​China Studies students meet Taicang government officials

Year Four students from the Department of China Studies at Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University made a special field trip to Taicang, where XJTLU’s new campus will be located.

The field trip, led by Dr Guohui Wang, was organised by the Department of China Studies with the support of the Taicang Government–XJTLU Joint Steering Committee, with the purpose of enabling students to better understand the achievements obtained and challenges confronted by Chinese local governments.

“This field trip gave us a unique chance to have a face-to-face discussion with local government officials,” said student Xuan’ang Wu. “It brought us valuable experiences which we could never obtain in the classroom or from textbooks.”

The field trip was also an attempt by the Department of China Studies to explore possible ways of implementing the Syntegrative Education model.

Guided by Taicang local officials, the students visited the Sino-German Cooperation Exhibition Hall and the Taicang City Planning Exhibition Hall.

After visits to the Taicang town centre and the construction site of XJTLU Taicang campus, the students had a meeting with Taicang officials from various governmental departments.

The officials introduced to the students the major achievements in socioeconomic development in Taicang in recent years. The students discussed with the officials the various challenges and opportunities that local government faces.

Regarding the planned XJTLU campus at Taicang, student Nan Zong said: “Taicang is such a wonderful city combining both a beautiful rural landscape and modern industrial development. There can be no finer location for our Taicang campus.”

Dr Guohui Wang said: “This fantastic student field trip could not be made possible without the strong support of the newly established Taicang Government–XJTLU Joint Steering Committee.

“The construction and opening of our new Taicang campus will definitely bring invaluable opportunities in many aspects for both individual academic departments and our University as a whole. We look forward not only to tapping those opportunities, but also to making contributions to the future development of Taicang.”

Story provided by the Department of China Studies; photo provided by Taicang city government

Edited by Danny Abbasi