At Duke Kunshan University, a Sino-American joint venture in east China, different perspectives meet and creativity follows, as the campus serves as a bridge for people-to-people exchanges between Chinese and U.S. youth.
Located in Kunshan City of east China's Jiangsu Province, the institution now hosts students from 75 countries and faculty members from about 40.
John A. Quelch, executive vice chancellor of Duke Kunshan University, said although the university was jointly operated by China and the U.S., it also opens its doors to youth from all around the world.
"We are Sino-American joint venture university based in China, but we are for the world. The creativity really bubbles up when there are people with different perspectives coming together and sharing ideas on how to solve a particular problem," said Quelch.
A champion of liberal arts education, the university encourages students and faculty alike to look beyond a single discipline, letting different fields of knowledge meet and collide in dialogue.
"I think that field work is so extremely important. Whether students are doing research projects, or they are just part of a class. They need to go out and see what's happening in the world," said Kenneth S. Rogerson, professor of the practice at Duke University's Sanford School of Public Policy.
In November 2023, China put forward a major initiative to invite 50,000 American young people to China for exchange and study over the next five years.
Duke Kunshan is part of that effort in action, each year, it brings some 70 students from Duke University's home campus in the United States to China.
"As a China-U.S. joint-venture university, beyond our essential function of cultivating talent, I think it's also very important to serve as a key window for China-U.S. cultural exchange," said Liu Yaolin, chancellor of Duke Kunshan University.
The "50,000 in five years" initiative has already met its target two and a half years ahead of schedule, but the exchange between Chinese and American youth is far from over.
"Sharing what we love, understanding different perspectives, is really what I really hope to share and learn," said Caleb Leonard, a student at Duke Kunshan University.
Sino-American university campus bridges youth exchanges between China, U.S.
