Dr. Norton who used to teach in China through LUDGE was back again in this June with his students group! Please see more information in the website of the college website he now works in near New York.

Students traveling abroad on international study trips might expect to experience culture shock on arrival in their new country, but for a group of Dutchess Community College students who spent 28 days in Shenyang, China this summer with DCC Professor of History Dr. Joseph Norton, the surprise came when they got home.

“I must say, the culture shock coming back was greater than arriving in Shenyang!?said Lauren Wing. It wasn’t just readjusting to American food ?students and professor both came back missing delicious Chinese fare ?or switching back to American currency. “In all of my travel all over the world, never have I been more impressed and amazed with any culture,?said Wing. “The Chinese were truly delightful people to work with. Their humble nature and selfless acts made an extraordinary impact on me.?

Dr. Norton had traveled alone to China to study, research, and teach in 2001. This time, he took 16 DCC students, ranging from a 17-year-old not quite out of high school to non-traditional adult students, to live and study at Shenyang Normal University. The credit class was designed to immerse students in China’s culture and promote a better understanding of the causes and consequences of globalization.

Shenyang, formerly the Japanese occupied city of Mukden, is located in China’s industrial heartland, about 450 miles northeast of Beijing, with a population of approximately seven million. Shenyang was the center of the most egregious excesses of the Cultural Revolution and is currently changing to a “market economy?and its attendant modernization. Students witnessed firsthand the stark contrast between a China hardly touched by Western influences and a China caught in a rapidly emerging global marketplace.

“It’s interesting to see how they’re playing tug of war between being traditional and being a capitalistic society,?said Eileen Newman, who made the trip because she plans to study international relations when she graduates from Dutchess. “I would get up to run at 5:30, and see construction that had been going from before I got up ?and that went on to 11:00 or 12:00 at night. They are doing everything to make sure the country they love keeps going and keeps being successful.?

DCC students lived at the University in the Foreign Student Residential Hall and received instruction from Chinese and American professors in Chinese language, history, and politics. Each DCC student was paired with a Chinese student fluent in English under a system of peer exchange, which exposed Dutchess students to a little known aspect of Chinese education called “guan xi?or network building.

“What I enjoyed most about the trip was without a doubt the people I came to know,?said Christina Agostino. “Our Chinese friends were students attending classes and eventually taking their finals. But these kids gave us all of themselves. After understanding their learning method (stressing memorization), I could just picture them all of the day with us and then going to their dorms and studying into the wee hours of the morning. What we gave them, a little practice with their English, was far outweighed by all that they gave us.?

Wing said that, at first, she was taken aback by her new Chinese friends, “But I eventually started to appreciate the principals they have integrated in their lives ?tolerance, patience, selflessness, integrity and acceptance.?

On weekends, the DCC group made excursions to outlying areas. In Fushan, students had the opportunity to enter a more traditional Chinese society and spend time with Chinese students while meeting the Manzhou people, one of the protected minority groups in North China. Professor Norton took students to the very beginning of Great Wall at Shanhaiguan, and also to visit Dandong, where they stood 150 feet from the North Korean shore. These are places far removed from tourism centers such as Shanghai, Beijing, or Hong Kong, said Dr. Norton. “We were the largest group of Americans since World War II to be that far up in China.?

“It was like being Alice in Wonderland,?said Newman. “Everything you thought you knew about China doesn’t even compare.?She expected the culture to be repressive and confining ?“the complete opposite of us,?she said. “But it’s not ‘us and them.?When you get there, it’s about relationships and people. I’m emailing back and forth three of the most wonderful people I’ve met in my entire life. For Dutchess to give me this was just amazing ?not to read about it, not to see it on television, but to be there.?

Dr. Norton plans to bring another group to Shenyang next summer and will expand the offerings to include business information for those wishing to undertake overseas ventures in North China. He is also actively recruiting people willing to teach in North China and will aid them in being placed in a Chinese university. For more information, contact Dr. Norton at (845) 431-8512.