2015
Introduction
Since the reform of the China`s higher education policy in 1978 the Chinese students have received the opportunity to study abroad and gather knowledge in every corner of our world. Deng Xiaoping, the former Chinese leader, understood the importance of cross-cultural exchange and freedom of movement of knowledge. According to many modern researches, these two aspects are vital for normal and effective development of the country, especially when students are encouraged to return to their homelands and bring new approaches in regard to solving different issues.
Since 1978 the number of Chinese students abroad has grown significantly due to various factors, including rapid social and economic development of China, increased income of Chinese population and globalization that spans over all continents. According to the latest reports of Ministry of Education of China, more than 459 thousands Chinese students were receiving their education in foreign higher education institutions in 2014. This number increased by 50 thousands in comparison with the previous year. What is more important, approximately 364 thousands students returned to China in 2014. Therefore, the high rate of study abroad speaks of human capital enrichment in China.
The major destinations of Chinese students are the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Japan and France. Only one country, i.e. Japan, belongs to the Asian region. That`s why, it is quite interesting that despite different cultural, political and economic systems students from China prefer studying in the western countries where cultural concepts are based upon another values and principles.
For instance, every year the presence of Chinese students in American schools, colleges and universities becomes even greater. Now they constitute quite a big community within the US. Having analyzed the general trend, I can assume that it will become even bigger in the near future.
Purpose
The purpose of this film is to provide people with true picture of life of Chinese students in the USA. After seeing this film, people should realize the core reasons and motives of students from China to study in western liberal democracies, particularly in the US. Today`s Internet content is full of stereotypes and unconfirmed opinions, that`s why this film will become the perfect tool to dispel them and reveal the true nature of Chinese culture in its entirety and the real communication existing between international students and locals.
Furthermore, it will depict the everyday life of Chinese students, so that everyone can observe the difficulties and conflicts arising during their study, their leisure time, interaction with other students and so on. Thus, this film will counter such phenomenon as xenophobia and racism that are present in varying degree in every country. As it has been already mentioned above, the social aspect of the film`s purpose will be aimed at ruining the stereotypes and creating more reliable relations between all parties.
Therefore, we can conclude that the film will have two major functions. The first one is informative, i.e. telling the real facts about Chinese students` life, and the second one is social, i.e. trying to build bridges between cultures.
Statement of Problems
Taking into consideration the fact that the life of Chinese students is weakly represented in the US mass media sphere, we will create reliable ant trustworthy picture of it. We will be able to raise public awareness about this issue, leading to the positive changes in people`s attitude towards it. Common people will get the insight of this problem and it will be the unique experience for them.
Methodology
We are going to record the life of one Chinese freshman during the coming spring semester of 2015/2016 academic year. The first task for us is to choose the freshman that will become the main character and core element of our film.
First of all, the freshman should meet certain requirements in order to be a representative unit. I have decided that the main character should be a female student because adaptation of females may be more challenging than the male one. In addition, her program of study should be self-financed because the vast majority of Chinese students pay for their study by their own means. Our freshman should also have a medium income, so that she can satisfy her basic needs without any financial problems. The fulfillment of those three requirements will provide us with perfect freshman that can be very representative in terms of Chinese students` life, behavior and problems.
The second task for us is to define the content of our film. I think that this film should consist of four major parts: a) the freshman`s interview pending the start of shooting; b) scenes of her everyday life; c) the freshman`s interview after the shooting process (approximately in one month after the start of study) and d) brief experts` comments on the topic. Of course, we will employ different methods to collect the material for these parts. For example, if we want to capture really unique situations happening in everyday life of our freshman we have to install hidden cameras in her room (after receiving her permission for doing it). With the help of them we will get real communication, emotions and feelings, not the cardboard one. Moreover, we will use one small camera to trace freshman`s actions outside and in school. In order to take interviews we require two professional cameras, proper lightening equipment, microphones and so on. The interviews will be held in warm and comfortable atmosphere, so that our freshman can be relaxed and able to reveal his thoughts. The core questions of the first interview will be the following: a) what are your current expectations and b) how are you thinking of your study at the moment. In one month we will again ask the latter question and ask the freshman to give us feedback on her previous expectations. After doing everything in such a manner we will compare the answers given during the previous interview and the latter one, so we will have all the necessary information to draw conclusions on this issue. I think that our experts will give their own comments on it.
If we follow all the guidelines listed above, our film will be full of real-life content without any embellishments.
Timeline
Project Budget
Personal Research Goals
Although my homeland is China and I am an international student, my personal goal is to discover the new sides of Chinese students` life, because with the help of this project I will receive the opportunity to look at it from another prospect. Working over this film will provide me with understanding of the attitude of native citizens towards Chinese student community, including me as a part of it. Thus, this project can be used as an instrument of creating stronger and closer relations between me and other locals.
Overall, this film will broad my mind and contribute to my strong values of multiculturalism and tolerance. I believe that such films can make a difference and it is my own way to contribute to development of relations between international students, including Chinese students, and native citizens of the United States of America.
