staff members commented that it was weird to see one
without the other. All in all, we get along unusually well as roommates!
Our weekend trip to Yellow Mountain was just unforgettable. I’m looking forward to what these upcoming months have in store!”-Xu Hongxia
“I even learned some new, fun ways to pass the time. My roommate and I
joined in on a game of Mafia in Chinese, a game where a lot of smooth
talking had to be done to prove one’s innocence when suspected of being
one of the killers. I also learned a new
card game and managed to lose almost
every single round.” -Christy Lau
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美国中文领航项目南京中心期刊
Chinese Flagship Program
Nanjing Center News Letter
September 2012
Flagship Students resting on their way to the top of Huang Mountain
_________________________________________________________________________________________
The students went on
the first historical trip with
Mr.
Chen
to
Zhong
Shanling. Mr. Chen gave
the students an introduction
to the history behind the site,
and students discussed the
different scenery and the significance of the location.
The event was attended
by 33 students, 3 family
member, including 2 Flagship Xiao Pengyou (Babies)!
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美国中文领航项目南京中心期刊
Chinese Flagship Program
Nanjing Center News Letter
September 2012
We would all like to welcome to the world the first “Flagship Baby” born in Nanjing on September 21st. We would like to congratulate the family
and wish their child a happy life’s journey, a journey that started here in Nanjing University!
Important upcoming events and other information
1. The students have all signed up for the October 21st HSK 6 and HSK
Oral exams.
2. The Chinese National Day holiday is from September 30th to October
7th. Many students will be traveling during this time, including trips to
Xinjiang, Shanghai, Beijing, Chengdu, and many other areas around
China.
3. The Flagship Center is growing; the
new office for academic affairs will
be open after the Chinese National
Day vacation.
Future History and Culture Trips
around Nanjing:
October 13th-Chaotian Temple and
Zhonghua Gate
October 27th-Presidential Palace and
Pilu Temple
November 10th-Yuejiang Building and
Jinghai Temple
November 24th-Qixia Mountain and
Qixia Temple
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