China and Butler
A long standing commitment to the study of China
Since 1984, every Butler student has been introduced to
traditional Chinese culture through the Change and Tradition
program, an interdisciplinary world cultures course taken by all
students in their sophomore year. Students read from the Analects
of Confucius and the Tao Te Ching of Lao Tzu, and explore the
history of the Han Dynasty when China first became unified as an
empire.
Over the years, Change and Tradition has brought an array of
China experts to campus from around the world, including Hans
Bielenstein and Irene Bloom from Columbia University, Philip
Ivanhoe from Stanford, David Keightley from UC Berkeley, Julia
Ching from the University of Toronto, Yue Daiyun from Beijing
University, and filmmaker Carma Hinton.
In 1988, the Change and Tradition faculty visited China for
three weeks, establishing contacts that helped pave the way for
study abroad opportunities for Butler students over the past
decade. The Change and Tradition faculty again visited China in the
summer of 2000, establishing direct student exchange relationships
between Butler and Chinese universities.
Students who come to Butler to study Chinese language,
history, and culture will find themselves in an academic community
deeply interested in things Chinese.