This summer I gave myself a fairly simple task: to listen. Visit an elderly service center, go back to Shandong to see my grandparents, go home for my nainai’s birthday — I thought all I had to do was lend out my ears, listen, take notes, and come back having “understood them better.” Once I actually […]
Banners, Cicadas, and a Name Misspelled for Decades Read More »
UnderstandingGlobal CitizenshipThrough Action & Reflection Yvonne Li I am deeply honored to have received the 2025–26 EARCOS Global Citizenship Award. This award is not only an honor, but also part of a journey shaped by participation, documentation, reflection, and growth. First Encounters with GCA Understanding Through Documentation：I became deeply involved in the GCA program in
My EARCOS Journey | Starting Close to Home, Growing Toward the World Read More »
Zhu Wenqi (Kate) is an alumna of Shenzhen College of International Education (SCIE). She entered the mathematics department of the University of Oxford at sixteen, one of the youngest Chinese undergraduates of her year; at twenty she joined J.P. Morgan and Goldman Sachs in asset management. She later left finance for love of the subject,
From SCIE to Oxford — a few honest words for those of you still growing up Read More »
YALE YOUNG GLOBAL SCHOLARS NEW HAVEN 2026 Leaving Yale behind, I wrote these words on the plane home. Fate somehow let you leave. I wrestled with it, hurt by it, unable to understand it, and eventually, somehow, at peace with it. This summer, I went to Yale Young Global Scholars (YYGS) in New
Fate Somehow Let You Leave — A Summer in New Haven Read More »
From Venice’s gilded domes to Rome’s Rothko canvases, from Giotto’s ultramarine stars to Bernini’s marble- this was more than a journey; it was a pilgrimage lived in the company of beauty. Follow our art group on this Italian art journey. Italy unfolds not merely as a destination, but as a living gallery. Our recent journey
An Art Pilgrimage Through Italy Read More »
1. Where our story begins… For students, mid-August sometimes feels more like a genuine “New Year”. Each year at this time, SCIE welcomes new students from across the country as they begin their brand-new academic journeys. New classmates, new teachers, new environments, new curriculum, new culture—every student trying to find their place in this school
Week 0 | First Encounters at Antuo Hill: Exploring and Belonging Read More »
Editor’s Note: STEM Racing is an international competition combining engineering design, aerodynamics, project management and business operations. SCIE student team Aspyra turned classroom learning into a real-world project, from car modelling and CFD simulations to a self-built wind tunnel, branding and sponsorship. In this interview, three team members share their first competition experience, reflecting on
Design and Business: SCIE Students’ STEM Racing Journey Read More »
As one of the pioneering cities in China in promoting AED deployment and public first aid education, Shenzhen has continued to strengthen community emergency preparedness and enhance its emergency response system. Building on this momentum, SCIE has made first aid training an integral part of its approach to campus safety. The latest round of campus first
From Bystanders to First Responders Read More »
Hong Kong’s financial atmosphere is often hidden between trading halls, bank display cases, and the details of the street. It feels less like a fixed label than the rhythm of a city: the numbers moving across trading screens, clouds reflected in glass curtain walls, pedestrians hurrying past fountains, vessels crossing Victoria Harbour, and the quiet
An Economic Study of Hong Kong: Finance, Urban Trade, and Maritime Heritage Read More »
The Lumiere Competition has announced that Florence Xia, a G2 student at SCIE, has won a prestigious High Honors award and a $1,250 prize for her outstanding essay on the physics of turbulence. Her achievement places her among eight prize winners selected from over 2,100 entries submitted from more than 104 countries worldwide. Yiwen chose to write
SCIE G2 Student Florence Xia Wins High Honors Award at 2026 Lumiere Competition Read More »
My essay is on the recent development of China’s mental health care system and how it can help address this question. Though, I actually parried the question raised by the prompt, and I did not in the end emphasise too much that more care should be devoted to the socially vulnerable. Rather, I intended to underscore the complexity and ambiguity in any employment of these two notions — “socially vulnerable” and “responsibility” — in the concrete working of society. Through my study I discovered that the train of legislative efforts made in the 1980s to 2000s to legally recognise, to enhance public knowledge of, and to erect new asylums for, “the mentally ill,” in fact coincided spatiotemporally with government efforts in putting new agendas of foreign policies and city development to work. Thus, the recent development of China’s mental health care, from scratch to full maturity, is not solely the consequence of “humanitarian effort,” but also of some other ulterior motives. In my conclusion, I hinted that any answer to this question would entail empirical investigation into the concrete working of social institutions, and depending on the nature of this “socially vulnerable” group, claims of “responsibility” may be leveraged as veils for other purposes.
Before starting my research I did not by then have a well-formed hypothesis, but I did have Michel Foucault’s intriguing study on madness in mind. Due to the rather peculiar nature of the object of my study, I was not able to apply the sociological theories (Marxism, Functionalism, e.g.) I learnt in class to my own research. I must thank my sociology teacher for his encouragement and provision of many textbook resources and classical studies done in the field of mental health care. In addition to that, he prepared a statement of the school for my application to conduct short interviews at a local mental health hospital — this application, however, though quite expectedly, sank into oblivion — without his help this project would be very difficult.
I made a documentary “The Definition” about the situation of elderly in Shenzhen to enter this competition. As I have some previous knowledge in filmmaking, learning from TBU studio, I though it would be meaningful if I combined my filmmaking skills with sociology knowledge. In the meanwhile, after learning the very first chapter of sociology, The Family, I found out that the situation of elderly in the UK is different from that of elderly in Shenzhen. For instance, elderly have the responsibility taking care of their grandchildren and dance in the park for entertainment is distinctive in China. Therefore, I decided to make a documentary to record the interesting culture.
I learnt a lot during the preparation for the competition. I learned a lot about how to carry out an individual primary research when I was filming “The Definition”, which helps a lot in my current sociology study. Also, I understood sociology theories better. For instance, postmodernism used to be only a vague theoretical perspective for me, yet it amazed me knowing that elderly people participate actively in public activities can be considered as view of postmodernism.
Most importantly, I realized filmmaking can make some impacts on people, portraying problems of society. Experience of BSA opened my eyes and led me rethink about my future major in college. I want use my skills and knowledge to help more people, so I will probably try a major with humanity and filmmaking combined instead of pursuing the dream of being an artist alone.
Learning sociology gives me a new perspective in seeing how the world works, and it also lets me care more about the vulnerability in the society. Thank you to my sociology teacher, Richard Driscoll, who gave me lots of inspiration such as filming the dancing in the park, which is interesting to British people, and recommenced lots of sociological books about the elderly.
By listening to his advice, “The Definition” eventually divides into two parts: one is about the elderly in nursing home and the other is about people dancing in the park. Also, there is many interviews in the documentary to give a more well-rounded perspective.
I would like to thank my Math teacher Michael Jin and my friend Franchaska, who helped me with the voice over. Also, thanks to my family members, especially my dear grandmother, who gave me lots of insights related to the issue of elderly.
I made this documentary just before the deadline, thus it’s not so perfect. I’ll probably elaborate some shots and reedit it in the future.
If you are interested, you can click the link below and watch it.
Teng Xun Video：https://v.qq.com/x/page/u0862usad2v.html
Bilibili：https://www.bilibili.com/video/av38188271?from=search&seid=10452775157822232568
