August 14, 2007
Ni hao (Chinese for hello)! This is Shawn Shieh, blogging from Beijing. I’m a professor of political science who has been teaching for the last 12 years at Marist. I thought I might spend the rest of my life in Poughkeepsie until my wife joined the foreign commercial service and was posted to Bejing last year. My family moved out here in December and I joined them this May. We plan to be here for at least 3 years. My wife works at the U.S. embassy and my two children, ages 11 and 15, attend the International School of Beijing which is a modern, state-of-the-art school located in the suburbs. We live in the city proper, on the eastern side between the third and fourth ring roads (there are 6 concentric ring roads in Beijing with the Forbidden City as the epicenter). We love where we live which is in a quiet complex with its own little park, an outdoor pool and tennis courts. But the best thing about our home is that it is in the middle of a vibrant, international neighborhood with great restaurants and nightlife all around us. We have what we feel is the best of both worlds.
While I’m here, I will be teaching some online classes for Marist and doing some blogging and podcasting about China that will be used for specific courses. This year, I’m working to tie my blogs and podcasts to courses taught by Kristin Bayer, a professor in the history department who teaches Chinese and Asian history. I plan to do some blogging and podcasting for her Women in Asia class this fall, and her Modern China class next spring. I also plan to use the blogs and podcasts for my Marist in China class that I will be teaching in May. For that class, I will be leading a group of Marist students to various locations in China and teaching them about this country’s rich past, and its vibrant and promising present.
We are no strangers to China. My wife and I have been working, traveling and doing research on China since 1984 and we have seen some tremendous changes. When we first came here, very few foreigners were interested in China. But that has all changed. China seems to be the place to be in the early 21st century. You can sense the excitement generated by China’s rapid emergence on the world stage most intensely here in Beijing which will be host to the 2008 Olympics. I hope my blogs and podcasts will give you some sense of what is going on here, and more importantly, provide you with a better understanding of this important country and its people. Who knows? Maybe it will even get you to take a Chinese language or history class, or even take a trip to China.
If you have any questions about China, feel free to send me an email at shawn.shieh@marist.edu and I'll try to respond as quickly as I can.
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