Three months into my Teach For America experience, I received a phone call from a Vanderbilt classmate halfway around the world. On the other end of the line, a familiar voice with an unmistakable New England accent shouted: “Wyatt, what do you think about coming back over to China with your students?!” Instantly, I could tell that a new adventure was brewing in my college friend’s mind.

Tyler Godoff and I first met in the fall of 2007 while walking across the 21st Avenue bridge linking Peabody to the rest of the Vanderbilt campus. As a native of rural Alabama, I might have made an unlikely friendship for Tyler—this tall, charismatic transfer student from Boston hailed from a starkly different Massachusetts background. But like me, Tyler was eager to meet people from all sorts of cultures, and he transitioned easily into the Vanderbilt community. Adventurousness led Tyler to study abroad in Shanghai, form the Vanderbilt chapter of Global China Connection (a global nonprofit dedicated to fostering deep and trusting relationships between Chinese and American students), and ultimately land a job at a leading Chinese state-owned shipping and logistics company in Beijing during our senior year.

As graduation approached, I also embarked on an exciting adventure: Thanks to Vanderbilt’s generosity, I received the Michael B. Keegan Traveling Fellowship, a grant supporting a year of international travel and research. During the 12 months after Commencement, I logged 100,000 miles through 32 countries and six continents, interviewing people around the globe about issues of citizenship and nationalism. And as one might imagine, one of my first commitments after winning the fellowship was to explore China with my college friend.

Tyler and I had an unforgettable month across China, meeting with migrant workers, government officials, and some of the brightest American expatriates in the world. And as I returned home at the end of the year to join the Teach For America movement—a national nonprofit that places highly ambitious college graduates in the nation’s most underprivileged schools—memories of our adventures in the Middle Kingdom continued to linger. I knew I wanted to allow my students a window into this mysterious, fast-growing nation.

Teaching in any context is a challenge. But teaching in an underperforming, low-income urban environment can be downright intimidating. Students in my history classes [at George Washington Carver High School] in inner-city Birmingham, Ala., are motivated, ambitious and hard-working kids, but poverty limits their exposure to diverse ideas and perspectives. With weak academic foundations, many have difficulty imagining China exists, much less thinking about the role it will play in an increasingly globalized world.

Within the first month, I realized I needed to do more to open the world to each of them. So I contacted people I’d met in my travels and asked them to Skype into my classroom, speak with my students about their experiences, and challenge my scholars to become active citizens in their own communities. Tyler jumped at the opportunity to be one of our first international speakers and invited his colleague, Abdulla Nurim, a Uyghur minority from China’s Xinjiang Autonomous Region, to join the call. My students were blown away—most notably, by the realization that it was dark on the opposite side of the world (while it was light in our time zone) and that they used a different currency than the dollar to trade on a daily basis.

In November, Tyler presented a challenge to me in a fateful phone call encouraging me to pursue a study-abroad option for my students in China. The concept seemed daunting: How could we take students who had hardly been beyond the city limits of Birmingham 7,000 miles across the world? How would we fund it? Tyler’s characteristic confidence helped convince me it would be possible. And so we set out to turn a dream into reality.
Seven of my students wrote application essays, interviewed via Skype, and ultimately were accepted to the Youth Leaders of America and China program.

While I spearheaded a grassroots fundraising campaign, Tyler taught weekly Mandarin lessons, waking before 6 a.m. in China to Skype into our Birmingham classroom and share basic phrases, greetings and cultural insights. Unforgettably, in the midst of one lesson about Chinese cuisine, a Chinese food-delivery order was dropped off at our school—he’d ordered takeout for our students from halfway across the globe.

Our efforts paid off. The large-scale “crowdfunding” campaign—which involved hundreds of letters to potential sponsors, online videos and social media appeals—generated our target of $45,000. With the final plane tickets booked and passports in hand, I called Tyler with the good news: I was coming back to Beijing. And this time I was bringing seven of my students along with me.

As we stepped off the airplane into a smoggy July morning in Beijing, a smile crept across my face. There at the gate stood an unmistakable Bostonian, holding a set of Chinese calligraphy scrolls, each with one of my students’ Chinese names written in flowing characters across it.

“I got on a plane, and my world changed,” reflects DeAnquinetta Gill, a 17-year-old student of mine who participated in the month-long experience and plans a career in pediatric medicine as a result. “This opportunity showed that people really believe in me and what I can accomplish.”

When Cornelius Vanderbilt donated $1 million to found Vanderbilt University, he sought to build a university in the South that would “contribute to strengthening the ties which should exist between all sections of our common country.” The friendship Tyler and I fostered on West End not only bridged North and South, but connected East and West. And I’m excited by the connections our friendship will continue to build in the years to come.

Last month, the world’s two largest emitters of greenhouse gases took a groundbreaking move to sign the Joint U.S.-China Statement on Climate Change, a collaboration that calls for “forceful” actions to combat global climate change. The agreement comes at a critical time after the air-pocalypse in Beijing this winter flashed a red alert on the air quality and public health situation in the Chinese capital. The agreement bodes well for clean energy deployment in the two countries and paves the way for international negotiations that may translate into a U.N. agreement on climate change.

The signing of the joint statement April 13 means that climate change is now at the forefront of bilateral negotiations. Historically, climate change—like environmental issues in general—has been marginalized and rarely treated as a top priority, though there have been collaborative efforts such as the launch of the U.S.-China Clean Energy Research Center (CERC) in 2009. During the annual U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue in 2010, it is rumored that the U.S.-China joint MoUs on climate change, energy and the environment were forced into the discussion agenda because the two sides could hardly agree on any other issue. In 2012, climate change merely received a mention near the end of the talks.

The new joint statement came out as a very promising and laudable move for both the U.S. and China, long reluctant to take action to scale back greenhouse gas emissions. China used to insist that only developed countries be held responsible for reducing emissions and that developing countries such as China not be bound by such commitments. China did not change its position until 2007 when the country agreed that developing countries should reduce their emissions based on their capabilities and national circumstances. Ahead of the Copenhagen Conference in 2009, China announced that it would voluntarily reduce its carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP by 40 to 45 percent by 2020, using its 2005 figure as the base level. In recent years, Chinese government and business have made huge investments in green energy. The United States signed the Kyoto Protocol during the Clinton Administration but has never ratified it. At the time, the U.S. Senate passed the Byrd-Hagel Resolution, unanimously disapproving of any international agreement that 1) exempted developing countries from making emissions reductions and 2) “would seriously harm the economy of the United States.”

Giving climate change abundant attention, the newly issued statement also demonstrates the determination of both governments to address one of the world’s most pressing issues. Compared to past agreements, the key words in the joint statement stay the same, but the language is stronger. According to the joint statement, the two countries recognize that the “increasing dangers presented by climate change … require a more focused and urgent initiative.” It went on to state “Both sides recognize that… forceful, nationally appropriate action by the United States and China … is more critical than ever. Such action is crucial both to contain climate change and to set the kind of powerful example that can inspire the world.”

Furthermore, the agreement opens the door for more US-China cooperation in green energy production and provides new opportunities to resolve unfair competition disputes. Both countries are seeing renewables as promising sources of energy. According to Pew Chartable Trusts’ annual report on global investment in clean energy, China advanced its position as the epicenter of clean energy finance in 2012, attracting $65.1 billion in investment, 20 percent more than in 2011. In the U.S., alternative energy sources are becoming increasingly in demand. The long-term reliability of traditional sources of energy like oil remains uncertain due to economic, national security, and environmental concerns. Many oil-rich countries that export to the U.S. are politically volatile and potentially hostile, which may severely jeopardize the prospects of U.S. oil imports from these countries. In addition, as it happened in the past few years, world energy prices could spike to an unprecedented level within the span of just a few months. Petroleum production in current fields in the U.S. is declining, and it will be difficult to increase domestic production even with promising developments in technology and access to new resources. Developing new oil reserves is often met with opposition from environmental activists out of ecological concerns. The difficulty of drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska speaks to this. Renewable energy provides the answer. Business and government from two countries can cooperate in applying technology and innovation strengths to market growth challenges and job creation in both countries. The agreement is also conducive to creating a platform where two countries can jointly resolve tensions over issues such as subsidies (i.e., allegedly in China’s solar panel industry) and infringement on intellectual property rights.

According to the new agreement, the U.S. and Chinese governments will create a new Climate Change Working Group ahead of the next U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue to “determine and finalize ways in which they can advance cooperation on technology, research, conservation, and alternative and renewable energy.” The working group will be led by Todd Stern, U.S. Special Envoy for Climate Change, and Xie Zhenhua, Vice Chairman of China’s National Development and Reform Commission. Stern has extensive international negotiation experiences in climate change during the Clinton and Obama administrations. Xie formerly served as the Minister of State Environment Ministry and as the lead negotiator for China in the past three United Nations Climate Change Conferences (UNFCCC). Both have rich experience and adequate skills to convene a serious conversation that will lead the two largest economies and greenhouse gas emitters to take serious and immediate actions. We will have to hope they are given the chance to live up to their potential.

http://ny.usqiaobao.com/focus-new/top-news/20787-2013-04-28-05-07-49.html

In addition, a op-ed written by GCC senior adviser James McGregor was posted on top website, The Atlantic, and made significant reference to GCC, including the following paragraph:

“I chair the advisory board of a student group called Global China Connection with branches on some 60 U.S. campuses and a membership that mixes students from China with American and international students interested in China. The group’s mission statement is clear: Global China Connection is a student-run organization dedicated to fostering deep and trusting personal relationships among Chinese and non-Chinese university students. I believe the future of the U.S.-China relationship depends on these young people to help us overcome the inevitable friction between a rising global power and a reigning global power. When I travel on business in the U.S., I stop by campuses and talk with these students. I have met many, many like Lu Lingzi over the years. Sincere, decent and diligent Chinese who love their homeland but have great curiosity about and affection for America — and dreams and ambitions that involve both countries.”

The whole editorial can be read here:

http://www.theatlantic.com/china/archive/2013/04/is-the-specter-of-a-cyber-cold-war-real/275352/

These and more articles can be found on our Press Room page by clicking here.

In this event, expert speakers debate and discuss vital issues confronting multinational companies and China’s fast-developing global corporations. In this the year of change in China’s government, topics for discussion include:

• The new leadership and the new direction.
• Mapping the power-players and decision-makers.
• Aligning business planning with policy priorities.
• Building and sustaining governmental relationships
• Managing regulatory and governmental issues and crises.

Please click here to see more information:

http://www.cvent.com/events/china-in-transition-the-2013-china-government-affairs-forum/event-summary-835dd35c72b641a7a22a971cad21c489.aspx

And a mere nine hours after landing in Beijing, that’s exactly what I got the chance to do.

I arrived at the Wu Lin Feng Teahouse Thursday afternoon to find my troupe hanging around a giant ornate wooden tea table the size of a refrigerator lain on its side. Master Ding and several of his students were already there, and soon we were laughing and catching up. Master Ding’s fantastic energy pervaded the entire teahouse; even the wait staff were grinning ear to ear as they stood by the cash register, waiting for us to sit down.

The purpose of the day’s meeting was to discuss tea culture for an article being written by the China Tea Expert Weekly magazine. They had invited Master Ding and his students, assuming that a comedian would produce an interesting piece with little prodding on their part. Digging into his life-time bank of experience, Master Ding had brought with him a Xiangsheng piece about tea culture that he had written with a student of his several years ago. “There’s a rap in there that I wrote about tea,” he told me, handing me the script. “Find it and get ready to rap for us later.”

Master Ding and Mr. Ye, the head of Wu Lin Feng, told us about the varying aspects of tea culture. According to Master Ding, a cultured person must know three things: 茶，文，酒 (Cha, Wen, and Jiu) or Tea, Art, and Liquor. Mr. Ye told us that in ancient times, the word Cha, or tea, was used for anything potable; nowadays, only certain types of teas counted as real tea, including teas like green tea, red tea, and oolong tea, but excluding items like 面茶 (Mian Cha), a type of mushy porridge made from millet whose “Cha” character is a leftover remnant from the old usage of the word.

Our conversations about tea would often be broken up with bits of Xiangsheng. For twenty minutes at a time, some of the Xiangsheng students would stand up, at the behest of the reporters or Master Ding, and perform a piece they’d been rehearsing.
Sipping high mountain tea from Fujian and laughing at the zany back-and-forth of a Xiangsheng piece is about as good as it gets for me. I could see why Xiangsheng is performed in teahouses; the environment was perfect for jokes; the room, small and intimate.

Two of Master Ding’s Chinese students performed a piece about riddles.

“Cui Laoshi is very smart,” Guo Yufeng, a young Chinese student of Master Ding’s.

Cui Laoshi, a sixty-five year old student of Master Ding’s, waved his hand. “No, no,” he demurred.

“If you don’t believe me,” Yufeng told the audience, “We can open up his head and look.”

Cui Laoshi fought off Yufeng’s hands as they clawed at his skull. “How come everything always ends up with you trying to kill me?”

As the audience laughed, Yufeng pulled back his arms. “Well, we can prove smarts another way. How about a riddle? See if you can get this one. Ten birds are alighted on a tree. You take a gun and shoot one of them. How many living birds are left on the tree afterwards?”

Cui Laoshi furrowed his brow in confusion. “Well, there’s got to be nine, right?

“Wrong!” Yufeng said.

“How am I wrong?” Cui Laoshi asked. “Ten minus one is nine!”

“After one bird gets shot, you think the others will stick around? They’re all gone after the shot, flown away!”

With tea and art taken care of, all that was left was a huge dinner courtesy of Mr. Ye complete with wine and baijiu to round off the cultural triumvirate. As we discussed everything from immigration law to patriotic songs at the dinner table, we laughed our heads off, bonding over the common link of humor. Memorizing scripts is hard, and understanding the culture behind them is even harder, but when we share laughter with each other even the hard work seems like fun.

My job as a performer, one who straddles cultures with each performance, is to find a way to take this feeling and spread it to everyone—Chinese and non-Chinese alike.

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They begin when I’m in a brand new surrounding, flourish through hours of late-night conversation that last past sunrise, eventually undergo the test of distance and circumstantial separation, ultimately taper off in six months, and always end mere days before Valentine’s.

So unlike Katy Perry’s popular “Teenage Dream” song, I’ve actually never had anyone to be my consistent Valentine.

This year, though, proved to be different.

The weekend before Valentine’s, I arrived in San Francisco from Los Angeles, ready for the orientation for the 2013 Miss Chinatown USA Pageant. Annually held in the heart of the country’s largest Chinatown, the pageant has run for over 55 years, giving young women a platform to showcase their talents and ambitions, awarding them with scholarships, and instilling a sense of cultural heritage through community service.

Prior to leaving for San Francisco, my LA love life had followed the pattern cited above — a relationship that had started happily in July ended tumultuously in January. Thankfully, I’d distracted myself with honing my pageant talent performance — a self-taught Bollywood dance — and learning to walk in three different pairs of three-inch heels.

I returned to the Bay, excited to reunite with my original love, the city of San Francisco, and to take my mind off any traces of the unpleasant past.

The two weeks that I spent with the pageant became two of the best weeks of my life.

The eleven other contestants, from New York, Boston, Hawaii, Chicago, Seattle, Texas, and the San Francisco Bay Area, were multi-talented, hard-working, and fun-loving young women. We stayed in a hotel, rooming in assigned pairs on the same floor. There were group runs to the hotel gym, constant chatter in the hallway, and late night snacking sessions aplenty. My roommate and I danced to the clock radio, sang into our hairbrushes, and fell asleep after copious girl talk.

For the first week, we all rehearsed for the upcoming pageant performance and attended press conferences and public functions at restaurants in Chinatown. We gave speeches in front of sponsors and shared stories with each other at every meal.

Not only did we travel together, we were accompanied by a group of young men who were deemed our “escorts.” They walked arm in arm with us throughout the hilly streets of Chinatown, removed our jackets and pulled out chairs for us every time we went indoors, served us from the platters of steaming food, waited patiently for us outside of restrooms, ran errands with us, and helped us document every Kodak moment with our cameras and their own.

On Valentine’s, they even surprised us with chocolates in heart-shaped boxes featuring Disney princesses and knocked on our doors that morning to deliver single-stemmed red roses. They also came with us on our tourist excursions around San Francisco, walking the Golden Gate Bridge, chowing down on clam chowder and scarfing down In-n-Out at Fisherman’s Wharf, running along Coit Tower, shopping in Union Square, bowling in the Presidio, and buying tapioca and tarts in Chinatown.

The experience of enjoying my hometown with eleven new sisters and our gentlemanly escorts was more fun than I could remember having in the city for a long time.

During our second week, we visited different family associations in the nooks and crannies of Chinatown. Each one, a community of members sharing the same last name, welcomed our group of girls and escorts into their buildings, readying trays of fresh fruit, peanut candy, and delectable pastries for us and ensuring that none of us left without a red envelope in hand. My family association, the Yuans, even blew firecrackers at the entrance of the building to celebrate my arrival. Although I entered in as a stranger, they made the trip feel like a homecoming.

Miss Chinatown truly was an unforgettable adventure. As I said goodbye to the girls, I reminded myself to keep the faith. I know that our 12-member sisterhood had indeed followed the preliminary parts of my pattern: forming in a new environment, igniting through hours of conversation, and getting put through geographical separation. I know, though, that our sisterhood will sustain the test of time and we will all stay committed to our common aspiration of making our mark in this world through representing our community.

And I feel better knowing that I do have 11 new Valentines throughout the country.

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“GCC at the University of South Carolina Columbia hosted over 70 people for our inaugural spring Chinese New Year event on February 9th, 2013. Representing over fifteen different countries, three different universities, and over fifteen different graduate and undergraduate programs, our guests brought in the year of the snake in style with GCC! Immediately upon entry people had the opportunity to try their collective hands at calligraphy and dumpling making stations set up at the venue. The calligraphy was a hit, and there was nary a speck of flour left by the time everyone had left the dumpling station. After finding food, socializing with one another, practicing calligraphy, and making dumplings, the doors to the BCM worship room were opened. People took their seats to hear from our executive officers, including our President Joy Gao, who presented an educational video about how people in mainland China celebrate the New Year.

Emcees C.G Pendarvis and Star Wong then took over to introduce to the stage talented singers from the University of South Carolina including SoundCheck Acapella group member Brice Berg, singer Leon Li, rapper Wei Xiong, and even Chinese Wood flute (Dizi) player Eric Kwan. The audience later took part in contests of chopstick dexterity, a lucky prize draw, and a dance workshop taught by members of our university’s Swype Breakdance Team, and all who participated won prizes. Our chapter of GCC has heard nothing but positive responses from those who attended the event!”

“On February 8th, Global China Connection at UPenn hosted the Spring Festival Program along with participating members from the Drexel chapter of GCC. The first event, making dumplings from scratch, was an easy and interactive way to learn a useful skill. The crowd included both newbies and veterans at making dumplings. GCC members had a good time laughing over mistakes and meeting new people.

After cooking the dumplings, GCC members played a game called WeChat Shaked. A round consisted of members from Penn talking to Drexel constituents on the WeChat app and trying to guess the person. Winners from the rounds were awarded prizes – including giftcards. Later, members of the GCC board from both schools performed various acts, from singing and dancing to comical monologues. The audience took pictures, made jokes, and generally had a good time as they watched the performances and enjoyed dumplings until late at night.”

This semester, GCC has a number of big goals, and wants individual chapters to be involved in achieving them! This means more activities and exposure for your chapter. As part of this initiative, we are pleased to announce the Chapter Involvement Recognition Program starting this year.
For this program, chapters will be rewarded for effort and contributions towards GCC’s mission of fostering deep and trusting personal relationships among Chinese and non-Chinese university students. The top three chapters at the end of each semester will be rewarded with the following:

*Special framed award for the winning chapters
*Publicity on GCC media platforms worldwide and a press-release sent to media outlets
*Recognition at GCC’s two major 2013 conferences in China and U.S.
*Great GCC-branded items for chapter members
*Bragging rights for your chapter!

***

The following are included as areas of contribution that we especially value. In addition to helping promote GCC as a whole, your chapter will also gain exposure through participation in these. Please keep track of an approximate contribution to each of these so that you can submit them by the end of the semester. You don’t have to participate in all of these areas; overall contribution and excitement is most important:

1) Hosting events and activities
2) Sending in write-ups and/or images from these events or other updates
3) Having and contributing to your chapter social networks or GCC Global social networks from your university’s students (Note: All GCC social network pages are listed HERE)– i.e. Followers/likes added, Comments/links/shares/discussions posted, Images posted, Activity on GCC Connect (Ning), video/image/blog submissions, etc.
4) Having at least one member from your chapter fill out the GCC survey ( http://www.surveytool.com/s/S1C37059E2)
5) Submitting a 1-2 page write-up describing your contributions to bobby.franklin@gccglobal.org- due Sunday April 28, 2013. Exhibits/pictures/etc can be added in addition to the 1-2 pages.
6) Having overall chapter excitement, creativity, and GCC spirit!

Chapters will be judged by GCC officers and trustees based on the above criteria, as well as overall chapter actions from the semester.

If you have any questions or blog submissions/event write-ups to send in, please contact Bobby Franklin (bobby.franklin@gccglobal.org).
Thank you for participating and being a vital part of Global China Connection!

-The GCC Team

During my travels in China, I have come across my fair share of times “God Winks,” reminding me how lucky I am to be here. The other day as I was heading home after a long weekend flying to and from Hong Kong and visiting a friend for a Chanukah party, I got on the train that would take me home and was planning on sitting back, relaxing, and reading my book when instead, “God winked.”

As I plopped down onto my seat, tired, but happy to be heading, I glanced next to me. An older lady was my seated next to me, staring at me curiously as I was getting myself situated. I smiled politely before turning back around, the lady, however, clearly had other plans.

Noticing immediately that I was a “外国人” (foreigner) she began asking about where I was from and what I was doing in China. I mumbled an answer, too tired to try carrying on a conversation and really just wanting to finish my book.

Unperturbed by my disinterest, she asked a couple of more questions and quickly came to the conclusion that my Chinese is terrible (in all fairness, I did warn her…). For a while we sat quietly. She looked out the window while I worked on my lesson plan for Monday.

A few minutes into my lesson planning, she looked over and asked bewildered, “Why do you write with your left hand?” I admitted that I had no idea why. She seemed to think this was funny, and observed for a while as I wrote out basic outlines for my third-grade class on fruits. Deciding that she was not done talking to me, she pulled out a photo album of her new grandson. She proudly showed me the pictures of an adorable baby boy in all sorts of cute poses while I “oed” and “awed” and softly told her how 可爱 (cute)！She rambled away in Chinese about him and I caught a word or two here and there. After the album was through, she promptly pulled out her phone and began going through more pictures.

A couldn’t help but laugh to myself as I thought about how love and pride for children and grandchildren transcends every culture, nation, and people. People, when given the chance, love to talk about their adorable families. After exhausting the pictures on her cell phone, she asked me to see my family. I pulled out my iPad, hoping that I had few stored on there to show her. Unfortunately, all the pictures I had of my family were nowhere to be found. My companion repeatedly asked me to see pictures of 美国 (America) and 我的家 but I could only show her pictures that my mom had sent me recently of our home at Christmas and of my cat.

We talked and looked at pictures until my stop in Suzhou. I smiled at her and said goodbye, thinking I need to allow myself to always be open to these sorts of experiences. It is these encounters that really make me love China. Even though I had been utterly exhausted and in no mood to befriend anyone, “God winked” and turned my whole day around.

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