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photo courtesy Fowler, from www.calvin.edu/~afowle17/pix/#ChinaInterim1999 Calvin students on the 1999 Interim took a cruise on China’s Li River, located in the Guilin region, an area known for its toothlike mountains.

Seeing a country change in the twinkling of an eye will not be wishful thinking for the Calvin students who travel to East Asia this fall for the Semester in China program.

Calvin junior Jared English, vice president-elect of Calvin’s China Club, is very enthusiastic about the new program. Having been to China in 1996 and 1998, English has firsthand knowledge of the rapid changes occurring in China.

“The country is being transformed,” said English, “and when I was in China, it was remarkable how fast it was changing.”

“China is a land of contrasts,” said English as he pointed out his travels on a map. “I have been to the vast plains of inner Mongolia, where there is nothing but the wind and you; and also to the enormous city of Shanghai, which is home to about 15 million people, and rapidly growing.”

The economy is growing at a double digit rate, noted English, and this is due to the new budding economies of the coastal provinces.

But, “one should not forget that out of the 1.5 billion people that live in China, about half of them still live in the small villages, doing agricultural work in the way that their forefathers did,” he said.

Going to China was one of the best things that has happened in his life, English said.

“Chinese society is very different from the West, because China stresses the community rather than the individual, where in the West, the individual is supreme.

“In a sense, religion for the Chinese is the family and the community. The stability of the family and preservation of the cultural norms is crucial to preserving the traditions and customs.

“For example, the elderly are called ‘lao,’ people who are to be honored and cared for by the family and community. This is an opposite of the American idea of shipping the old into a nursing home.”

Although he is not going to China as part of the inaugural program this fall, English hopes to go in the fall of 2000.

Another person at Calvin who has spent time in China is Professor Lawrence Herzberg, who teaches Chinese and Japanese.

Between 1982, his first visit to China, and 1997, his most recent one, “China transformed itself, and is continuing to do so,” said Herzberg.

Students who go to China, Herzberg emphasized, will see a society that “does not look fondly on Christianity.” According to Herzberg, students will see Christians struggling to practice their faith in an area that has more practicing believers than all of Europe.

“They will also see the rapid economic changes in China that will bring the Western ideas of capitalism and democracy to the people.

“The China program is something that Calvin needs to have, due to the increase in interest on the campus and community,” Herzberg noted.

“As China continues to integrate itself with the world, and becomes more of an economic rival of the United States and Europe, we need to have this generation understand what China is like,” he said. “This program will help our students gain a greater appreciation of China.”

The program will take place mostly in Beijing, the capital and a city that “offers a firsthand view of the rapid changes occurring in China,” said Herzberg.

The students will travel and see different areas of China, from one of the one million small villages to the fast-growing city of Shanghai.

According to Abe Fowler, a student who went on last January’s Interim to China and is going on the semester program, this new program will help “solve the problem of mutual arrogance.

“We must be able to communicate with the Chinese, and sending students to China will help us to understand them, and in turn the Chinese will better understand us. If the people misunderstand, there will be problems, and this is a way to avoid future trials,” said Fowler.

Anyone interested in the program should speak with Herzberg or a member of the China Club.