April 10, 2018

The Graduate Students Committee of Tsinghua University welcomes you to join our newly-launched program to experience the remarkable changes of China’s Reform and Opening Up over the past 40 years!

This year marks the 40th anniversary of China’s reform and opening up. Under such a background, the Graduate Students Committee of Tsinghua University is taking this opportunity to launch the “Insight into China” program in the spring semester of 2018. Themed “China and Overseas’ Youth Walk the Road of Reform and Opening Up”, this social practice program is divided into three different routes and teams, travelling to Shenzhen, Lankao, and Shanghai-Jiaxing. “Insight in China” emphasizes the “1+1” form of collaboration, where each team will consist of 10 Chinese students and 10 international students. By investigating China’s development from an international perspective, this program strives to improve the global competence of Tsinghua students.

Trip details

Route 1 -- Shenzhen Team: May 2 (Wednesday) - May 4 (Friday)

Shenzhen is the location of China’s first special economic zone and is well-known as a window of reform and opening up. Students in the Shenzhen Team will visit the Shenzhen Municipal Government and Qianhai Shekou Free Trade Zone where they will communicate with officials to greater understand and learn of the government perspective of the reform’s past and future. Team members will be able to discuss with Tsinghua alumni from companies such as Huawei, BYD and Tencent, and appreciate the dynamism within these companies as brought forth through the reform and opening up.

Route 2 -- Lankao Team: May 11 (Friday) - May 13 (Sunday)

Lankao is one of the first nationally recognized impoverished counties to be lifted out of poverty, and where the spirit of the famous political figure, Jiao Yulu, was born. It was where General Secretary Xi Jinping’s guideline of “contacting closely with people” meets reality and where General Secretary Xi proposed the “question of Lankao”: asking “Why, although inspired by Jiao Yulu’s spirit, Lankao over the past 50 years is still lagging behind in its economy, and its 100,000 people have still not escaped poverty?”. This then pushed forward the drive to alleviate poverty in Lankao. Team members will visit some typical villages in the area such as Zhangzhuang Village, Huozhai Village, and Caozhuang Village, to find out Lankao’s innovative approach to poverty eradication and poverty alleviation, understand the role of “reform and opening up” in the fight against poverty and also find out the answer to the “question of Lankao”.

Route 3 -- Shanghai - Jiaxing Team: May 12th (Saturday) - May 16th (Wednesday)

Shanghai is part of the first batch of ‘open’ coastal cities and is a leading city in the Yangtze River Economic Belt. On this route, team members will make visits to Zhangjiang Science Park and Shanghai Pudong Development Bank headquarters, the Communist Party of China’s site in Nanxingnanhu Lake, the Internet International Conference and Exhibition Center in Wuzhen, and also understand the development of the PPP model in Jiashan. On this trip, students will be able to greater understand the history and achievements of reform and opening up in the Yangtze River Delta region.

Recruitment Requirements

The program plans to recruit 60 graduate students from Tsinghua University. Each team will consist of a teacher and 20 students (of which 50% are international students). Students who meet the following conditions will be given priority:

(1) Chinese students with proficient English skills and international students proficient in Chinese.

(2) Having had social practice experience and served as a leader in previous projects, good at teamwork, with excellent all-round abilities.

(3) Students adept at editing, newswriting, photography and videos.

Selection Process

1. Application

Students wishing to apply are required to complete Attachment 1 “Registration Form of ‘Insight into China’ Social Practice, Tsinghua University” enclosed in this email. They should send the registration form to ytsjb@mail.tsinghua.edu.cn (official email of Practice Department, Graduate Students Committee of Tsinghua University) no later than 6:00pm, April 14th, 2018. Late applications will not be accepted.

Your registration form attachment title and email subject line should be named as follows: Name of Route (City) _Full Name_Nationality_Department

2. Interview Round

After reviewing the application materials, the Graduate Students Committee will determine a list of candidates for interviews, and interviews will be held on the afternoon of April 15 (Sunday). Interview candidates will be notified later by email.

Expected Outcomes

1. Personal reflection report: After completing the project, each member should complete their own report. It should be no less than 1500 words.

2. News and Publicity: Each team should publish no less than 5 news releases, including 3 in Chinese and 2 in English. The platforms where you publish the reports should include high-level media, such as: the People’s Daily, Guangming Daily, Xinhuanet, Youth.cn and China Daily and also Tsinghua University News and Wechat Platforms such as Tsinghua Study Room and Xiaoyan Online.

3. Video: Each team is required to shoot a short video that is closely related to the theme of social practice. It should be no less than 5 minutes.

Additional Info

1. The Graduate Students Committee will cover round-trip tickets, accommodation, and other necessary inter-city transportation expenses. Any additional costs are borne by team members themselves.

2. Team members should strictly abide by the relevant arrangements by teachers, team leaders, and local staff, and represent the good character and quality of Tsinghua university students.

3.Each applicant can only apply for one “Insight into China” route only.

4. Students must first obtain their supervisors’ consent if they wish to proceed with application.

For any further questions, please feel free to contact:

Hu Mingyuan, 15022276633, mingyuan.hu@sc.tsinghua.edu.cn

Xu Gaofeng, 1880135395, xugf16@mails.tsinghua.edu.cn

Yu Hui, 18500230048, yhwilliam@163.com