MASTER OF ARTS PROGRAM EAST-WEST RELATIONS

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1 2012 BEIJING FOREIGN STUDIES UNIVERSITY CENTER FOR EAST-WEST RELATIONS MASTER OF ARTS PROGRAM EAST-WEST RELATIONS Center for East-West Relations

2 Contents About International Relations at Beijing Foreign Studies University / 3 Center for East-West Relations / 4 Master of Arts in East-West Relations Introduction and Overview / 5 Prospective Courses / 6 Course Descriptions / 7 Applying for the Program Admission Requirements / 11 Application Procedure / 12 Contact Information Important Contacts / 13

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4 About INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AT BFSU Beijing Foreign Studies University (BFSU) has been at the center of China s foreign relations for 70 years, providing critical language and foreign studies training to several generations of officials, diplomats and scholars. The University traces its history to 1941 with the founding of the Russian Language Section within the Third Branch of the Chinese People s Anti-Japanese Military and Political College. In 1944, with the addition of an English language section, the school changed its name to Yan an Foreign Languages School. After the founding of the People s Republic of China (PRC) in 1949, the Yan an Foreign Languages School merged with the School of Foreign Affairs to become Beijing Foreign Languages Institute. Since then, this institute has grown into a nationally accredited university with undergraduate and graduate degree programs in many fields. The University s commitment to excellence in language training alongside its academic resources in international relations and social sciences has earned BFSU the honor of being dubbed the diplomats cradle. Many graduates have gone on to serve the PRC in diplomatic posts and several graduates have served as Foreign Minister and Vice Foreign Minister of the PRC. In the last decade, the University s mission has expanded. In the past, BFSU focused on introducing the world to China. Now, the University is developing avenues to introduce China to the world. The School of International Relations and Diplomacy (SIRD) was founded in Prior to 2006, international relations and diplomacy research was conducted under the auspices of the School of English. SIRD has expanded on this original mandate for excellence in international relations and diplomacy studies by developing and/or supporting several master s programs and research centers. Research centers within SIRD include the Institute for International Issues, Center for Gender and Global Issues, Public Diplomacy Research Center, Research Center of the United Nations and International Organizations, and the Center for East-West Relations (CEWR). Resources in language teaching and international relations make BFSU China s most international campus. Students at this university gain the cultural, linguistic, and academic skills to interact with the world. BFSU offers language courses in 48 languages and is working to expand that number to 89 by Additionally, over 60 different countries and regions are represented on campus as foreign students come to BFSU to study language, culture, and politics. The University regularly invites national and international speakers to campus to interact with students and faculty. Speakers often include foreign leaders, ambassadors, and world-renowned scholars. This multicultural and intellectually open environment makes it the top choice for many Chinese and foreign students pursuing study in international relations. 3

5 CENTER FOR EAST-WEST RELATIONS The Center for East-West Relations (CEWR) was founded within the School of International Relations and Diplomacy at BFSU in CEWR was founded as a hub for academic and cultural activities that encourage nuanced and thoughtful dialogue between cultures East and West. CEWR MISSION STATEMENT The peoples of the East and the West will confront unique opportunities and challenges during the course of the 21st century. These will encompass social, political, economic, environmental, scientific and cultural relations. Technological advances have brought formerly remote and isolated regions of the world into close communication, making mutual understanding and accommodation vital to the intercourse of daily life, while the information revolution has brought a growing awareness of the profound diversity and complexity of the world s cultures. Without knowledge, understanding and sensitivity, contrasting and conflicting world-views give rise to ethnocentrism and fundamentalism. These can allow suspicion and distrust to politicize cultural, ethnic, religious, and racial differences. Managed with wisdom, however, these same differences can be the inspiration for a more varied, resourceful and harmonious global community. The Center sponsors a number of events and programs to encourage cross-cultural understanding. In July 2011, CEWR sponsored the first annual Summer Institute for Confucian Studies in Nishan, Shandong Province, China. This Institute invited students and scholars from China and abroad to Confucius birthplace to engage in a month-long series of courses and conversations about China s ancient philosophical traditions. World-renowned scholars Roger Ames, Henry Rosemont and Tian Chenshan guided participants through China s classic texts in order to elucidate many of the fundamental assumptions of Chinese culture. The Center also sponsors interdisciplinary conferences on philosophy, international relations, business, and politics. The Center organizes the annual WE Forum. Past conference titles have included Summit on Global Economic and Cultural Issues: The Global Financial Crisis and its Cultural Implications (2009), Confucian Scholarship in the 20th Century and the Renaissance of Eastern Civilizations (2010), Confucianism and the Sinization of Marxism (2011). 4

6 East-West Relations MASTER OF ARTS : EAST-WEST RELATIONS In Fall 2012, the Center for East-West Relations (CEWR) within the School of International Relations and Diplomacy (SIRD) at Beijing Foreign Studies University is opening its doors to students from around the world to enroll in the East-West Relations M.A. program. This uniquely oriented M.A. program in East-West Relations will enable participants to pursue the comprehensive understanding of cultures, global dynamics, and international cooperation necessary for achieving diplomatic goals in the modern world. PROGRAM OVERVIEW DURATION GRADUATION REQUIREMENTS TUITION 2 years (4 semesters) 12 courses (2 core courses and 1 elective per semester) Chinese Language Final Thesis Project 70,000 RMB/ year Focusing on international diplomacy and multi-cultural communication, this program will address both theoretical and practical issues so that our graduates are prepared to engage in cross-cultural debate and conflict-resolution. Understanding the presuppositions that influence different cultural ideals will enable our graduates to bridge those differences through informed dialogue, while attending to the genuine concerns of all parties. This degree program differs from mainstream international relations degrees because of its unique focus on the background assumptions and priorities that inform Eastern and Western policies and practices. This unique interdisciplinary perspective will give students the critical tools necessary to engage in thoughtful and strategic dialogue between cultures and the methodology to undertake further research in the fields of political theory, international relations theory, and comparative politics. The East-West Relations curriculum is designed to show the intersection between cultural understanding and practice. Hence, the program hopes to draw students who have strong interests in the actual practice of international relations and diplomacy. Students who have experience in the foreign service and students who aspire to work in East-West diplomacy will greatly benefit from the blending of theory and practice in this program. 5

7 Prospective Courses COURSE TYPE COURSE NAME Introduction to East-West Relations Studies Contemporary Chinese Diplomacy Chinese Political Thought and IR Theory CORE COURSES Comparative Thought and Culture: China and the West Geo-politics: Horizons East and West East-West Economic Relations International Organizations and East-West Relations Comparative Government and Politics: China and U.S.A. The Diplomatic Thought of Mao Zedong Soft-power Strategies: China and U.S.A. Sunzi s Art of Warfare Ancient Chinese Thought and History of Diplomacy ELECTIVE COURSES Legal Relations East and West Non-Western Political Thought and Culture Global Communication and East-West Relations Human Rights and Non-Western Perspectives Comparative Foreign Policy: China and U.S.A. LANGUAGE COURSE Chinese Note: All core and elective courses are taught in English. This program is currently in the early stages of development. Courses are mainly focused on comparisons of China and the West. However, we hope to expand the program into a complete comparative discipline including the study of other Asian countries, Africa, and Latin America. In this way, we will be able to better serve the needs of a truly diverse global society. 6

8 East-West Relations COURSE DESCRIPTIONS Introduction to East-West Relations Studies If Western and Chinese thinking are different, how fundamental are structural differences between the two traditions? How would these structural differences influence commercial, financial and political arrangements? This course examines the comparative performance of Western and Chinese administrative traditions with glimpses of three millennia of rich history and tradition, a glance at the last six hundred years, a little more focus on the period from 1850 to 1950 and an in-depth look at developments over the past half century. What do these all tell us about the likely future? The course will explore how a defeated and occupied Japan and a plundered and impoverished China in the mid-20th century came to attain leadership positions at the beginning of the 21st century. Contemporary Chinese Diplomacy This course examines contemporary Chinese diplomacy National Government and People s Republic of China from a comparative culture perspective. We will investigate how the worldview and intellectual traditions of China have shaped its national interest and diplomacy. Students will learn about the objective conditions and cultural constructs that lie at the root of Chinese government behavior at home and abroad, learn about the main social, political, and economic systems and the policies now being followed in China, discover the patterns and logic of Chinese foreign policy, and develop analytic skills to explain China s diplomatic behaviors. Chinese Political Thought and IR Theory Chinese political thought and Western IR theory exist in two almost totally unrelated cerebral universes. Yet, contemporary Chinese and other Asian political thinkers have effectively mastered Western IR theory and are skilled at using it to their advantage. In contrast, Western theorists are often not as fluent in the theoretical language and assumptions of Asian thought. The Asian approach draws on a rich, continuous history of practical and flexible responses to the challenges of human ambition and nature. A study of ancient, modern and contemporary history, free of conceptual imperatives, can help illuminate the two political cultures and the contemporary rise of Asia. Issues of education, Confucian administration, corporate ambition and universal values will be examined. Comparative Thought and Culture: China and the West How does the Chinese intellectual and cultural tradition differ from the Western tradition? Are similarities more significant than differences, or vice versa? What are the structural differences between Chinese and Western traditions? How did these structural differences influence the different ways of life and social institutions in China and the West? Can China and the West become understandable to each other and how? This course examines the structural differences of the intellectual tradition of China from that of the West, and will therefore be a comparative study of their worldviews and ways of thinking. We also examine how these differences are embedded in linguistic difference as well as other aspects of intellectual and cultural traditions. 7

9 Geopolitics: Horizons East and West The world is presently undergoing a major geopolitical transformation. It is not longer possible to uncritically accept the universal values and global institutions promoted over the past two hundred years by Anglo-American civilization. The rise of highly-educated and strategically sophisticated Asian nations requires that students of international relations rethink many of the fundamental assumptions and privileges of these hitherto universal values and institutions. The complex history of the growing strengths of the financial reserves, productive capacity, hi-tech labour, and commercial wit of over 2 billion East and South East Asians, grouped within ASEAN plus Three and strategically allied, through Chinese agency, with the members of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and BRICS, will be the focus of this course. East-West Economic Relations The course offers a survey of the salience of East-West economic relations not only for the role they play in the volatile relations between East and West but also as an essential part of the global environment. The course reflects a continued concern for developing strategies that deal with East-West economic relations issues from the perspective of cultural differences with the hope that we can help to promote a peaceful, prosperous and harmonious global community. International Organizations and East-West Relations This course offers a survey of the relations between East and West through international organizations, especially with regard to military, financial, economic and cultural institutions. Relevant historical background will be covered, especially the period after Word War II and the era of globalization. By paying particular attention to the role of the United Nations in East-West relations, this course intends to develop strategies to transform and promote international democracy in order to improve East-West relations and create a peaceful, prosperous and harmonious global community. Comparative Government and Politics: China and U.S.A. In contrast to western liberal democracy, the Chinese political system developed as a focus/field structure without the existence of a transcendental God who is the source and the locus for a set of absolute principles. In this structure, Chinese thought looks for appropriateness in human relationships rather than developing a competitive society that rewards only the successful. In their focus/field model, the relationship of the centralized national leadership to the entire population, as well as the relationships among the various individuals within this field, do not entail a single, distinct, linear, causal, or governing path. This structure is described in contemporary Chinese phraseology as the people s democracy, and the highest goal of the central leadership is the mutual accommodation of the individual foci to the collective field in a symbiotic relationship that maximizes the possibilities for social harmony and public prosperity. This course will explore this type of government and politics in order to open students minds to the difficulties inherent in explaining one culture to another particularly to people from liberal democratic cultures by identifying the uniqueness of political party, political thought, foreign policy, media and politics, political economy, etc., in Chinese terms. The course also tackles what the concepts of human rights, democracy, and liberty imply in contemporary China and how to better understand the changing scenarios of policy-making processes relevant to questions such as: How do Chinese political institutions operate? How are Chinese political leaders chosen? How are policies made? 8

10 East-West Relations COURSE DESCRIPTIONS The Diplomatic Thought of Mao Zedong This course aims to familiarize students with the unique cultural qualities of the Chinese intellectual tradition through a study of the diplomatic thought of Mao Zedong. The course will show how Mao Zedong s thought is embedded in traditional Chinese thinking and will explore China s foreign policy under his leadership from 1949 to the late 1970s as well as the seminal role that his diplomatic thought will play in 21st century China s strategic maneuvers in world politics. The course examines the traditional Chinese worldview in Mao Zedong s thought and his diplomatic principles, strategies, and foreign policy decision-making as well as his attitudes toward the Soviet Union, the U.S., Japan, and third world countries. Soft-power Strategies: China and U.S.A. This course explores the idea and practice of soft power as a strategy in international politics. The course will ask: What is soft power? How is it expressed in Chinese and Western terms? What do China and the U.S. try to achieve through their use of soft power? How is Western and Chinese soft power employed in international politics, for instance in Southeast Asia, Latin America, Africa, and Middle East? How different in terms of cultural values is the soft power of China and the United States? What are the limits as well as the future of the use of soft power by China and the U.S.? Sunzi s Art of Warfare This course examines one of the most important Chinese classical texts, Sunzi s Art of Warfare, in order to introduce students to the cultural presuppositions that must be consciously entertained if we are to place the text within its own world view that is, if we are to see its philosopic importance. The resurgent influence of this ancient text motivates us to exercise our minds and our imaginations to locate it within its own ways of thinking and living, otherwise, we cannot help but see only our own reflection appearing on the surface of Chinese culture. The examination tackles one of the most fundamental and important problems of cross-cultural translation, going right to the heart of many basic contrasts which are obvious but which mostly pass unnoticed and neglected. Ancient Chinese Thought and History of Diplomacy This course examines the relationship between ancient Chinese political thought and ancient Chinese diplomacy. In this course, students have an opportunity to study how the particular worldviews and elements of the Chinese intellectual tradition and political thought are relevant to China s diplomatic behavior. The course will read the Pre-Qin Chinese classical text Zhanguoce, or Intrigues of the Warring States, Chinese Diplomacy in the Han and Tang Dynasties by Li Hu and The Eastern Origins of Western Civilisation by John M. Hobson. This course will also offer a cultural reading of the ancient Chinese Silk Road and Admiral Zheng He s adventurous voyages in the Ming Dynasty. 9

11 Legal Relations East and West Contemporary public and private international law is predominantly the product of the past two centuries when Britain and America largely defined global order. International public law emerged in Europe and then was progressively formalized by international agreements like those negotiated by Western powers that established the League of Nations and the United Nations system. International private law developed around imperatives imposed by British and later American corporate interests. Eastern powers like Japan and China, which have very different traditions of legal principal and order, are only now emerging with the wealth and influence to play a role in shaping, or reshaping, these norms. The historical practices and experiences of Eastern powers, including tributary relationships, will be explored for what they may suggest about future developments. Non-Western Political Thought and Culture This course introduces students to political thought in non-western traditions from a comparative perspective, including Chinese, Islamic, and African. It is designed to help students become familiar with the major themes in non-western political theory and examine how the central questions of Western political theory pertain to these non-western traditions. The course will see how relevant systems of non-western thought are to understanding different approaches to issues like rights and liberty. Global Communication and East-West Relations This course examines various institutions, interests, and actors that make up the global media apparatus. It will help students to develop a critical awareness of how the international flow of information and entertainment plays a role in shaping and reshaping global economics, politics, military policies, and cultural realities. This course focuses on media from various regions such as the Middle East, China, Africa, and Latin America in order to understand how global relations are affected by global communication. Human Rights and Non-Western Perspectives The course aims to widen students understanding of human rights and cultural differences, enabling them to better reflect upon their own view of human rights issues through a better understanding of non-western perspectives. The seminar will determine the key differences between Western human rights philosophy and other perspectives on human rights, studying the structure of culture-specification and its nature in order comprehend the perspectives of non-western peoples. The course looks into cultural differences and their consequences for justice and social life. Comparative Foreign Policy: China and U.S.A. This course will examine the foreign policies of the United States and China from a comparative cultural perspective. We will investigate how national interests and other values have been shaped by different worldviews and intellectual traditions and the influence of this difference on foreign policy. The course will help students understand the objective conditions and cultural constructs that lie at the root of domestic and international policy and will seek to discover the patterns and logic of Chinese and American foreign policies. By looking at the actual foreign policy of China and the U.S.A., students will have an opportunity to focus on specific problems of cultural difference in a comparative manner, and learn how particular worldviews and elements of intellectual traditions and cultures are relevant to foreign policy. 10

12 Applying for the Program EDUCATION ADMISSION REQUIREMENTS Bachelor s Degree or Equivalent LANGUAGE TOEFL 100 (internet-based); IELTS 6.5 Note: Only non-native speakers who did not complete undergraduate or graduate work in an English-speaking country are required to submit English proficiency exam scores. Applicants with English proficiency test scores lower than the above standard may still apply. All applicants will be interviewed in person or via phone prior to admission. The admissions committee will consider both the proficiency exam scores and English competency in interview. APPLICATION MATERIALS BFSU Application Statement of Purpose: Describe why you are applying to the East-West Relations M.A. program in no more than 1000 words. Essay: Write a short essay of no more than 1500 words responding to the prompt: Describe an important problem in East-West relations or diplomacy from a cultural perspective. 2 Letters of ecommendation (original) Copy of official undergraduate transcripts (if transcript does not mark the degree granted, applicants should also submit a copy of diploma) TOEFL or IELTS test scores Copy of passport 2 passport-sized photos Non-refundable application fee : 800 RMB 1 photocopy of all application materials Notes: (1) All documents must be submitted in English or Chinese. For all translated documents, the document in the original language must be included; (2) All materials can be submitted online. However, students should still submit 1 photocopy of all documents via mail. For applications submitted online, the admissions committee will consider the application on time as long as the online application is completed prior to the April 30, 2012 deadline. Mailed applications must be postmarked before the deadline. Submit required documents to the Center for East-West Relations no later than April 30,

13 APPLICATION PROCESS For paper submission, the application form can be downloaded at After completing the application, please send all application materials to: Center for East-West Relations Beijing Foreign Studies University School of International Relations and Diplomacy Student Center North Xisanhuan Avenue, Haidian District Beijing, PRC For online submission, please create user account and submit materials via BFSU s Overseas Student Affairs Office website: On the homepage, choose English to select the website language. In the left-hand menu of the website, you will find a section titled On-line Application. Click on Registration to begin the online application process. At this time, applicants must create a personalized account to begin the application process. If you need assistance, please read the online application guide available at the above website or contact the Overseas Student Affairs Office or the Center for East-West Relations. The non-refundable application fee of 800 RMB may be paid in cash or via bank transfer. For bank transfers, please use the following account: Beneficiary: Beijing Foreign Studies University Center for East-West Relations Bank: Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Beijing Municipal Branch Zizhuyuan Banking Office Account Number: Swift code: ICBKCNBJBJM The admissions committee will respond within 30 days upon receiving the application materials and application fee. Admission decisions will be made and students notified before July 1,

14 Contact Information Beijing Foreign Studies University Website: Center for East-West Relations Website: Blog: Phone: (86) Fax: (86) Overseas Student Affairs Office Website: Phone: / For inquiries about CEWR, contact: bwcewr@126.com Phone: (86) For inquiries about M.A. Program, contact: cewr.eastwest@gmail.com Phone: (86)

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