HIT Happenings

Hello Everyone,

     These past two weeks have been interesting and fulfilling. Aside from my normal Chinese language classes, I also took the initiative to try out HIT Economics classes (in Chinese with fellow Chinese classmates!). I tried out Economics Law, Macroeconomics, and International Trade. While taking these classes, I remember being greatly encouraged at how far my Chinese has come since I could understand the overall lecture as well as some specific examples from here and there. One thing that really struck me about this academic environment is how much more of a cohesive classroom environment there was. For instance, if you look at how the desks and chairs are set up, you can see there is no separation. Back at Yale, I remember having individual seats placed in classrooms or lecture halls and in contrast here at HIT, the desks are connected. I actually really prefer this environment more because you can sit closer to your friends and you can all learn together and share notes with each other more easily. Also, there is more interaction here in the classroom setting between the professor and students than a huge lecture hall setting back in an American college.

ECONOMICS CLASSES

The tables (and even the seats!) are connected

     For this next part, my classmates and I took a field trip to a local fruit and veggies market to practice our Chinese to purchase produce and haggle prices. 

PURCHASING PRODUCE

One part I particularly enjoyed over the past couple of weeks was visiting HIT's 2nd campus. The majority of freshmen are all present here as well as a select group of majors.

HIT SECOND CAMPUS

While visiting the second campus, I had the good fortunate to listen to a speech by HIT President 王树国 (Wángshùguó). He gave a brilliant speech. Below are some of his points:

1. He mentioned how in high school he had a classmate who, although was very smart, was also careless and lazy. As such, when it was time to take the Nationwide College Entrance Examination (高考), the classmate did not study and treated the test as just a regular test he would take in school. As you would imagine, he didn't get into the top schools that he could have if he had indeed put in the effort, and to this day, this classmate regrets not overcoming his laziness and carelessness. President Wang gave this story as a warning and a reminder for us to never neglect the effort aspect required for success. He remarked, "being smart has nothing to do with achievement, but rather being smart only helps with the rate of your understanding." Reflecting upon his remarks, while I would argue that a certain base level of raw talent/intelligence is required for sublime achievement, I believe President Wang and I share our common belief that raw talent/intelligence is not enough, but rather we must cultivate our raw talent/intelligence through effort and constant practice to achieve success.  

2. "The most outstanding and smart person will take the good points/aspects of others and then make them his own."孔子说：三人行必有我师。Confucius said that "where three are gathered, my teacher is among them." In effect, what this means is that because every person that I meet has his or her good areas/strengths,  I can absorb his or her strong points and improve myself that much more. One thing I pride myself in is even if I am talking with someone that I do not like, I still respect what he or she has to say and I pay careful attention to other good facets of his or her personality. You may not like Mr. ABC but man, is he really great at making jokes. Maybe Ms. ZYX is full of arrogance, but you really have never met someone who is as good as she is in making and promoting music. In any case, the point is the same: Humble yourself and learn from everyone. Your best friend and your archenemy can still both be your teachers.  

SPEECH BY HIT PRESIDENT

我的朋友们：李昊和张扬
With my friends Chris/Samuel (middle guy, he has two names lol)
and Zhang Yang (on the right). Because they were in charge of
filming the event, I had the honor of having front row seats for the speech!

President Wang: (王树国)Wángshùguó

Such a great idea isn't it?!  How I wish we could have
water bottle holders like this back in the US! Hahaha

Lastly, my friend brought me to HIT's radio station. It was really cool to see my friend

contact someone from a different part of China to discuss weather conditions and any recent

news from their respective area.

 HIT RADIO STATION

We were having problems at one point,
so my friend busted out the MORSE CODE!

Military Radio