Departmental Newsletter for Modern Languages & Literatures at the College of William & Mary
Shani Cave is graduating with a Chinese Studies major and Marketing minor. She studied abroad her sophomore year in Beijing through the W&M-Tsinghua program, which greatly shaped her education and career goals. She is tremendously grateful to her peers and professors, especially Professor Michael Hill, for encouraging and supporting her quest to be a future… Read More
I owe a lot to my Chinese education. It’s through learning Chinese that I was paid to travel over my sophomore and junior summers, first to Suzhou and then to Taiwan. Chinese fluency is also the reason I am able to get a job in the State Department as a Consular Fellow. But beyond material… Read More
My experience being in the Chinese program for these past four years has been very rewarding. Since the Chinese department is one of the smaller ones here at William and Mary, it felt like a tight-knit community where I could get to know all the professors and students more personally. I have taken many language… Read More
Throughout my time at W&M, my Chinese major has completed a metamorphosis from relatively quirky secondary interest to an active and formative part of my life. It has influenced not only how I have chosen to spend my time these past four years, but also my outlook on the world moving beyond them. My journey… Read More
Giselle Jernigan has a major in Chinese and a minor Japanese. She transferred to W&M her junior year and upon entering the Chinese department, quickly felt the encouragement of the language professors, who work so closely with their students to enhance their language skills, and the fellow culture professors, who invoke the connections between Chinese… Read More
These past four years at William & Mary in the English and Chinese departments were amazing. I made friends that will last a lifetime, and my language skills improved through my program here. This summer, I transition from undergrad to Master’s here at William & Mary, as I am participating in the 5-Year Program for… Read More
Colleen Mulrooney (’19), Major in Chinese Language & Culture I came to the College of William & Mary with one simple hope—well, one among a few others, but the most important one was gaining a deeper understanding of China. I had been learning Chinese since age 13 and felt really ready to just declare a… Read More
Professor Yanfang Tang will retire by the end of Spring 2019. We will miss her! http://wmpeople.wm.edu/site/page/yxtang/home https://www.wm.edu/as/modernlanguages/faculty/tang_y.php
My time in the Chinese department here at William & Mary has been one of unforgettable moments and wonderful experiences. Before coming to William and Mary I had spent time in both middle and high school studying Chinese language and culture, but my studies here at William and Mary truly elevated my previous studies to… Read More
They are: Carleton J. Anderson (CJ) Shani Cave Nicole C. Cook (Nicole) Eleanor K. Currie (Ellie) GyuHui Hwang (GyuHui) Giselle Jernigan (Giselle) Benny Li (Benny) Natasha L. Mortensen (Natasha) Colleen M. Mulrooney (Colleen) Emily J. Pearson-Beck (Emily) Robert A. Rust (Robert) Alec Sharkey (Alec) Robert W. Sherman (Rob) Griffin T. Vasile (Griffin)
Another good news! Professor Calvin Hui has received a highly prestigious American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) fellowship to finish his book project entitled _Useless: Fashion, Media, and Consumer Culture in Contemporary China_. This book draws on film and fashion to track the emergence of consumer culture in China’s encounter with global capitalism. The first part… Read More
Good news! Professor Calvin Hui has received tenure! He will be Associate Professor of Chinese Studies at William and Mary beginning in fall 2019! See his faculty profile: https://www.wm.edu/as/modernlanguages/faculty/hui_calvin.php
Professor Jennifer Rhee from Virginia Comonwealth University gave a book talk entitled The Robotic Imaginary: The Human and the Price of Dehumanized Labor (Minnesota University Press, 2018). This talk was held on 17 April 2019, Wednesday, at 5:00-6:30 p.m. in Washington Hall Room 315. Book: https://www.amazon.com/Robotic-Imaginary-Human-Price-Dehumanized/dp/1517902983/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1547854082&sr=8-1&keywords=Jennifer+Rhee Abstract: This talk draws on her book, The Robotic Imaginary: The Human and… Read More
The Chinese program was excited to present Professor Yiman Wang’s talk concerning the first Chinese-American actress Anna May Wong. This talk was held on 27 March 2019, Wednesday, at 5:00-6:20 p.m. in Washington Hall 315. Title: Regarding Anna May Wong: An “Oriental Flapper’s” Transnational Stardom Abstract: Anna May Wong (1905-1961), the most well-known pioneering Chinese-American screen-stage-television performer,… Read More
Speaker: Alexa Alice Joubin (Professor of English, George Washington University) Talk: East Asian Cinema’s Occidental Eye: Fair Ophelia and Sweet Hamlet Date/Time: 22 October 2018 (Monday), 3:30 p.m.-5:00 p.m. Venue: Washington 317 Abstract: East Asian cinema has given us fresh interpretations and visually stunning renditions of Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Korean and Chinese Ophelias are no longer silent; they gain agency by being seen and heard through… Read More
Talk: Post-socialism in Hong Kong: Zone Urbanism, Urban Horror, and Post-1997 Hong Kong Cinema Speaker: Professor Erin Huang (Princeton University) Date/Time: 28 November 2018 (Wednesday), at 5:00-6:20 p.m. Venue: Washington Hall 219 The film, directed by the Hong Kong director Fruit Chan (陈果), is called The Midnight After (那夜凌晨，我坐上了旺角開往大埔的紅VAN) (2014). Trailer (2 minutes): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WoooAUiQqy0 Abstract: This talk examines the condition of Chinese “(post-)socialism” in Hong Kong—a city without… Read More
Aventures in Beijing (by Brian Donahue) I remember first looking out the airplane window as my flight began its descent into Beijing Capital International Airport. A smile was plastered on my face as I realized that, after six years of studying Chinese, I was finally in China. Despite the jubilation, anxiety took over as I… Read More
By Annecy Daggett When I found out I had been accepted into the William and Mary Summer in Beijing study abroad program, I was filled with pure excitement, but as the program neared, I developed many reservations about studying abroad. In the weeks leading up to my departure, I worried I wasn’t ready to live… Read More
Students in Advanced Chinese: Reading & Writing course (fall 2018), divided into two teams, created two annual bilingual newsletters of Chinese Program in 2018. Students report the study abroad experience, professors’ research and teaching, students’ and alumni’s awards and scholarships, Chinese House and much more. 1.Gold Team’s Newsletter Chinese Newsletter Final Draft 2. Green Team’s… Read More
Nicole Cook is graduating with a double major in International Relations and Chinese Studies. About her undergraduate experience in the Chinese Studies Program at W&M and herplans for the future, Nicole states: “I feel beyond blessed to have been a part of the Chinese Studies Program all four years! I truly love the challenge of… Read More
Three W&M students from the Chinese Program went to Boston to participate in the 17th Chinese Bridge Speech contest (East USA Preliminary) last Saturday at U Mass Boston. We achieved a great success! Michael Briggs (白杨)won the 2nd place and Grace Klopp (格蕾丝)won the 3rd place in the Beginners Group. Emily Pearson-Beck(李美丽) won the 2nd… Read More
The Chinese Program presented the talk entitled, “Sex Work, Media Networks, and Transpacific Histories of Affect” on February 15, 2018. The speaker is Professor Lily Wong of American University. Professor Wong is a specialist on the politics of affect/emotion, gender and sexuality, comparative race, and media formations of transpacific Chinese, Sinophone, and Asian American communities. Her… Read More
Experiencing China Sophia Wischnewski (Chinese Studies, ’20) The Journey Begins My experience traveling along the journey piqued my curiosity about the new world I was soon to encounter. From the time I was enrolled in a Chinese immersion program at 10 years old, I could only dream of visiting one of the world’s most… Read More
New Faculty Profile: Michael Hill, Chinese Studies Nicole Cook (International Relations and Chinese, 18’) Welcome to William and Mary! Now that you’ve been in Williamsburg for a few months, how has your time been so far? I’ve been having a great time! I have two really excellent classes this semester, a senior seminar and… Read More
The Chinese Program presented the talk entitled “Critical Lyricism in Postwar East Asian Cinema: Fei Mu’s Spring in a Small Town and Ozu Yasujiro’s Late Spring” on October 3, 2017. The speaker is Professor Satoru Hashimoto, Assistant Professor of Chinese Studies at the University of Maryland, College Park. He is a specialist on comparative East Asian literature and culture…. Read More
Undergraduate students in the Chinese program presented their research projects in “Rewriting Modern Chinese Literature: An Undergraduate Conference” on April 18, 20 & 25, 2017. During the conference, students discussed how modern and contemporary Chinese literature is written and rewritten vis-à-vis the larger sociopolitical, cultural, and theoretical context. Topics presented in the conference included trauma… Read More
Professor Calvin Hui, Assistant Professor of Chinese Studies, gave a keynote speech at the Modern Chinese Humanities Conference at Stanford University on April 15, 2017. This conference is jointly organized by the faculty and the graduate students at UC Berkeley and Stanford University. In his keynote address entitled “Copycat China,” Professor Hui introduced his first… Read More
Please join us in congratulating Professor Calvin Hui, Assistant Professor of Chinese Studies, for winning the prestigious Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation Scholarly Exchange Junior Scholar Grant in 2016. He will use his fellowship year to work on his book project entitled “Fashion, Media, and Chinese Consumer Culture.” In addition, Professor Hui was awarded the 2016-17 China Institute Postdoctoral Fellowship… Read More
The Chinese Program presented the talk entitled “Hollywood Made in China” on April 20, 2017 (Thursday). The speaker is Aynne Kokas, Assistant Professor of Media Studies at the University of Virginia. W&M students and faculty learned about how Kung Fu Panda 3, Iron Man 3, and Transformer 4 revealed the culture and politics of U.S.-China transnationalism in the 21st century. Poster According… Read More
This year we welcome Lu Lu to join Chinese Program. Lu Lu is Visiting Instructor of Chinese Studies. She is a PhD candidate of Chinese Linguistics at the University of Wiscosin-Madison and teaches Chinese language at William and Mary. How do you feel teaching in the Chinese Program at William and Mary? Lu: Teaching in… Read More
The Chinese Program presented the talk entitled “Journeys to the West: The Many Adventures of China’s Monkey King” on November 3, 2016. The speaker is Professor Robert E. Hegel, Liselotte Dieckmann Professor of Comparative Literature and Professor of Chinese at Washington University in St. Louis. He is a world-renowned specialist in the narrative and theatrical traditions of late imperial China. In… Read More
MLL Graduation Ceremony (15 May 2016) Picture 1: Marshall Richards, Isabel Perrin, Benjamin Neville, Jacob Keohane, Skyy Eshleman, Gille Cuda (Note: Five other seniors, including Max Lipkin, Charles Kelly, Rachel Johnson, Kathy Shi, and Lauren Leupold, also graduated. They could not attend the MLL graduation ceremony because of other commitments.) Picture 2: Chinese majors and… Read More
In fall 2015, seniors majoring in Chinese took Professor Calvin Hui’s course CHIN 428 Advanced Seminar in Chinese (Fake Globalization, Counterfeit China). By the end of the course, they did research and produced a paper relating to the course’s major concerns. See below selected projects from the seminar.
As part of the Bellini Colloquium series for spring 2016, Prof. Chun-yu Lu shared her research with the W&M community. On April 21, 2016, Prof. Lu presented a talk entitled “Make Love and War: Chinese Popular Romance in ‘Greater East Asia,’ 1937-1945.” Prof. Lu’s talk focused on Chinese popular romances produced and consumed in the Japanese colonized and occupied… Read More
Good news! On November 1, W&M students won first place in the 2015 Jiangsu Cup Chinese Speech Contest at the George Washington University. Three students of Chinese language, Colleen Mulrooney, Caroline Lebegue and Alexandra Bate, entered the final round of the contest. In the end, Colleen won a Gold Award, one of the two grand… Read More
Professor Jennifer Lee arrived at William and Mary in the Fall and has jumped into her duties in the Chinese program. Below is an interview with Prof. Lee about her teaching, research, and life at the College.
Chinese Studies Program hosted its annual Open House event on October 3rd, 2014 in Washington Hall 315.
In fall 2013, seniors majoring in Chinese took Prof. Calvin Hui’s course CHIN 428 Advanced Seminar in Chinese, which focused on fashion, media, and consumer culture in post-socialist China. By the end of the course, they did research and produced a paper relating to the course’s major concerns. They also presented their research outputs in the 2014… Read More
Science has played a key role in Chinese conceptions of what it means to be modern. Inspired, dazzled, and even threatened by the West’s scientific revolution and its pivotal role in spurring industrial modernity, Chinese thinkers sought to bring the concepts and methods of Western science into Chinese society, industry, and statecraft. The insistence upon… Read More
In the run-up to Chinese New Year, producers and reporters from Chinese Central Television came to William and Mary to report on New Year’s festivities celebrated by WM students. The students displayed their impressive language skills, practiced calligraphy, wore traditional Chinese outfits, and even sang in Chinese! The reports were aired on the news program “Morning News” (Zhaowen tianxia) on CCTV… Read More
Yanfang Tang is a Professor of Chinese Studies in the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures at the College of William and Mary. She is the Director of the Chinese Studies Program and also serves as the Director of the Confucius Institute at the College. She received her Ph.D. from The Ohio State University in… Read More
by Emily Wilcox The W&M 2012 graduating class boasted a stellar group of seniors in the Chinese Program. Three students received High Honors for senior honors thesis projects advised by Chinese Program faculty, and more than eighty-five percent studied abroad in China at least once as part of their undergraduate experience. Students double-majored in… Read More
A community of 3,466 international relations scholars from 20 countries believes that East Asia is the world’s region of greatest strategic importance to their nations today. That was a key finding from the 2011 TRIP survey, published recently by the Institute for the Theory and Practice of International Relations (TRIP) at the College of William… Read More
by Beth Stefanik and Megan Shearin The College of William & Mary officially opened its Confucius Institute on Monday, April 16, with a day-long celebration of events involving William & Mary faculty and administrators, as well as delegates from Beijing Normal University (BNU), the Office of Chinese Language Council International (Hanban) and the Embassy of… Read More
The phenomenal rise of interest in Chinese language study is making a significant mark in the transformation of the K-12 curriculum. As college programs across the country continue to expand, elementary and secondary institutions are also hiring more teachers and building new curricula to accommodate demand for Chinese from schoolchildren and their parents. Increasingly important… Read More
In the middle of the night, when the police are avoiding unpaved roads, a group of miners transports petrified wood to Shanghai and Beijing. For a group of Uighur miners, this transport of petrified wood is their first stepping stone out of poverty: one piece may earn them over half a million Chinese yuan. On… Read More
This is a slideshow of the Summer 2009 W&M Study Abroad Program located in Tsinghua University, Beijing. Slide show was made by Tsinghua University Chinese instructor and 2009-2010 House Tutor Longzi Yang. watch?v=U6F0WgZWK0I resume-chief.com/.
Stephen Sheehi, Sultan Qaboos bin Said Chair of Middle East Studies, Professor of Arabic Studies in the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures, has received the 2018 Plumeri Award for Faculty Excellence, celebrating exemplary achievements of William & Mary faculty in teaching, research, and service. Prof. Sheehi’s work meets at the intersection of cultural, visual,… Read More