Last October 16, a special celebration was held at University of International Business and Economics (UIBE) to mark the 10th anniversary of The Beijing Center (TBC) which is located on the campus of the university. Fr Ron Anton, the founder and director, described how the Center has evolved from the original nine students to the present 125 students. After having changed location a couple of times, TBC has been at UIBE for the last three or four years. The first speaker at the ceremony was Ms. Wang, who is the Party Secretary and highest official at the university. She is obviously pleased with what TBC is doing: providing foreign students with an excellent introduction to China, for one semester or one academic year, including intensive Chinese language study, courses (for credit) in the main dimensions of traditional and contemporary Chinese culture and society. Foreign students live together with Chinese students; they participate in educational trips to different provinces of China. Although China hosts many other programs for foreign students, TBC is recognized as the premier program. Most students enrolled in the program come mainly from universities in the USA, but also the Philippines and Spain. The program creates a deep impact on students, and many return later to China for graduate studies or for employment.
Another speaker at the celebration was Fr Michael Garanzini, President of Loyola University of Chicago and a Board member of TBC. His university is the "anchor" or TBC in the United States, providing academic credits and certifying the high quality of courses offered.
During its ten years of existence, TBC has also developed a library of English books about China, which is now the best such library in China. Chinese scholars from different universities often come to consult the library. A research unit is developing and there are concrete plans to begin an international Master program in Chinese Studies together with Leuven Catholic University, for Chinese and foreign students. There is also a plan to instruct more than one hundred Chinese students a year in the methods and contents of Western educational institutions in order to prepare them for more fruitful studies abroad.
The last item of the celebration was an academic lecture by Fr Nicolas Standaert (also a Board member of TBC) presenting in a excellent didactic manner the results of his research on Western Catholic drawings that made their way from Holland, through Germany and Portugal all the way to Beijing, three hundred years ago. Many originals of these drawings came from a book published by the well-known Fr Nadal, with the purpose of helping people meditate the gospel mysteries in the context of the Spiritual Exercises. It was fascinating to see the progressive "inculturation" of these drawings into China. Nicolas also showed us how other drawings made the reverse trip from China to Europe and became transformed in the process. Nicolas’ goal in his lecture was to help the students (and scholars) of TBC realize how much "travel" between cultures (cross cultural exchanges) may impact the identity of the "traveler."
On October 17 – 19, an international symposium, partly funded by the Chinese government, and sponsored by TBC, Loyola University of Chicago and the Ricci Institute at the University of San Francisco also took place in Beijing. It was entitled An Interaction & Exchange: An International Symposium on Westerners and the Qing Court (1644-1911).
Also in Beijing, from October 18 – 20 there was an international conference on China’s Open Door Policy and Business Ethics in a Globalized World, organized mainly through the efforts of Stephan Rothlin, with the financial help of a European Foundation.
For more information about The Beijing Center, visit www.thebeijingcenter.org