ESU in Beijing, ESU

Syllabus
ESU in Beijing
Summer 2006

instructors:	Dwight Moore, Ph.D. office - Science Hall 144 phone - 620-341-5611 email - mooredwi@emporia.edu Facebook me! Yuhua Tsui, Ph.D. office - Roosevelt Hall 218B phone - 620-341-5400 email - tsuiyuhu@emporia.edu

section:	FL 475 ZZ: This course meets in Beijing, China from 14 May 2006 through 5 June 2006. We will meet on the evening of 13 May 2006 in Kansas City for a morning departure to China. These dates include travel time between Kansas City and Beijing on either end of the trip.

This class counts as 3 hours credit towards a minor in East Asian Studies or a minor in Ethnic and Gender Studies, and the course also meets the multicultural general education requirement of Emporia State University. This course also counts as an honors course in the University Honors Program

I. course description

The purpose of this course is to provide an introduction to Mandarin Chinese and an introduction to the architecture, history, people, and culture of the People's Republic of China.

II. course organization

While in China, the general format of the course will consist of language instruction by faculty members of Beijing Union University in the morning, a cultural activity during the afternoon, and general review session with the ESU instructors in the evening. On weekends, there will be longer excursions to various historical and architectural sites around Beijing and five-day excursion by train and ferry to Qingdao and to Dalian. Students are expected to participate in all activities of the course.

III. grading:

You must keep a journal in which you record observations and thoughts about the language, people, and culture of China. This journal is worth 200 points. Your grade will be determined by the completeness of your observations and the neatness/organization of your journal. It is expected that you will write in your journal each day and the journals will be collected a couple of times during our stay in China to give you some feedback on how you are doing. The completed journals are due approximately two weeks after our return (20 June 2006)and late journals will lose points at the rate of 5 points per day. The journal must be written in English throughout.

You must also write a paper over some topic relating to China. This might be an historical account of some aspect of China, a review of some historical place, or a synthesis of some aspect of Chinese culture, business, or language. This list is meant as examples of topics and is not meant to exlcude any possible topic that relates to your experience in China. This paper must be at least 10 pages long, typed and doubled space, with at least 7 citations of which at least four must be non-internet sites. This paper is worth 150 points. The paper is due four weeks after our return and late papers will lose points at the rate of 5 points per day.

There will also be 150 points for participation in the classroom and cultural activities. Your final grade in the course will be assigned based upon the percentage of the points that you earn.

A = 92.0% to 100%

A- = 89.0% to 91.9%

B+ = 86.0% to 88.9%

B = 83.0% to 85.9%

B- = 79.0% to 82.9%

C+ = 76.0% to 78.9%

C = 70.0% to 75.9%

D = 60.0% to 69.9%

F < 60.0%

IV. tentative schedule:

13 May	All Participants must meet at the motel in Kansas City on Saturday night.
14 May	Leave from Kansas City airport early on Sunday and arrive in Beijing approximately 24 hours later.
15 May	It is actually Monday night when we arrive in Beijing. We have crossed the International Dateline.
16 May - 3 June	The exact schedule has not been determined at this point, but during the third week (29 May - 2 Jun) we will be traveling to Qingdao and Dalian.
4 June	Leave Beijing for flight home to the USA.
5 June	arrive in Kansas City

Border Crossing: You must have a valid passport and a Chinese visa. You must apply for your Chinese visa at least 6 weeks before we leave and you must send in your passport to get your visa. If you will need your passport in the few months preceding leaving for China, then you need to plan ahead when applying for your visa. You might notice that the above link describes the process for getting the visa and it includes showing up in person at the consulate. If you would rather not have the additional expense of traveling to a city with a consulate and hanging out for several days, you can apply online through Passport Visa Express. They handle the paperwork and charge you an additional fee for doing this. We highly recommend this service.

There are a few contraband items that you should be aware of. Remember, that you will cross the international border twice and may be subjected to a very thorough search by either US or Chinese customs. The chance that you could get caught with something illegal is high. Drugs that are illegal in the USA are also illegal in China. While guns (especially handguns) are common in the US they are absolutely illegal to bring into China. Religious material, except for personal use, pornography, and political literature is also banned or severely restricted. If you have any prescription drugs that you need to bring, make sure that the drugs are in the original bottle and that the prescription information is clearly shown on the bottle. The State Department maintains a web site with much useful information about travel to China.

Behavior Abroad: You need to remember that you are a guest of the Chinese government and its people. You will find that people in China are very friendly and accepting of us as guests in their country. At the same time, we expect you to be friendly and accepting of the people and customs of China. We also expect you to be friendly towards your fellow travelers from the US and accepting of their views as well. Friendly disagreements/discussions are always welcome, whining and bickering will not be tolerated. While there will be some opportunities for recreational activities, sightseeing trips in the city, or nights out on the town that is not the primary purpose of this course.

Accommodations: We will be staying in the International Dormitory at Beijing Union University with two people per room. The rooms are very typical of dorm rooms in the US. Each room has a bathroom, so you do not have to walk down the hall to use the bathroom. Each room has two beds, two desks, a TV, a shelf, and a closet. In the basement, there are three washing machines that use tokens and there are clotheslines outside the dorm. We will get three meals per day and usually these will be in the cafeteria. While in Qingdao and Dalian, we will stay in a 2 or 3-star hotel and eat in restaraunts.

Cost: The cost of the course is $2700. This includes all meals in China, housing in the International Student Dorm, cultural activities, weekend excursions, trip to Qingdao and Dalian, round-trip airfare from Kansas City, hotel Saturday night (13 May), fees at Beijing Union University, and in-state undergraduate tuition (non-resident or graduate tuition will be added to this cost). A non-refundable $1000 deposit is due on 14 February 2006. It is non-reundable because once we purchase the airline ticket, we (the school) am stuck with the cost. The rest of the money is due Monday, 2 May 2006. You will need to pay for your own passport and Chinese visa.

Most of the expenses of the trip will be covered in the fee for the course. However, we will eat some meals at fast food restaurants while traveling to and from China and you will need money for these meals. You will also need money for the myriad of beverages and snacks that people always seem to need. Finally, there will be many opportunities to buy souvenirs during the trip. In this regard, you could spend anywhere from a few dollars to hundreds of dollars. A minimum might be an additional $350.00. Credit cards and debit cards are accepted in the more upscale stores, but not in grocery stores, smaller shops, or restaurants. Traveler's checks are useful, but can only be exchanged at the Bank of China and there is a small fee for exchanging traveler's checks. During our first day in China, we will exchange money into RMB (Chinese currency) at the bank. Shopping cautions: 1) You will get a receipt when you exchange money, which you need to save. At the end of the trip, if you have RMB to change back to dollars, you will need the receipt or the bank will not exchange the money back to dollars. 2) If you buy anything that looks like it could be an antique, for example an old-looking sword, save the receipt. China has very strict policies on removing antiquities from the country and the occassion may arise where you have to prove that what you are trying to take home is not an antiquity.

Contacting home: There are several public phones that can be used to call home. These require a Chinese phone card that can be purchased at the post office near campus. The cost is less than $1 per minute. You may also be able to set your cell phone to send and receive calls while you are in Beijing. These calls are over $2 per minute after all of the surcharges are added. On Monday through Friday, you will also have access to the computer lab in the library on most evenings and you can check your e-mail. The cost is about 25 cents (2 yuan) per hour.

Last updated on 9 November 2005.
Provide comments to Dwight Moore at mooredwi@emporia.edu.
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