I recently received some information from Tom, our friend from the Library Project, sent us some fantastic news about the Library Project and its latest developments.

“The past three months have far exceeded the The Library Project’s goals and expectations. There is so much to share - from our new home in Xi’an, China to an incredible list of schools benefiting from our support - so let’s get started.

“In September, The Library Project donated our first library to a Chinese countryside elementary school. The Xin Xing Elementary School is located an hour outside of Xi’an, in the ShaanXi Province. Over 500 students in grades 1-6 attend the Xin Xing Elementary School. During our pre assessment we discovered the school library’s uninviting environment and general lack of age appropriate books. Most of the books in the existing library were written for high school or university students with a total of less than 50 children’s books for grades 1-3.

“The Library Project provided 500 children’s books for grades 1-3 and a child-safe reading area with comfortable and colorful furniture. We provided a wide range of children’s books including: history, science, short stories, fairy tales, “pinyin” books for very young readers, children’s dictionaries, children’s reference books, and an assortment of comic books. We also provided a full set of children’s encyclopedias for older students. Every book was in full color and of the highest quality. The Library Project provided colorful child-safe tables and chairs, posters and a globe to populate the previously empty room. Once the library was completed, we held a party to celebrate our accomplishments with the children. Twenty “star” students were chosen to participate in arts, crafts and games. One of our activities had the children draw their “dream library”. We learned that most children want a library located outside consisting of colorful books which float in the air. (We’re working on that concept for a future library.)

“Without a doubt The Library Project has improved the level of education that the Xin Xing Elementary School provides to its students.

“We didn’t stop there. In October The Library Project completed a phenomenal feat of donating three libraries in three days. The libraries are located at three different elementary schools in the countryside of Xi’an: the Si Qing Elementary School, Bai Lu Yuan Elementary School and Mi Cun Elementary School. Furthermore, all the items donated were upgraded from our previous library. We provided higher quality books, better seating, sturdy wooden tables and bookshelves custom made at a local factory, and we even found cacti and plants to put on the tables and shelving.

“Providing three libraries in three days pushed us both mentally and physically. We had a team of over 20 volunteers helping with the delivery of the materials, setting up furniture, sorting books, and playing games with the kids in their new library. Through our experiences we learned this one simple fact: that when The Library Project arrives in a countryside school, the students go absolutely crazy. The madness usually begins when we pull up in our large truck and the children come running out of their classrooms.

“For our next goal, I need your help. In the past we have benefited one school at a time and now we are looking to help an entire school district. We want to make a clear IMPACT on the level of education an entire school district will be able to offer its students. Our first school district we would like to help will be the Ba Qiao School District (the same school district where our last three elementary schools were located).

“The Ba Qiao School District is an hour outside of the Xi’an city center. This area was hit very hard by the closure of state run factories over the past twenty years. Because of the closures and the lack of work, the average annual income is less than 2,000 RMB ($266), and there is very little hope that things will change for the better in the future. To learn more about the Ba Qiao School District, please click here.

“If you are interested in Adopting a Library or adopting a group of schools through our Adopting a School District programs, please click here for more information. You can also send me an email at [*tom@library-project.org* ] to ask any questions about the library adoption process.

“Furthermore, our website has been updated and improved to help both large and small donors have a better idea of exactly how their financial contributions are put to work. We also added an Adopt a Library page for those who would like to provide an entire elementary school with a library. The page also contains information on the Ba Qiao School District. Everyone who donates to the Adopt a School or Adopt a School District programs will receive a Library Completion Report for the specific library that you supported, along with a beautiful hardcover book celebrating our past libraries and the communities and schools we have worked in.

“I am very happy to announce two new additions to The Library Project’s team. Jenny Wang is our first full time employee in China. Jenny is from Hunan Province and has lived in Xi’an for the past ten years. A short list of some of her accomplishments these past few months have been getting us a 20 - 65% discount on children’s books at the country’s largest chain of bookstores, managing our growing list of partners in China, spearheading the completion of our first four libraries in Chinese countryside elementary schools, and doing non-stop assessments of schools and orphanages. Welcome aboard Jenny!

“I am also very happy to announce that Kevin Kruse has joined our Board of Directors. Kevin Kruse joined in August and has been an incredible addition to the team. Kevin has been instrumental in helping create a solid business foundation for The Library Project. He was also our first donor to support our Adopt a School District program. To learn more about Kevin, please check out his bio by clicking here. Welcome Kevin!

“Lastly, please check out some of our new products for the holiday season. We created 50 book, 100 book, 250 book and 500 book gift cards available at $1 a book. Each card also has a beautiful picture of a past library we have donated. The gift cards are a perfect holiday gift idea. To check out our new online store, please click here.

“Your help is greatly appreciated. Click here to make a donation and help give the gift of education and opportunity to a child in Asia. As a result of your donation you will receive photos and a Library Completion Report on the library you helped make a reality. Your donation truly does make a difference.

“The Library Project is a non-profit organization. Your donation is 100% tax deductible. Thank you in advance for your kind support of our efforts.”

Sincerely,
Thomas Stader
The Library Project
Founder

Shanghai Signal House: A Daily China Photo

This week’s photos come from Ken Leaf, an amateur photographer and architect-to-be living in Shanghai.

This is a photo of the old signal house in Shanghai. Originally constructed in 1865, the signal house is a symbol of Shanghai’s vitality in the earlier part of the century. Moved in 1993 and restored in 1998, there is now a museum at the bottom of the tower’s spiral staircase that provides pictures of the Bund and other key documents and memorabilia that display Shanghai’s rich and complex history.

To see your photos here, send an email to [*dawei@blogofdreams.com *] or [*photos@blogofdreams.com *].

Shanghai Neighberhoods: A Daily China Photo

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Today’s photo from Ken Leaf was taken in the Jewish Quarter of Shanghai, an often-forgotten portion of Shanghai that once was a booming portion of the city. Jewish migrants originally came to Shanghai in 1942, creating a small and vibrant community,only to leave a few years later before the massive changes that would take place in China.

A Canadian artist and group of investors have taken on the preservation of the neighborhood and are continuing to develop and add the neighbor with respect to its local culture.

To see more Shanghai photos from Ken Leaf, continue checking back here. To see your photos here, send them to [*photo@blogofdreams.com *] and [*dawei@blogofdreams.com *].

Read on »

Shanghai Bridge: Daily China Photo

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This week’s photos come from China blogger Ken Leaf, who sent a few of his favorite Shanghai photos for this week. You can see a great panoramic view here of the the fourth longest cable-stayed bridge in the world. Extra points go to the readers who can see the Chinese flag.

To see more Shanghai photos, check out the posts later this week. To see your photos here, e-mail them to [*photos@blogofdreams.com *] or [*photos@blogofdreams.com *].

Read on »

The University of Maryland Smith School of Business Shanghai, China

Recently, during my trip in Shanghai, I had the opportunity to speak with Steven Feld, the Executive Director of Professional Programs and Services at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business at the Maryland Center China in Shanghai. What I found was a man with a conviction to foster the growth of a business school in China that could live up to the growing needs for talented managers and can provide people who have already succeeded at doing business in China a chance to hone their skills to a new level.

I have to admit that the interview’s beginning was little rocky. Because of a delay in my flight, I arrived at the Center, bags still in hand, about an hour and a half later than I’d planned. Fortunately, I was able to sneak into another interview and get a few shots at a question and answer. Dr. Feld was happily answering questions from a Chinese newspaper. I decided to go for the big one.

“So, how are you going to compete with Harvard? How about Duke? What have you got for the big guns?” I ask. Dr. Feld Steve Feld just grins. I know he’s been asked this question a dozen times before, and his response is fitting for a man who left Wharton to manage a program sitting on the fence between great and unbeatable.

“It’s all about service,” he said. “If you come to the University of Maryland’s EMBA program here, you get the same quality and the same teachers you’d get as if you were in the US. We don’t water down our program for China.”

And with that, I smiled, reached for my notebook, and realized I’d left it in the cab. Red-faced, I grabbed a sheet of paper from my bag and began writing furiously as Dr. Feld talked about this EMBA in China.

He also pointed out the way in which the program had been made administratively simple. “Our students have an average of 15 years of experience,” Dr. Feld pointed out, “and they are juggling families, running their companies, and completing 54 credit hours of school in 18 months. So we need to help them by making the administrative process of this course–buying books, registering for courses, receiving grades–as simple as possible.”

There were several key points that stood out as Dr. Feld talked. One was his sense of commitment: from everything he said, I could tell that the Smith School is not some kind of attempt to offer a mediocre program to a China hungry for, but an administratively simple program designed to produce the same quality of education that has given the University of Maryland its distinctive international reputation. A key point of the program is that the same professors who teach at the University of Maryland deliver the lectures and do the teaching just as they do in the US. Dr. Feld also stressed the three core competencies of the program: globalization, techonology, and innovation and entrepreneurship, which he believes will be core principles rising entrepreneurs and businesspeople need to master in the coming years of business.

Smith has some impressive ranking as well. Though it’s name is just beginning to come to China, it’s international reputation (ranked #17 in the world and #5 for its research department) is long-standing. One of the most interesting points of discussion I had with Dr. Feld was about the school’s impressive research rank. Can a school with a rank like that deliver good quality teaching, I wondered? Or would the faculty at the U of Maryland feel so much pressure to perform in research that they would neglect their teaching duties? Dr. Feld, as always, gave a delightful response. “Well, we have two ways to respond to that. First, we have research centers designed to disseminate the information from our researchers to the public and to interested parties. Second, we have a really smart dean who created a staff of teaching professors who aren’t obligated to do research. And what this has done is increase the standard of teaching at the University of Maryland, so that both the teaching staff and the research staff frequently get rated highly for their teaching.”

There is a saying China (isn’t there always?): “麻雀虽小, 五脏俱全.” Though the sparrow is small, it has all the vital organs. And though Maryland is by no means a small school in any sense of the word–its reputation and abilities place it among the best in the world–its name is only beginning to gain weight and force in China. Despite this, the programs the University of Maryland offers in China–its EMBA as well as its professional development courses–are designed with care and clever precision to deliver high-quality instruction to China’s business leaders.

A final update: interested readers can check out the Smith Business Intelligence site, a great source of useful information about the latest business information in China.

China Pictures, Tibetan Guides: A Daily China Photo

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Today’s photo comes from Lydia Kong’s travels to Tibet. This is a picture she describes as her “small guide and his picture.”

Look here for more photos later this week. To see your photos on the China Dreamblogue, send them to [*photos@blogofdreams.com *] or [*dawei@blogofdreams.com *].

Read on »

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This past weekend I traveled to Shanghai in order to attend the 2007 China Education Expo, an annual traveling expo showcasing international study abroad opportunities for Chinese students. While there, I also had the chance to catch up with several bloggers, speak with Steve Feld, the Executive Director the University of Maryland’s Smith School of Business, and spend some time with Christine Lu of the China Business Network. I have to admit that serendipity seemed to follow me as I met up with a number of people, from a helpful and friendly group of Casablancan businessmen on the plane to the Chinese watch salesman that helped me find an Internet Bar when I needed it most.

This week I’ll be writing stories about my adventures and some of the fantastic dreamers I met in my few short days in Shanghai. Photos and maps will follow. Unfortunately, my camera battery died a quick, painless death on this trip, but others have been generous enough to donate their own photos.

Photo courtesy of Ken Yip.

PS–My regrets to missing Chris Carr of Cal Poly MBA Trip’s latest visit. He was in Beijing and I was not able to meet up with him to hear about the latest on his MBA program in California.

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We’ve been encouraging our readers to send us their dreams, and now I want to share my dream with you to carry a torch for the 2008 Olympics. You can help us out by voting here. Here’s my essay about why I’d like to carry the Olympic torch:

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I want to carry the torch for Ms. Yue. A year ago, I came to China on a fellowship from Grinnell College in America. My commitment was to teach English and engage in cultural exchange for groups of college students. And while I met many remarkable and people during my time there, Ms. Yue stands out. Offering to be my adoptive Chinese mother (or “中妈”), she took me into her home, taught me Chinese, offered me home-cooked food, and showed me how to enjoy everyday Chinese life: I want give back to her and China and pay my respects by running and by writing on my website, the China Dreamblogue. I will travel with Lonnie B. Hodge, a Zhongshan University professor, and write about the amazing dreams of China’s people. I want to create a place for positive engagement between the East and West, and share a place where I can speak about my great respect for this country.
I also want to show Ms Yue respect by carrying the torch for her Olympics. I believe in the spirit of the slogan: “One World, One Dream”. It rings true for me: Professor Hodge has worked and trained Olympic-level athletes, and during my year in Macau I acted as a language liaison for their Olympic Tae Kwon Do Association. I was privileged to train with members of Macau’s Olympic team. Part of my journey will include stories from Olympians and include medalist’s dreams from around the world. I support the Olympics as a forum for international understanding and the promotion of cross-cultural appreciation.

Lien Chan once said, “The Chinese nation is confronted with unprecedented opportunities of development. Well-being and prosperity that the nation has long aspired after will never be a faraway dream.” In order to help China achieve its dream for prosperity for its people, and I dream of a positive network of engagement for China and the West, I am working tirelessly to create ways for people to interact with China: not everyone gets their own Ms. Yue.
I see my work as community service, helping others to make connections, tell the world about their dreams, and give ordinary Chinese people a voice with which to speak and to show their truest face to the world. I work with The China Business Network, a site which offers help and information to business leaders; California Polytechnic University, and its MBA program with a business study plan actively engaging China; and The Library Project, which builds libraries for orphanages and rural schools. I’ve given over 1,000 hours in community service work to provide the world a chance to share China’s greatest dreams.
My favorite proverb from Chinese culture is “the beginning of wisdom is to call things by their right names.” I hope that my carrying the torch will help others to appreciate the Middle Kingdom and call China by its right name: an engaging culture with extraordinary dreams.

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On the way to Lijiang: A Daily China Travel Photo

Today’s post from Yauly, our featured photographer of the week, has two photos.  Yauly explains:

“[This photo] was taken on my way to Lijiang. There was something about this guy, about his facial features, that drew my attention. The second thing that made me notice him was his shoes [pictured below].”

I do wonder just how he managed to find those two shoes.  I hope they’re comfortable.

To see your photos here, send them to [*photos@blogofdreams.com *] or [*dawei@blogofdreams.com *]. Read on »