Archive for Category: "Focal Points"

Chinese Students Target American Universities

Nelson Song, a senior at The University of Texas at Austin, is one of a growing number of China-born students who choose to further their education at American universities. The 23-year-old biology major from Changsha, Hunan China, transferred to UT after just one year of study at Wuhan University. Yet even in China, Song acquired paternal longhorn influences at a very young age.

Chinese Churches Lend a Hand to Chinese-Americans

Churches catering to Chinese immigrants have long been a vehicle for newcomers to integrate with American society, helping them find to learn English, develop job skills, and make friends. And true to the pattern, it’s that promise of community in unfamiliar circumstances that gets new members in the door at Northwest Christian Church in Round Rock, Texas.

Teaching Austin’s Children Mandarin as a Cultural Experience

“There are more Chinese kids right now learning English than there are American kids learning English,” said New Yorker magazine China correspondent Evan Osnos when he recently appeared on Comedy Central’s “The Colbert Report.” But that is not to say that American kids aren’t learning Chinese as well.

China Exports Next Generation to American Universities

Unlike many Chinese students studying at American universities today, Shiyu Jin says the quality of education was not his sole reason for leaving China to travel to Austin. “I came to [the] U.S. because… this was the only way I can travel independently and be away from my parents,” said Jin.

Removing the Blind Spots, East and West

Removing the Blind Spots, East and West

When an optometrist could not explain a Chinese mother’s blindness, Amy Wong Mok, then a psychotherapist at a mental health center in Boston Chinatown, later learned the cause – the mother’s 14-year-old son came home one day with purple hair.

Teacher Carries on With Ancient Chinese Instrument

Teacher Carries on With Ancient Chinese Instrument

As her fingers glide along the wooden instrument’s thin, white strings, Shao Jingqun never glances up at the book of music propped open on the stand in front of her. She doesn’t need to.

Austinites Looking to Adopt Explore China Option

Austinites Looking to Adopt Explore China Option

The Chinese government’s labyrinthine international adoption procedures, involving elaborate paperwork and hefty fees, have led an increasing number of Austin couples to explore a relatively new option for growing their families from China – adopting a child with special needs.

Oh, the Places China Will Go

All great countries are exceptional in their own ways and China, as it gathers expanded global power, is no exception. That much was clear during the month I spent in China recently, though it was also remarkable the degree to which China’s story, now in its early stages, tracks America’s long rise.

Reflections on Pursuing the Dragon

Reflections on Pursuing the Dragon

He looked back at me seeming taken aback, his hair disheveled, his face scruffy and his eyes wild. Yet it was only my reflection in the mirror. The face of a man who’d spent more than a month in China as part of a University of Texas-Austin Maymester program.

Afterthoughts of China

By Nimshi Perera For ChinaInFocus It’s been over a month since I left Texas and embarked on a journalistic journey through China. And as of early July I am still in the People’s Republic, watching the Wimbledon Gentlemen’s Singles Quarter Final, the Mandarin-speaking commentators reminding me I am not home yet. Since our University of […]