LIU Global: Hangzhou - Study Abroad in China

LIU Global’s China Center immerses Global Studies students in contemporary China, the world’s emerging economic and political giant. From a home base in Hangzhou, a city that is both one of China’s ancient imperial capitals and a leading center of entrepreneurship and business innovation, students engage in a yearlong program of intensive language learning, country-wide study travel, and coursework in Chinese history, politics, and social change. Students gain an in-depth understanding of the historical events that have produced modern China and learn through direct experiences the social and economic forces that shape the country today.  Students who complete the program are able to navigate their way culturally, linguistically, and logistically in a society whose political and economic importance will only continue to grow. 

The China Center combines in-depth engagement with Chinese history and language through curriculum and fieldwork that place developments in contemporary China within a global frame. During the first semester, a course in modern Chinese history facilitates students’ understanding of the cycles of revolution and political innovation that have shaped the country. In a global “issues” course, students undertake fieldwork and bibliographic research on the Chinese context of specific global issues such as urbanization, global warming, gender inequality, and income disparity.

In the second semester, students enroll in a course focusing on China’s ethnic minorities, a sector that includes 15% of the total population, as well as a course devoted to China’s social development and change. This course includes a two-week fieldwork component in which students are placed with an organization whose mission aligns with both the course’s topics and the student’s interest.  During both the first and second semesters, students enroll in the intensive Mandarin Chinese program at Zhejiang University’s International College. The Center also provides electives and independent studies each semester for students who are interested in pursuing minors.