CHINESE BRIDGE COHORT IN CHINA

APPLICATION DEADLINE:  STILL ACCEPTING APPLICANTS!!!

INFORMATION SESSION: 

PROGRAM DATES
May 17 - June 30, 2012

PROGRAM DIRECTORS
Professor Constance Cook
Modern Languages and Literature
cac8@lehigh.edu

PROGRAM COSTS
$5,500 (Tentative) - This includes tuition for six credits and double occupancy room.  The program cost also includes transportation from Shanghai to Beijing.   Not included:  airfare, local travel, meals, laundry, personal expenses, personal weekend travel or other costs.

SCHOLARSHIP OPPORTUNITY
Through a grant provided by the LUCE foundation, students selected for the Bridge Cohort receive a $2150 scholarship towards the tuition of this program, helping to reduce student cost to slightly below the posted program cost.

WHAT IS THE BRIDGE COHORT?
The importance of understanding China and Chinese culture is essential to the future of the United States and to the careers of young people today.  Lehigh has received a grant from the LUCE foundation for the purpose of engaging students in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math), Art and Architecture, as well as other students more typically aware of the importance of Asia, such as students in Asian Studies, journalism, global studies, and business.  The cohort is an Interdisciplinary team of such students who study ancient Chinese wooden bridge technology, history, and culture and design of Chinese bridges, pavilions, and gardens. The Bridge Project is concerned with an approach to education in the 21st century that bridges disciplines, cultures, and Lehigh’s own special historical connection with China. During the summer of 2011, the focus of the cohort will be on the history of garden/landscape design and pavilions in relation to traditional Chinese bridges.

PROGRAM OVERVIEW
The Chinese Bridge Cohort is a six week program that begins with arrival in Shanghai on Friday, May 20th (leaving Newark on May 19) and departing from Beijing on or around Saturday, July 2.  Students are encouraged to travel in China or other areas of Asia before or after the program.
The Chinese Bridge Cohort is a two part program.  During the first two weeks, the cohort joins Lehigh’s Shanghai internship program participants as they learn Chinese language and culture hosted by the Shanghai Foreign Service Co., LTD (FESCO).  Students live two to a room in a hotel downtown with easy access to metro, shopping, etc. Students will have access to the internet in their rooms. For two weeks, students will be immersed in Chinese language and culture. Cultural activities include meeting people in the local Jing’an community association, students from a local university, and sites around the city. Students will be exposed to the ultra-modern landscape of one of the worlds biggest cities, and see some of the tallest buildings in the world, including the newest “green” skyscraper in process of being built by an architectural firm run by an Lehigh alumni. Professor Cook of the Lehigh Chinese program will be the Lehigh faculty mentor during these two weeks. There will also be a Graduate Assistant to help will daily needs, e.g. buying a metro card, used cell phone, ordering at restaurants, etc.  Three professors representing Lehigh’s colleges of Arts and Sciences, Business and Economics, and Engineering participate as well as one Chinese Graduate Assistant.  These professors are Professor Oliver Yao, Professor Chuck Smith and Professor Connie Cook. 
After two weeks, on June 4, the Cohort separates from the Shanghai internship program as they begin their exploration of  Chinese architecture, bridges, pavilions, and gardens.  Three weeks will be spent at Tongji University in Shanghai as students participate in workshops visit sites throughout the country-side.  Lehigh professors with a full-time assistant of a Chinese speaking Research Associate will be part of the cohort: Professors Norman Girardot of Religion Studies and Anthony Viscardi of Art & Architecture. Lehigh professors, Prof. Anthony Viscardi of Architecture and Prof. Norman Girardot of Chinese religion and Prof. Donging Wang (Phd, Materials engineering) take over mentoring the program as the group first moves to Tongji University in Shanghai for two weeks and then to the University of Science and Technology in Beijing (USTB).
While at Tongji, the cohort will travel to local sites famous for their gardens, pavilions, and bridges.  Students will also have morning lectures by Lehigh and Tongji professors followed by a hands-on workshop building models. While at USTB, the students will stay on campus, meet local students, tour relevant departments at USTB and sites famous for their gardens, architecture, and bridges around Beijing. Students can also view the architectural monuments left over from the 2008 Olympics, such as the famous Birdnest stadium. And, of course, don’t forget the Great Wall. Students will also have free time to explore on their own.

LOCATION
Shanghai is a world-class city. This Manhattan of the East never sleeps. Situated where the Yangtze River flows into the Pacific Ocean, this city rose as one of the premier sites for modern capitalism in the 1920s and 30s and a home for thousands of people from all over the world. Art Deco buildings from that era are now interspersed with new high-rises that reflect the resurgence of Shanghai as a business capital in the past few decades. A stroll along the riverside Bund at night melds the past and the present: the lights of the old financial district on one side mix with the glow of the new financial district on the other. Invisible now is the turmoil of the Cultural Revolution that attempted to institute a peasant utopia by smashing the artifacts of elite Chinese history. This gateway to China is once again a cosmopolitan center for people from countries all over the world. It is just one step inside the country that is home to one fifth of the world’s population and which is steeped in history, culture, and color.  It was the site of the 2010 World Expo with the fabulous China Pavilion still open. The China Pavilion features a gigantic digitalized version of the famous painting with the original Rainbow Bridge. The Pavilion also focuses on the future of green technology

LIVING IN SHANGHAI
Getting around Shanghai is easy and cheap. It is a hop and a skip to the amazing Shanghai Museum, historic districts, the warehouse district of vanguard artists. There are shopping arcades with everything from designer to imported or locally produced clothing, shoes and other goods and restaurants featuring Chinese and international cuisine of every kind. Markets specializing in fabric, clothing, shoes, electronic—you name it, they got it—abound.  So too internet cafes, bookstores, video stores, groceries, 24 hour convenience stores, and fast food outlets. Nightlife includes movies, opera, theater, acrobats, and an immense variety of restaurants, bars, and discos run by people from countries all over the world. Students can travel by metro, bus, or taxi, or walk.

LIVING IN BEIJING
Like Shanghai, Beijing has all the conveniences and an easily accessible metro system to get around the city but the layout is entirely different. Instead of a river through the center of town—representing the history of Shanghai as a center for international trade (since the 18040s!)—Beijing is spread out in square blocks out from the emperor’s palace in the center. It is the political center of China, dryer and more serious (don’t worry there is an active nightlife and is the site of one of the most active modern art sectors in China—you will be comparing Beijing’s “798” with Shanghai’s “M50”). It is an exciting place to live, which like Shanghai, makes you want to stay longer the more you discover.

COURSES OFFERED
ASIA 395: Chinese Bridge Workshop
Four week cohort experience in China where students work in an Interdisciplinary team and study ancient Chinese wooden bridge technology, history, and culture and design of Chinese bridges, pavilions, and gardens. The Bridge Project is concerned with an approach to education in the 21st century that bridges disciplines, cultures, and Lehigh’s own special historical connection with China. During the summer of 2011, the focus of the cohort will be on the history of garden/landscape design and pavilions in relation to traditional Chinese bridges.

CHIN 91, 191, 291: Chinese Language and Culture
Students will be placed in beginning, intermediate, or advanced Chinese language classes by FESCO based on a test (using simplified script) immediately upon their arrival. Grades will be based on improvement shown in the final test and on teacher’s reports regarding daily attendance and participation.  A new course is in the process of being developed to accommodate highly advanced or native Chinese speakers.

Lehigh professors who will mentor your Shanghai experience:
Prof. Constance Cook
Modern Languages and Literature
Email: cac8@lehigh.edu
Prof. Yuliang Oliver Yao
Economics
Email: yuy3@lehigh.edu

Lehigh professors who will mentor your Cohort experience:
Prof. Dongning Wang
Chinese Bridge Program & Chinese Heritage Project
Email: dow2@lehigh.edu

APPLY NOW!

To apply, use the study abroad online application (click apply now above) and choose "Lehigh in Shanghai. Along with your Study Abroad application, students applying to the cohort must submit a one page essay explaining your educational background and how it is relevant to the bridge project; discuss what you would like to get out of participation in the bridge project, how will knowledge of Chinese language and culture affect your career?

Once accepted, students will be expected to sign up for a minor in Asian Studies. 

Lehigh University, Study Abroad Office
32 Sayre Drive, Coxe Hall, Bethlehem, PA  18015