China News Service, Nanjing, September 25th: Question: Why is the Nanjing University-Johns Hopkins University Sino-US Cultural Research Center a special example of Sino-US relations?
——Exclusive interview with Nanjing University—Adam Wei, U.S. director of the Center for Sino-American Cultural Studies at Johns Hopkins University
China News Service reporters Zhu Xiaoying Zhong Sheng
The Nanjing University-Johns Hopkins University Sino-American Cultural Research Center (Sino-American Center) is a teaching and research institution jointly established by Nanjing University in China and Johns Hopkins University in the United States.
As the earliest Sino-foreign cooperative education institution in China after the reform and opening up, the Sino-American Center has trained nearly 4,000 graduates from about 40 countries and regions since its official enrollment in 1986, covering fields such as politics, economy, and culture.
How did the China-America Center come about? What kind of development and evolution has the Sino-US Center experienced in the past 40 years, and what role does it play in humanities and academic exchanges between China and the United States? Adam K Webb, the U.S. director of the China-U.S. Center, accepted an exclusive interview with China News Service's "East-West Question" and gave his answer.
The interview transcript is summarized as follows:
Reporter from China News Service: Why did Hopkins University cooperate with Nanjing University to create a precedent for Sino-foreign cooperative education? What was the initial vision of the China-US Center?
Adam Wei: The idea of establishing the Sino-American Center can be traced back to the late 1970s. Steven Muller, the then president of Hopkins University, foresaw that Asia's international influence would continue to rise, and came up with the idea of setting up teaching and research centers and educational sites in Asia.
At the same time, China was launching reform and opening up, and Kuang Yaming, then president of Nanjing University, wanted to promote Chinese academic circles to reconnect with international standards. He began to actively seek cooperation opportunities with top universities around the world. In November 1979, Kuang Yaming led a delegation to visit the United States, during which he held talks with Steven Mueller.
The two parties reached a consensus to establish a cooperative education center in Nanjing and build it into a bridge for academic exchanges between China and the United States. It is not only an important platform for Hopkins University to base itself in China and expand its presence in Asia, but also a window for Nanjing University to connect with the world and cooperate with Hopkins University.
As China's first Sino-foreign cooperative education project since the reform and opening up, the two universities are improving the concept while implementing the details. In 1981, the two schools formally signed a cooperation agreement. The project received support from then-U.S. Vice President George H.W. Bush and other U.S. politicians, and was approved by the Chinese State Council in 1982. In 1986, the Sino-American Center was officially opened for enrollment. A total of 60 students from China and the United States were enrolled in the first class, and this is how the Sino-American Center got its start.
China News Service Reporter: As a groundbreaking project, what are the characteristics of the China-US Center?
Adam Wei: The Sino-American Center is jointly managed and built by Nanjing University and Johns Hopkins University. Nanjing University has deep roots in China and has a profound foundation, while Hopkins University has a global vision for running schools. The two founding universities are deeply involved in running the school throughout the entire process, and rely on their respective resource advantages to complement each other in running the school, forming unique advantages.
The Sino-US Center project focuses on graduate education, with a streamlined school structure and research directions focused on international relations, international economics, political science and other professional fields.
The teaching adopts a Chinese-English bilingual model, which allows teachers and students to discuss various practical issues in a deeper level, allowing learners to experience the two cultures of China and the United States. Academically, we adhere to the principle of openness, have a relaxed discussion atmosphere, and accommodate candid discussions on various cutting-edge issues. I once taught a political science course that focused on rural development, and organized students to go to rural Anhui for field research on weekends. They visited local people and conducted field surveys, and the content of the book became vivid and concrete.
The teaching of the Sino-US Center provides students with systematic guidance for in-depth study of a certain field, discussing the basic theories, major controversial issues and the latest academic progress in the relevant field, laying a solid foundation for students to continue their studies or engage in work in related fields in the future.
Chinese and foreign students study and live together, Chinese and foreign professors jointly teach and learn from each other, and the management system is in line with the international education system. These features constitute a unique operating model in China so far. Various extracurricular study activities have promoted long-term interpersonal connections and friendships, and contributed to global cultural exchanges.
Reporter from China News Service: What kind of development and evolution has the China-US Center experienced over the past 40 years since its establishment? What changes does it reflect in China?
Adam Wei: In 1986, the first enrollment of the Sino-American Center was only 60 students, and the students came only from China and the United States. Today, there are about 170 students on campus, with students from all over the world, and the composition of the students has become more diverse.
In terms of teaching and research content, the boundaries of course research have already broken through the bilateral scope: Sino-US relations are still the core teaching topic, but the courses have greatly expanded various global issues and conducted teaching and research based on a global perspective. As China's international influence continues to increase, the value of relevant expansion courses has become increasingly prominent.
This semester alone, we have launched courses on China-Africa relations, China-Latin America relations, and also implemented short-term special courses on China-India relations. When the school was founded in 1986, few could have imagined that China would form such a deep linkage with Africa, Latin America, India and other places, and relevant research was naturally out of the question.
In the spring of 2022, I led a team to Peru for research. We visited local think tank experts and staff of Chinese-funded enterprises in Peru. We also went deep into the high mountain mining area at an altitude of 4,900 meters to visit Chinese-funded mining projects and interview residents in the mining areas, focusing on China-Latin America relations.
Over the past 40 years, the Sino-American Center has always adhered to its original intention of establishing the school, while keeping pace with changes in the global situation and flexibly iterating the content of the school.
China News Service reporter: What role does the China-US Center play in humanities and academic exchanges between China and the United States? In the current complex and ever-changing international environment and Sino-US relations, what practical significance does this type of academic exchange and non-governmental cultural exchanges have?
Adam Wei: When the China-US Center was founded, it had a vision: one day in the future, the foreign ministers of China and the United States would discover that they were both alumni of the China-US Center. This goal has not yet been achieved, but the center has produced a large number of senior diplomatic practitioners. They can often be seen in various practical scenarios of Sino-US exchanges and China's foreign cooperation.
One of the original intentions of the establishment of the China-U.S. Center is to rely on people-to-people and cultural exchanges to consolidate the foundation of multi-level exchanges between China and the United States in addition to official diplomacy and economic and trade cooperation.
Over the past four decades, Sino-US relations have experienced ups and downs. Transnational school-running cooperation between two countries with hugely different national conditions is bound to be accompanied by various challenges along the way. The external school-running environment in which the center is located often faces challenges, and the current environment is a relatively severe period in the center's development history. Even so, the original intention of the China-US Center for running a school has never changed, and the core school-running framework established in 1986 has been completely retained to ensure the continued smooth operation of the project.
As an academic institution, we focus on long-term development and continue to deliver outstanding graduates to all walks of life to help China-US exchanges move forward steadily. As a model of cultural exchanges and people-to-people diplomacy between China and the United States, alumni from the China-US Center are active on the world stage, giving full play to their role as a bridge between China and the United States and the international community in cultural exchanges, public diplomacy and academic cooperation in various fields. Every alumni is a civil ambassador for cultural exchanges. They are all working in different ways to enhance mutual understanding and trust, and to eliminate or reduce the "understanding deficit" between countries and between people.
The Sino-US Center has experienced the vicissitudes of time and the vicissitudes of Sino-US relations. It has significant influence in China, the United States and the international community, and has become a model of international cooperation in higher education. This year marks the 40th anniversary of the establishment of the China-US Center. The China-US Center will continue to build on the past and make greater contributions to international educational and cultural exchanges and cooperation between China and the United States.
