China Trip to Harbin Will Be a Cultural and Spiritual Experience for Ten Hendrix Students
An in-depth look at Dr. Jay McDaniel's summer study abroad plans
By Jesse Welty
Do you remember trying to dig a hole to China as a child? Thanks to support from two of Hendrix's partners, ten Hendrix students will be arriving in the world's third-largest country sooner than they might have ever imagined. The Steel Center for the Study of Religion and Philosophy and the Center for Entrepreneurial Studies at Hendrix are co-sponsoring a study tour to three sites in China from July 3-18; students will be led by Professor of Religion Jay McDaniel.
FROM SKYSCRAPERS TO MONASTERIES TO MUD HUTS
"The China Odyssey" begins at Hendrix, where the students will attend a one-day orientation before proceeding to Beijing, where they will spend four days exploring the city: seeing such sights as the Great Wall and the Forbidden City, a Taoist temple and a Buddhist monastery. Sophomore Dana DeMilt, who is among the ten selected, says that she is particularly excited at the prospect of visiting Chinese holy places "and having life altering interactions with the people" she will meet throughout the trip.
From Beijing, a train will then take them north to Harbin, an industrial city similar to Pittsburgh, vastly different from the country's cosmopolitan capital. Because of its location, provincial Harbin has historical ties to former Eastern Bloc nations. Russian is the predominant second language studied. McDaniel says this is an especially exciting aspect of the trip, noting that sending U.S. students to visit a university there is "a first."
McDaniel is largely the organizing force behind this endeavor, and will teach a mini-course entitled Process Thought and Chinese Thought in an Age of Globalization at Heilongjiang University in Harbin. Students from that university will accompany their Hendrix counterparts both in and on cultural excursions to a farm, a factory and a two-day tour of Inner Mongolia, a poor and rural section of China.
According to program materials, touring these sites is an opportunity for students to reflect upon the challenges of industrialization, democratization, and globalization in China, and consider ways in which higher education seeks to meet these challenges. McDaniel anticipates the last portion of the trip to be particularly interesting, as the Mongolian culture is separate and distinct from Chinese ways. "Mongolians are a very gregarious people. They think of themselves as the Italians of East Asia," McDaniel explained.
"[It's] not a typical vacation spot," says participant and junior Emily Morgan. She adds that she is "a little scared, to be honest," but is also "looking forward to ... making new Chinese friends."
PROGRAM ORIGINS
The program was actually inspired by McDaniel's attending a conference in Harbin on China's growth in relation to Alfred North Whitehead's Process Philosophy. Process philosophy offers a scientifically-informed vision of the world as a community of communities, each of which is unique, and each of which can embody social justice, ecological sustainability, and spiritual well-being. But what is the tie between the British philosopher and a modern communist nation? "China is a nation in deep transition," McDaniel explains. "The specter of an old-style communism is no longer upon [it]."
He clarified that at this time the world of private enterprise has become a lucrative option for young Chinese and that Whitehead's ideas are being embraced as a way to bridge Eastern and Western thought, providing an alternative to the rampant consumerism inherent in market economies. Process thought deals with modern issues, even as it taps into concepts that exist in the traditional Chinese philosophies of Taoism and Buddhism. Because of this, supporters are wondering if it successfully contribute to Chinese developmental theories. The conference also put him in contact with Zhihe Wang, a doctoral student at Claremont Graduate University in California and staff member of the Center for Process Studies. Wang has organized six centers for Process Philosophy. It was Wang who aided McDaniel to bring Hendrix students to China. "He has made this program possible from the Chinese side of things," stated McDaniel. "Professor Keith Berry of the Center for Entrepreneurial Studies, President Tim Cloyd and Provost Bob Entzminger have made it possible from the Hendrix side." Students are only responsible for $500 of the nearly $3,000-per-person cost.
PLANS FOR THE FUTURE
The China Odyssey was designed to supplement the Chinese, Democratic, and Post-Colonial segments of Hendrix's Journeys course. It is relevant not only to students interested in culture studies and history, but also to majors in Economics and Business and in International Relations and Global Studies. Just as importantly, it constitutes a first attempt at formalizing an East Asian component to the travel opportunities Hendrix offers. As McDaniel points out, "in terms of travel opportunities for Hendrix students, our attention has so often been turned to the West. It is good that, with help from the Center for Entrepreneurial Studies and the College, we can also turn East."
In this light, other possibilities are under consideration for a Japan Odyssey centered in Kyoto, where the central focus will be Zen Buddhism and Japanese Culture. If successful, programs such as these could become recurring options, offered to students on a fairly regular basis, that help satisfy the Your Hendrix Odyssey Global Awareness component. Although the students in this year's group are not obligated to fulfill Odyssey requirements, the program can still go on their transcripts, if they choose.
McDaniel sees this project as only the start of ties between Hendrix and Chinese students. Hendrix is one of 72 centers in the U.S. affiliated with the Metanexus Institute, a national society for the study of religion and society. The Steel Center has received a grant from the Institute; and so have three schools in China, with one in Beijing.
McDaniel would like to see the Conway and Beijing centers designated as sister societies in the study of science and religion. Even as we were concluding the interview, he was entertaining the idea of incorporating these ties into his on Whitehead. Students could correspond via email with Chinese philosophy students during a given week, exchanging ideas on one or two texts with the help of technology.
For now, McDaniel will have to see how successful this summer's experience is. Along with the professor, these students constitute the first-ever China Odyssey group: juniors Emily Morgan and Katie Howard, freshman Joshua Wilson, sophomores Mitchell Boone and Elise Stangle, freshman Ingrid Geisler, sophomores Laura McKain, Dana DeMilt, and Robin Bischof, and freshman Zach Beal.
It is McDaniel who offers a parting thought: "I have a feeling that much of the world's future will depend on what happens in East Asia. In our small way, we hope to be witnesses to this emerging future."