From Tiburon, CA

“This semester, I acted in a senior thesis theatre production of the classic Chinese play “Teahouse,” by Lao She. The play covered a pivotal thirty-year period in Beijing’s history from the late 19th to early 20th centuries, documenting the fall of the Qing Empire and the political turmoil that eventually led to the rise of the Kuomintang and communist parties. The play’s sociological and political themes sparked my curiosity to explore how they resonate with modern China. At a time when the country seems caught between the Western pull of a capitalist economy and a current regime seeking to recapture a sense of Maoist idolatry, increasing global power and vast domestic inequality, studying about China in China is the perfect opportunity to examine the intersection of these issues. I hope to use the Global Seminar to bring an international perspective to my learning. As a prospective concentrator in the Woodrow Wilson School, studying abroad and examining another society that operates so differently from the US, especially in a country of such diplomatic importance, is essential to developing both an understanding of both foreign relations and  public policy.”