Beijing & Tianjin 2021 Social Media Correspondent Video

September 16, 2021

Beijing & Tianjin 2021 Social Media Correspondent Video

Following her virtual Summer Abroad experience in SOC393Y0 our Social Media Correspondent, Yansunan, had this to say about the course:

Hello again everyone! I’m Yansunan from SOC393, which is the most insightful and interesting course I’ve ever taken at U of T. I enjoyed every moment of the course. This course contains many guest lectures. Our two professors, Prof. Zhang and Tsang invited many guest speakers who are China-based professionals in their fields and it is usually not easy for us to have access to them in China. They provided us with the latest information and insights of their work and research. Such as Lihua Xie who contributed greatly to feminism in China, Ah Qiang who devotes himself to promoting LGBTQ+ rights in Guangzhou, Kai Yang who is the leader in an NGO for facilitating employment of people with disabilities in Tianjin, etc. We also had coffee chats during weekends on different topics with professionals to have causal conversations in nuanced details of their fields. I made many friends in this course and enjoyed every group discussion with my classmates in class and Chinese students in our exchange sessions. Both of our professors are very approachable, they are more like friends to us. We also had a lot of amazing virtual field trips in Chinese urban and rural areas with our on-site coordinator, Annabella. Many opportunities, such as group discussions, journals, research paper, and group presentation, are provided for us to do interesting reflections and exciting explorations in our course contents and beyond. Three sites I’d like to visit in person: Somerset Building in Tianjin, Congtai Park in Handan, and La Semana Spanish Restaurant in Tianjin.