Two CSUN Students have won Chinese Government Scholarships this year for studies in China in the 2001-2002 academic year. The China Institute selected and recommended the CSUN candidates to the Chinese Consulate General in Los Angeles for consideration of scholarships in a highly competitive selection process with candidates from other Southern California institutions of higher learning. With the strong support from the Chinese Consulate, our candidates passed the vigorous selection and review process and both have been awarded full scholarships. They have just left CSUN for China to begin their academic and cultural studies in China in the 2001-02 academic year.

The first award winner is Oliver May, a senior student from the Department of Music. He first became interested in China during a 10-day tour of Beijing and Shanghai two years ago with the CSUN Jazz ‘A’ Band. Prior to that visit, Oliver had little knowledge about the Chinese culture. However, after he experienced China on this special tour, his thoughts and feelings changed dramatically. He became fascinated and attracted by the Chinese people and their culture. Strangely enough, he told friends that he felt more at home in Shanghai than he ever had growing up in LA. While in China, he and other CSUN students made many friends with Chinese students in a very short time. He recalled afterwards that he did not even want to come back home. After returning from the tour, Oliver began to take courses on China--Geography of China, Mandarin, Taiji, and Asian-American Studies classes. He also served as an English tutor for Chinese visiting scholars at CSUN and made more friends with the Chinese. He promised himself that he would go back to China soon, for a much longer stay. On the advice of his Mandarin professor, Li-Bu Larson, and at the recommendation of Professor Justine Su, Director of the China Institute at CSUN, and the Scholarship Review Committee of the Institute, Oliver applied for and obtained the Chinese Government Scholarship this year. Although his major is music, Oliver has chosen to focus his scholarship study on Mandarin and Chinese culture in China. The more he learns about the Chinese language, the more he realizes how deep and colorful it is. It is a challenging language, but he has experienced tremendous joy in learning it. He will also be engaged in music learning and jazz playing activities in China, but his priority is to become fluent in speaking and writing Chinese. He also wants to experience real living in China as an ordinary college student. He definitely does not want to be a tourist. He will enjoy basking in the Chinese culture and soaking in as much as he possibly can. Oliver May has just arrived in China and is now a visiting student at the Nanjing Normal University--one of our major sister universities in China.

Our second scholarship recipient is James Lo, who is a first year graduate student in the Department of Radio, TV& Film at CSUN. Coming out of UC Berkeley with an undergraduate degree in Film Studies, James could not resist the wonderful opportunity offered by the China Institute at CSUN and the Chinese Government Scholarship Council. Like Oliver May, James Lo has gone through the rigorous selection and review process and has been awarded a full Chinese government scholarship. He has just arrived at the prestigious Beijing Film Academy—another of CSUN’s sister universities in China, where he will continue his film education under the Chinese government scholarship program. He will be studying in the Directing Department where he can finally get the hands-on film production education that UC Berkeley did not offer. James’ primary goal at the BFA is to study the arts of crafts of film directing. But he also intends to stretch beyond directing, and pursues a more comprehensive understanding of the art of film-making at the best film school in Asia. In addition, he has interests in cinematography, editing, and art direction. In his previous experiences, he has made some student films, but none of them was under the instruction of professionals. They were primarily extracurricular activities – the products of scant equipment and an amateur cast and crew. At the BFA, James will study and work with professional people and film students who are as dedicated to the art as he is. He has had many ideas and themes that he wishes to implement in films, but has never had the right people or equipment to work with. Now given such a great opportunity, his dreams can come true. James believes that under the guidance of the famous Chinese film scholars--Zhang Yimou, Chen Kaige, etc., his studies at the BFA will not only rival the education he can obtain at the top film schools in America (NYU, USC, UCLA), but might even surpass it. “The experience of being in a foreign country, and moreover studying in it, may prove to be one the most memorable of my life,” James proudly told his friends at the China Institute just before he left L.A. for China.

In the past few years, the China Institute’s exemplary and expanding exchange programs with China have won many praises and recognition from our sister universities in China and the Chinese Consulate General in L.A., which has helped the China Institute to obtain a total of four Chinese Government Scholarships for CSUN students. Angus McNellis, the first scholarship student, is now completing two documentary film projects at the Beijing Film Academy. He is following the footsteps of the modern-day Chinese film-makers and he wants to document changes in China through the eyes of these young and progressive Chinese film makers and directors. He is planning to submit his completed works to major U.S. and European film festivals. Our second scholarship student to China, Bernard Forster, studied at the Shanghai Teachers University last year. He has completed his research projects on Chinese TV education network and the Jewish experiences in Shanghai during the Second World War. He is currently playing a leading role for a 20-episode mini-series about automaker Volkswagen’s quest to establish a joint venture plant in China, a project of the Central China Television Network. The series will be shown on TV in China this fall with more than one billion viewers.