At Dickinson this major focuses on China and Japan but with increasing attention to the broader East Asian and global contexts of these two civilizations. Students explore East Asia from multiple perspectives: from ancient origins to contemporary realities through the study of history, society, politics, business and economics, literature and culture. The major is language-based (Japanese or Chinese is required through the intermediate level) and multidisciplinary in the many directions for in-depth analysis and reflection offered to students.
Dear friends and alumni of East Asian Studies:
Hello! How are you? I am the new chair of the department this year. Prof. Zhou has left us and he started with a new job at Maryland University, to establish a new China program there. This year, our programs continue to be strong and dynamic. Eight students will study in Japan and more than forty students are taking Japanese here at Dickinson. Fifteen students are in Beijing China. More than sixty students are taking Chinese here on campus. We have over thirty students majoring in East Asian Studies.
Next summer, Prof. Bates and Meguro Sensei will lead a group of students to go to Nagoya, Japan to study "The Time of Samurai and Geisha." That sounds so interesting! Hope many students will join them. On our campus, we have added a new fifth year Chinese (Chinese 380) for students who have studied in China for a year. In this class, we will read Chinese literature in the original, discuss and write papers all in Chinese. We believe more and more students will be able to take this class in the future.
About our faculty, I am glad to report that Prof. Strand has completed his new book named An Unfinished Republic: Leading through Word and Deed in early Twentieth Century China. The book manuscript has been sent to University of California Press and the readers were very enthusiastic about it. As a result, a contract has been approved. Congratulations to Prof. Strand!
By the way, I have completed a new memoir on Chinese immigrants, who came to the Unites States since 1980. I am now talking to literary agents to find publishers.
We celebrated Moon Festival this month. Everyone had a lot of fun. We had many excellent performances from students and a fashion/costume contest. Now we have forty-one students from China. Just a few years ago, we had only two or three. That is big change for sure. Really good for our department.
Finally, let me say that we do appreciate your support and look forward to work with you to make our departement stronger. Keep in touch!
Rae Yang,
Chair of EAS
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