China

Summer 2013

Program Dates: 24 May–11 June, 2013

China is the emerging superpower of the 21st century.
China is on the move . . . but to where? What's really happening there? What does it imply for the United States, for economic life, and for the Christian church?

Join students from Gordon College, Westmont College, and Biola University for nineteen days of travel and study in China:

• Meet with Chinese businessmen and women, and Chinese scholars and students. 
• Visit businesses, factories, universities, and outstanding historical and cultural sites across all of China.
• Meet and worship with Chinese Christians. 
• Taste street life and urban culture in major Chinese cities and visit the Special Economic Zones that have reshaped the global economy.

China transformed itself economically over the past three decades and now has the potential to reshape the world in the 21st century. This seminar offers a vivid, personal introduction to China's recent history, its present economic promise, and the many challenges posed by its unprecedented growth.

LOCATIONS
The trip will span the continent, visiting cities, and regions with historic and contemporary economic significance including Beijing, Chongqing, Hong Kong, Shenzhen, and Shanghai. In addition to businesses, factories, farms, special economic zones and universities, students will also visit historical and cultural sites including:

• The Great Wall
• Beijing's Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square
• Chongqing's Ciqukuo "Ancient Town" village, historic hub of porcelain manufacturing and trade
• Hong Kong's historic Central District, a global financial capital and seat of Britain's last colony
• Shanghai's "bund," China's Wall Street and emerging global finance powerhouse
• Shanghai's PuDong section, home to many of China's worldclass manufacturing firms.

A typical day will include some combination of the following: faculty briefings, visits to historic sites, lectures by Chinese academics and officials, factory tours and discussions with business leaders, and free time for individual exploration of the cities.

China 2013 Provisional Itinerary (PDF)

SEMINAR LEADERS

• Stephen L. S. Smith, Ph.D., Professor of Economics and Chair of the Economics and Business Department, Gordon College. Professor Smith, an international and economic development specialist, is a longtime student of the Chinese economy. 
• Lari Mobley, Ph.D. (in progress), Professor of Business Administration, Biola University. Professor Mobley teaches in the areas of marketing, advertising and business writing. Currently, she is completing her Ph.D. in management with a marketing emphasis, and is focusing her research on branding strategies for companies during mergers and acquisitions.
• Edd Noell, Ph.D., Professor of Economics,  Westmont College.  An experienced international seminar leader and frequent China visitor, Professor Noell is the co-author of Reckoning with Markets (Oxford, 2012)

PARTICIPANTS
This seminar is open to all Gordon students. There are no course pre-requisites. Chinese language speakers will be with the group at all official functions and visits. Meetings will be translated as necessary. Participants are not required to have any level of Chinese language fluency.

CURRICULUM

• This is a 4-credit general elective course offered by Gordon's Department of Economics and Business and Department of History. Students may elect is as either ECB291 or HIS291. It has three parts: a pre-trip component during the spring 2013 semester, a 19-day tour of China in late May and early June 2013, and a term paper due after the trip.
• Download the ECB291 Syllabus here.

GLOBAL UNDERSTANDING CORE CREDIT
Students wishing to fulfill Global Understanding core through participation in the China Seminar must:

• Participate in COR210/211 New Perspectives in Global Understanding 1 and 2 (0-credit,) Lab fees apply as of Fall 2013.
• Register for COR210/211 on the online international seminar application. 

Pre-Departure: COR210 New Perspectives in Global Understanding 1 is a one-day Saturday seminar class. For students going studying internationally questions regarding the interpretation of cultural difference, ethnocentrism, and culture’s shaping of behaviour and values are not “academic” questions. They will soon be lived reality. This course equips students to reflect purposefully upon the theory and praxis of what it means to be citizen-sojourners.

Re-Entry: COR211 New Perspectives in Global Understanding 2 is a one-day Saturday seminar class when seminar students return to campus in September. Nobody knows better than a returning student how inadequate the question “How was your international experience” is. This course equips students to ask the deeper questions of their global experience and reintegration, and take up the challenge of being a citizen-sojourner.

Contact GEO for further details.

ECB/HIS291 Economic Development in Modern China (DOCX)

COST
Total program cost including non-refundable application fees is approximately $4,850. This covers: tuition, visa and roundtrip airfare, lodging (4-star hotels), meals, in-country transportation, entrance fees.

A $30 non-refundable application fee must accompany the application. A $450 non-refundable program deposit (which counts against tuition) will be due in January 2013.  The remainder will be billed to student accounts—full details available from Student Financial Services.

Students are required to obtain passports in advance of the trip to allow GEO to obtain a visa for China entry. Students must also secure any needed immunizations.