Why China?
As the country with the world’s second largest GDP, a fast growing economy, and the largest foreign reserves, China has been portrayed as both the savior and the villain of the global political and economic system. In environmental issues, for example, China is both the largest annual emitter of CO2 and the largest investor in green technology; within Chinese society, while political discourse remains highly managed by the central government, environmental critiques and international NGOs are allowed to flourish. With 5,000 years of documented history, Chinese society and culture contains many seemingly contradictory ideas and structures that continue to make China a complex mystery for Americans. While there has been tremendous growth in the study of China and East Asia in post-World War II higher education, there continues to be tremendous demand for higher education about China and East Asia as China becomes more central in global politics, economics, and culture, especially for undergraduate students in the sciences and humanities.

Fudan University


Why Shanghai?
The program location provides students with access to China’s most important city for international commerce and contemporary culture, Shanghai. The choice of Fudan University, which is located on the outskirts of the city, allows students to travel into downtown Shanghai easily, but it enables their immersion in a more typical urban Chinese environment, one without the Ferrari dealerships and Disney Stores found in center-city Shanghai. Professor Lozada is an adjunct professor of anthropology at Fudan; he maintains close relations in the School of Social Development and Public Policy there. Professor Rigger taught in Fudan’s School of International Relations and Public Affairs and had a research office in its Center for American Studies in 2006.