This summer, Dartmouth’s Chinese language study abroad program returned to Beijing after a five year pause, according to Asian societies, cultures and languages department chair Edward Miller. The program was placed on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
While the department did not send students on any study abroad program for four of the five years, it sent a group of students to Taiwan — whose COVID-19 policies were less strict during the planning process — in the fall of 2023. The department ultimately decided to return to China in 2023 and spent the next year planning Dartmouth’s return to Beijing Normal University for 2024, Miller said.
The choice to return to China in 2024 took several factors into account, including the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies — aimed at reducing transmission rates to zero by imposing travel restrictions — and the diplomatic relationship between China and the United States, Miller explained. Many other American universities decided to keep their study abroad programs in Taiwan after China’s COVID-19 restrictions were lifted in 2023 because of the tense United States-China relationship, according to Miller.
“I think there are all kinds of reasons for schools making a different decision to remain in Taiwan,” he said. “I do think that because of the current tensions in the U.S.-China relations, these decisions are often very politicized for universities.”
For Dartmouth, however, it was ultimately a “pretty straightforward choice,” Miller said.
“It’s very important for Dartmouth students who are learning the Chinese language and learning about China to go to China,” he explained.
Fifteen students went on the trip, according to Dartmouth News. The students took class five days a week, while also studying language skills and practicing speech individually with a private drill instructor, according to participant Pan Thu ’26. The group took a class on China’s development and markets, studying the electronic vehicle industry and e-commerce in China, Thu wrote in an email statement to The Dartmouth.
Beijing Normal University has hosted Dartmouth students since 1982, making it one of the College’s longest-running study abroad programs, according to Miller. After the United States formally normalized diplomatic relations with China in 1979, Dartmouth was one of the first American universities to establish a study abroad program in China, Miller added.
To commemorate the College’s longstanding relationship with China, the study abroad program hosted a ceremony in Beijing this summer, Miller said. A delegation of seven professors, including Miller, attended the ceremony, along with alumni and Chinese members of the Class of 2028.
“We were underlining this ongoing commitment that we have to academic exchange in China,” Miller said. “Overall, it was a pretty successful summer and really rebooted this program in a way that I think will really pay dividends for us in the years ahead.”
This year’s program differed slightly from previous versions, according to the trip’s faculty director and Asian societies, cultures and languages professor Lei Yan. In an email statement to The Dartmouth, she wrote that Dartmouth faculty led the program this year, while Beijing Normal University managed the courses in the past.
While students spent time in class, they were also encouraged to explore their surroundings. Yan wrote that it was crucial for students to engage with locals.
“[Students] learned to view different societies with respect, which will not only contribute to their personal growth but also positively impact the relationship between the United States and China,” she wrote.
Thu agreed that engaging with people who live in China was an important part of her experience. Every Friday, professors took students to different places in Beijing and gave them different prompts to engage with locals, she wrote.
“My favorite part of the week was our Fridays,” she wrote. “For instance, one Friday we went to a mall and we would have to ask salespeople different questions. Another week, we did a little city walk and scavenger hunt. We would go to different locations and take pictures while asking locals certain things.”
Carter Anderson ’26, who went on the study abroad program in Taiwan last fall, said local immersion was important on his trip as well. He said it was a “great help” to listen to locals use the language.
“Getting to go to Taipei, Taiwan, and just be around people using [the language] every day, and then have to use it myself in daily life, was a really great help,” he said.
