This course is offered online via the easy-to-use Zoom program.
This course will introduce students to China through six different lenses. We will look at the geography of China and its different ethnic groups. We will discuss its common language, Mandarin, and a bit about its relation to other languages in the country. We will discuss its history, its food, and its culture. And we’ll also talk a bit about tourism and the economy. Questions will be welcomed.
Barry L. Gan and Miaoli Zhang are husband and wife. Zhang was senior technician in microscopic photography who did brain research for twenty-five years at a leading anatomy department in China. She also directed for ten years the academic department of Olympus of China, Life Sciences Division. She has worked and studied in Japan, where her photography earned her an award from Fuji Corporation. She has taught Chinese at the high school and college levels in the U.S. Gan is Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at St. Bonaventure University, where he taught for 37 years. He is co-editor of Nonviolence in Theory and Practice, a leading anthology on nonviolence, and author of Violence and Nonviolence: An Introduction. He has visited China sixteen times and spoken at Beijing University, Shanghai University, Fudan University, and Xibei University.
OLLI: the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Berkshire Community College Partners in education with Williams College, Bard College at Simon's Rock and the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts 1350 West Street | Pittsfield, MA 01201 | 413.236.2190 | olli@berkshirecc.edu