Life needs a sense of ritual. Sports Day is one of such occasions that turns ordinary days into something extraordinary and memorable. Late November marks the best time in Shenzhen —a faint chill of the breeze and the gentle warmth of the sun intertwined. As the autumn wind brushes by, sunlight penetrates through the clouds, […]
Flowing with the Wind – 2024 SCIE Sports Day Read More »
The winter sun shines warmly, with light clouds gently drifting by. In the first week of December, Shenzhen College of International Education (SCIE) held its flag-raising ceremony. We were also honored to welcome Mr. Joe, Director of Quality, Performance, and Risk, Business Performance, International Education from Cambridge University Press & Assessment to celebrate the outstanding
Outstanding Cambridge Learner Awards Presented to SCIE Students Read More »
On November 23, SCIE (Shenzhen College of International Education) was delighted to host its first-ever Open Day, welcoming prospective students and parents to experience the unique atmosphere of our classrooms first hand. Two weeks prior, as soon as the event registration was announced, all 400 available spots for the two sessions were fully booked within
SCIE Open Day｜ An Autumn Encounter at SCIE Read More »
“We do not live on land; we live in time. Fields, streets, rivers, and houses are our companions in time.” Day 1 The midday sun in Shenzhen was as intense as ever. Passing through the corridor of intertwining light and shadow at the South Gate, we made final preparations and boarded the bus. After four hours
SCIE Guilin Field Trip: Mountains and Flowing Waters Read More »
“Blood and non-invasive diagnostics” is a topic that is intimately connected to broad aspects of human lives. At around 3 pm on October 15th, Dr. Kun Sun, a principal investigator from the Institute of Cancer Research in Shenzhen Bay Laboratory, was delivering an enlightening lecture in the Halo theatre of SCIE, introducing the audience to
Small, Yet Not Small: Unveil the Secrets of Cell-free DNA Read More »
“There is a prospect greater than the sea, and it is the sky; there is a prospect greater than the sky, and it is the human soul.” Amidst the crisp autumn air, we welcome this year’s Mental Health Week. In our busy lives, it’s often easy to ignore our inner voices, burying stress and worries
Mental Health Week: When Sunlight Pierces the Mist Read More »
October 25th, under the organization of Mr. Shawn Wu and with assistance from Ms. Hannah and Ms. Shevani, 32 students from our school visited the headquarters of UBTECH Robotics Corp., located in Nanshan. UBTECH, a rising star in the Shenzhen tech industry and listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, is a leader in the
SCIE CS Field Trip Read More »
As I push open the door to the application season, the flurry of activities is akin to a ballet dance, where every move requires precise planning and rhythm. I am a versatile performer, transitioning from ballet to jazz, from fencing to fashion design, and I’ve found my own way to manage time. Today, I wish
In the Rustle of Turning Pages, I Find My Serene Sanctuary Read More »
Stepping from the audience onto the stage, my Science Week has been filled with a profound sense of happiness despite the busyness. I enjoy every second roaming around the realm of science, in which the joy might have originated from the admiration for Tom Knight and Randy Rettberg’s bold imagination – the two electronic engineers
Thoughts from the Science Week： In pursuit, in innocence Read More »
“Do you know what a foreign accent is? It’s a sign of bravery.” I learn this by heart. There was a time, not so long ago, when I believed that the world was contained within the borders of a language I had grown up with. Chinese, with its familiar turns of phrase and comforting syntax,
With Spanish, I am Ready to Explore the world 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
