INFORMATION FOR
05/17/2015 – 06/20/2015
Center for Chinese Art, Art Department, College of the Arts and Communication, and the Center for the International Education at William Paterson University
Supported student scholarships and funded the program publication by Shanghai William Chinese Art Foundation
Professor Zhiyuan Cong
Professor Zhiyuan Cong and Professor Lauren Razzore
Guided by Professor Zhiyuan Cong, Director of the Center for Chinese Art and professor in the Department of Art, 20 William Paterson University students and faculty journeyed through China’s cultural capitals, including Shanghai, Guiyang, Chengdu, and Beijing. Meeting with artists and art professionals at both provincial and national museums, universities, and other cultural institutions, the participants were provided unusual and privileged access.
This year’s emphasis was on Chinese culture from urban to rural, from Chinese to ethnic minorities, from ancient to modern, from natural landscape to cultural landscape. This program led the group to sites of historic interest such as Three-Star Piles, to Miao minorities villages, to monasteries and Buddhist temples on the Emei Mountain, to the Leshan Giant Buddha and to the Giant Panda Breeding Research Base.
The observations of the students are recorded in this book. The book is entirely conceived, designed, written, photographed, and edited by the group. The faculties supervised a collaborative effort beginning two weeks prior to the trip thus guaranteeing a solid academic study abroad experience. Our students were cultural delegates of American education in general and William Paterson University in particular. They returned home with a broader and deeper understanding of the challenges of a complex world and the future roles they may assume in it. This book is the document that carries that idea. I feel especially pleased when I imagine how this experience opens possibilities for our students through a shared vision. For them, this is the beginning of the journey in the endless search that is education.
I am especially proud that the Center for Chinese Art at William Paterson University provides this opportunity. I wish to acknowledge Honorary Directors Ms. Ching Yiu, Mr. Zhipeng Ding, and Mr. Chengzhan Ding and the Shanghai William Chinese Art Foundation and its members for their generous support of student scholarships and for funding the publication of this book.
Dr. Kathleen Waldron President of William Paterson University
