J-term in Shanghai

History, Culture, and Art (a student blog)

At Columbia College Chicago, we like to say the city is our classroom, and our students learn from the creative professionals producing the culture of our time. But what if the culture you want to study is that of contemporary China? If you're one of the Columbia undergraduate students keeping this blog, you take your 'classroom' to Shanghai. This month, a dozen students from a variety of majors headed 7,000 miles east on an international educational adventure. They are enrolled in the Liberal Education department's intensive, winter-term humanities course, J-term in Shanghai: History, Culture, and Art. In China, they'll meet artists and curators; visit tea houses, museums, and galleries; attend music and dance performances; and learn a whole lot about their Chinese counterparts--and themselves.