The Beijing Center: Fostering Mutual Understanding between China and the World

4.1 Education: Pedagogics of Transformation

1. Pedagogy. TBC is primarily an institutional educator, offering a holistic pedagogics of transformation by letting anyone who participates in TBC, be it as student, teacher, employee, or supporter, make the transforming experience intercultural encounter provides.

2. Internationals studying in China. Students of universities outside of China spend up to two semesters at TBC, choose from a broad variety of courses on China and immerse into the Chinese context. Students do not only learn about, but also live among those who vitally typify today’s China by sharing their room with a Chinese roommate. TBC’s space allows them to be surrounded by a collection of cultural treasures and a carefully designed authentically Chinese room concept. Through excursions along the classic Silk Road in Yunnan, students get in touch with history and diversity in China, and through student life activities such as service learning and credited internships with local enterprises engage in everyday life in Beijing.

Immersion: The interior design of TBC itself teaches about China, integrating a Beijing-style Hutong alley, traditionally fashioned gardens, sections specifically dedicated to China’s diverse geography, furniture from Ming and Qing dynasty and a presentation of artifacts ranging from the Warring State period (475 B.C.–221 B.C.) through the Qing Dynasty (1644–1911), with representative pieces from the Han (206 B.C.–220), Northern Wei (220–420), Tang (618–907), Song (960–1279), Yuan (1271–1368), and Ming (1368–1644). The oldest artifact is a Banpo-type amphora from the Central Yellow River Valley in Shaanxi province, near present-day Xi’an, dating back to the Neolithic Yangshao culture (4800 B.C.–4300 B.C). Among some of the most noteworthy treasures are an imperial wedding plate created for the Guangxu Emperor’s wedding in 1889, a Ming dynasty silk edict scroll from 1522, an exposition of a large variety of early 7th century Tang dynasty pottery figures and a double-fired triple rooster vase which was a gift from the Emperor Guangxu to General Cen Yuying’s 岑毓英 (1829–1889) battalion for the successful repression of an 18-year-old rebellion in Dali, Yunnan province, which ended in 1873.

1. Chinese studying internationally. TBC opens its broad network of worldwide partner universities to Chinese undergraduate students. Before they proceed to their university of choice in the US or Great Britain, they spend up to two semesters at TBC receiving a comprehensive preparation for their international studies on the level of language training, academic credits, and personal growth.

2. Conferences. Through conferences such as the online published East meets West Talks series, extends its educational outreach to those who cannot locally engage at TBC. The talks bring voices from various backgrounds together covering topics such as ethics in the age of AI, service learning, and ecology.

4.2 Research: Intellectual Hub

TBC provides an intellectual hub for scholars around the world, creating a creative and collaborative research space at the intersection of Chinese and Western cultures. Studying the encounter of Chinese and Western culture in history and present time is the shared goal of all research activities hosted at TBC.

1. Library. Hosting a substantial and significant English book collection (ca. 30,000 volumes, one of China’s largest private English book collections) on China, TBC’s Anton Library has much to offer: to Chinese scholars an opportunity to explore Western academic perspective on their own culture; to international scholars a uniquely focused and concise literature body covering all aspects of China; to domestic and international professionals in Beijing a quiet and stimulating study environment; and to specialized scholars a collection of rare books mostly from the 17th century selected to represent the first knowledge of China in the West. These historic volumes have recently been made more easily accessible through the EU financed digital database project GECEM, open to the public since November 2021.

Some of the most intriguing items of the rare books collection are original first edition volumes of Matteo Ricci’s Journal, the most important work on China in the 17th century, Confucius Sinarum Philosophus (1687), the first Confucian Work in a Western language, Mendoza’s (1588) and Martini’s (1655) writings which count as the first histories of China, Missionary accounts of China ranging from 17th to 19th century, as well as a vast collection of atlases and maps from the 17th and 18th century.

1. Publications. The Beijing Center Press publishes primary source material about China and the West. Its latest book provides the only English translation, with commentary, of some letters written in China by Matteo Ricci.

2. Scholars. TBC has been offering research opportunities for individuals in many ways: Scholars from around the world are hosted as researchers in residence, academics working in China spend study periods among TBC’s books and data, young students of various universities in Beijing pursue research as interns, professors from China and abroad educate TBC’s students and profit from being interconnected.

4.3 Cultural Exchange: China is Our Classroom

Being based in China, TBC serves as a foothold for individuals and institutions outside of China, willing to leave behind presumptions and make first-person experiences of China. TBC’s aim is to enable its partners to not only talk about but be in relationship with China and Chinese people–believing this to be key for mutual trust. “China is our classroom” became the motto of a variety of short-term courses:

ChinaContact program designs tailor-fit tours for institutions who want to discover and understand China more deeply. Focused on the group’s chosen topic, lectures and sites are selected. Courses from five days to six weeks for academic and professional groups spanning four continents have emerged, touring China on topics such as a one-week “The Business Environment in China Program”, a three-week “Social Work in China Program”, a two-week “Temple Visits Program”, a six week “Chinese Language Study Tour,” or a two-week “Inspire Engineering Trip”.

Career-Ventures and Internship Programs help young professionals to explore Chinese working environment. Since the beginning of the pandemic, these programs are run virtually and hence open unexpected and easily accessible doors to China for people abroad.