China
April 9, 2021
China SST canceled for second consecutive year
On Mar. 26, the Global Engagement Office made the decision to cancel the fall 2021 China SST unit. It’s the second year Goshen College has delayed their longest running SST unit, run consecutively since 1980. Jan Bender Shetler, director of global engagement, said that GC has been in conversation with their partner institution, China West Normal University (CWNU) in Nanchong, Sichuan Province. “We have been talking to them through emails and Zoom conversations since last year when it was cancelled,” she said. “Certainly more intensely in the fall and again in the spring. They kept thinking that things would open...
March 13, 2020
Coronavirus cancels China SST
On Thursday, March 5, Goshen College announced that the China fall Study-Service Term would be relocated to Indonesia. The announcement was made on the college’s website where a specific Coronavirus page has been set up to keep the campus community updated and informed about the virus and its impact on the college. An email was then sent out to students, employees and retired Goshen faculty and staff from the Dean’s office to inform them of the change. The change in the SST destination is a result of China remaining at a level 4 on the travel Advisory scale by the...
January 31, 2020
The art of dumpling-making: a Lunar New Year tradition
There is more than one way to make a dumpling. Some will first gather the dumpling wrapper in the palm of their hand, having already been perfectly rolled out into a circle, grab a pair of chopsticks, transfer the filling onto the center of the wrapper, and then with what appears to be muscle memory, fold the dough over into a crescent shape, pinching up the sides with one quick movement. Others will more slowly pick up the wrapper, place the filling on top, but then wrap the ends of the half-folded dumpling together in front to resemble a fortune...
September 7, 2017
China SST departs
On Wednesday, Aug. 30, the fall 2017 China SST unit flew to Chengdu, China to study and teach for a semester. The group consists of 15 people, with music professor Bev Lapp and her husband Dale Klassen leading the trip, along with their two daughters. The China SST happens every three years, in rotation with the Tanzania and Cambodia SST programs. Over 30 SST units have gone to China, says Tom Meyers, director of international education at Goshen College. This is one of the most diverse SST groups, with students representing Asian, African-American and Latinx nationalities. Meyers says that the...
January 29, 2015
Convocation goes to China
Today's convocation from the fall 2014 China SST group began with pictures—some humorous, some sobering, and all depicting a culture widely different than our own. The students wanted to present their experience in China in the most real way possible, using different presenters and stories to highlight the good, the bad and the confusing. They began by explaining the start of SST in Nanchong, where they studied the language, art and culture of the Sichuan Chinese. They even got to learn how to navigate traffic-crowded streets, some with more success than others. The students then presented their service...
January 29, 2015
New convocation credit options
Select sporting events may be a new option for convocation credit. With the new convocation format this year, students have been offered convocation credit for going to special events on campus. Up until now, these events have been mostly arts and science events. In an attempt to add more diversity, the idea of allowing convo credit for select sporting events was introduced. Beverly Lapp, professor of music and member of the convocation planning committee, said that the idea behind the new convocation style and additional events is to expand interest in other areas of campus. “We were concerned for diversity...
February 18, 2009
Chinese artist lectures on history, change
A crowd of students, faculty and community members gathered in Rieth Recital Hall on Sunday to listen to Hung Liu lecture about topics and issues in art. Liu is known for her paintings drawn from Chinese historical photography. She focuses on what she calls “mythic poses” of photographs, including the human activities of “laboring, eating, journeying, leaping, fighting, dreaming and carrying one’s burden.” Liu grew up in Communist-controlled China, which didn’t allow women to attend universities. “We once truly believed in Communism, in a socialist Utopian dream and in heroism,” said Liu. “I have since replaced those beliefs with a...
January 28, 2009
Visiting artist blends modern and classic Chinese symbols
With bold prints, current Hershberger Gallery artist Hung Liu questions history, issues around feminism, Chinese politics and the universe. Born in 1948 in Changchun, China during the time of the communist Mao Zedong regime, Hung was sent to work in the rice fields for four years as a high school senior. Ordered to paint art glorifying the Mao regime, Hung found a correlation between the hopeless faces of present-day Chinese women workers and the old photographs of past Emperors and their wives, inserting challenging references in the propaganda she painted. Hung studied art and earned her bachelor’s of fine arts...