Research at Tsinghua University
Student Reflection by Rachel Bina (C’25 W’25, Russian target)
As I approached the end of my junior year this past spring semester, I was reflecting on what I had come to appreciate the most at Penn – the people here with an intellectual curiosity and a genuine passion for global issues, the opportunity to gain an understanding of the world from a wide range of perspectives, and within the Huntsman Program especially, a culture that encourages exploration of the world and all it has to offer.
As a Huntsman student, I have had the privilege of diving deep into my target region – the Russian speaking world, gaining an understanding of the cultural and historical contexts that have shaped it, and naturally the Russian language too. Through a sort of intellectual osmosis, I have had the opportunity to gain a small glimpse into the rest of the world via my fellow Huntsman students as well. In doing so, I have become more and more curious about the regions that I do not specialize in.
When I had the opportunity to conduct political science research and live in China for a period of time this summer, I was ecstatic to be able to once more go abroad to experience a cultural and language immersion again in a new region, as well as to put a pause on my more hands-on and practical learning about international business and pursue a short-term study in pure political theory.
With the support of Huntsman’s summer funding, this past May and June I was able to work as a Research Assistant at Tsinghua University in Beijing, China with Professor Qingxin Wang in the School of Public Policy and Management. During my time there, I worked on analysis of the construction and durability of the post-1945 world order and political science theories of world order and post-conflict order building such as the constitutional model of order building and the clash of civilizations.
During my month in China, I was able to practice my Chinese, understand the intricacies of the truly massive ecosystem of Chinese apps that support the operation of the entire country (if you don’t have WeChat you simply cannot function in China), and of course also complete my research project, which I found is applicable not only to China, but Russia as well, and the world at large.
Coming back to Penn for my senior year, I am reminded how interconnected our world is, and am excited to share what I have learned with my fellow students from stories of taking the bullet train from Beijing to Shanghai to my conversations about the Chinese political and economic environment with the people that I met in Beijing. The Huntsman Program emphasizes the importance of a global education, and each time that I go abroad I am reminded that a global education is best experienced not just through textbooks and lectures, but by truly living and learning in the world that we are trying to study.
