NEH Chinese Film and Society

This summer I had the opportunity to participate in an NEH institute on Chinese Film and Society, which was held at the University of Champaign-Urbana. It had been suggested by my department head at school that I try to apply to summer programs like those she had done with Fullbright. Unfortunately there were not many programs available with them, I was also a bit late in exploring my options. There website did contain links to other programs such as those by NEH and so I had the chance to apply to two programs. Those two were on Chinese film in Champaign-Urbana and another held in Ohio, the topic of which was Central Asia. I was not accepted to the institute on Central Asia, but was accepted to the institute on Chinese film. I must admit I was a bit disappointed at first. The Central Asia program ran 2 weeks and the Chinese film one for 4 weeks. This would mean if I attended the Chinese film one I would have less than 2 weeks to spend with family before having to move on to Malaysia. However, I thought it was a great opportunity and so jumped when they invited me to attend. Over four weeks, twenty or so participants watched about thirty movies interspersed with lectures and discussions. While this was happening we formed small groups in which we planned lessons around a particular film. That material should be published through the NEH website, when I don’t know. We are also now returning to our classrooms to share this information with our students. I can say that I thought I knew a lot about China, but something I didn’t know very well was how the Chinese view themselves. Through a lot of discussion with other teachers and listening to lectures, I learned much more about Chinese society. I also spent a lot of time in the evenings with a few particular guys and that was nice to make some new buddies. We went to the roller derby, tractor pull, to the Springfield Lincoln memorial, and many nights on the town. I truly enjoyed the program and if I get a chance to I will apply to future NEH programs. If you want to learn more about the program, visit this site