We were once again invited by East China Normal University’s Global Education Centre to provide a lecture on Feng Shui, this time for a group of visiting American students taking part in ECNU’s summer learning programme.
On this occasion, the lecturer was Mr. Zhao Hong, a graduate of Tong Ji University and long term “professional” Feng Shui consultant.
Aided by several of Rose’s university students acting as interpreters for the workshop, including Ms Faye Gao (the principal translater), Bella Wan, Elaine and David, the two hour introduction of Feng Shui’s history and guiding principles, plus examples of various problems and cures for people’s residences, really caught the participants’ interest.
The US students also had many questions about how Feng Shui affected their everyday life and how their own particular living environment fitted into Feng Shui’s criteria of “do’s and don’ts”.
The lecture was really fun and many of the students got to draw diagrams of their own home and living areas to help Mr. Zhao give them a rough outline of any potential problems they should be aware and how to fix them.
The US students also had a chance to chat with the Chinese students, which made it a fun and informal atmosphere, and culminated in a group photo for everyone to have a memento of the day’s activity.
Rose Oliver was also asked by ECNU to provide a short quiz related to the day’s lecture, for the US students’ final exam, related to all the topics they’d studied during the programme.
The US students will receive credits from their American University for taking part in the summer course in Shanghai.
It was a great event and both the US and Chinese students benefitted a lot from the experience, not just in learning about Feng Shui and Chinese culture, but also in having a chance to really practice their English (and Chinese) and have some meaningful and genuine cultural exchange and conversation.
Thanks again to East China Normal University’s Global Education Centre for arranging the activity with us.