It is the second sunny day in DC. The coach gradually slows down and finally pulls up by the road. Today is the day that we pay our visit at Capitol. We slowly wonder up the trail to the building. By the trail chestnut trees and maple trees stand straightly, projecting the mottled shadow on […]
A Glance of American Culture Read More »
The beauty of Tongren is found in the lush greenery of its mountains and the clear azure of its murmuring streams, all blending into a living painting created by harmony between humans and nature. As a native of Guangdong, where the climate is akin to living in a sauna all year round, my family and
Trip to Tongren: Searching for the Deepest ‘Paradise’ Read More »
Crossing most of China, chasing after the lost History. Its departure echoes through the ages. I’ve read works of that era and analysis from the later generations, yet that sound feels as though I have never truly heard it. Is the Chang’an of dreams truly the ‘Heavenly Kingdom’ described in literature? Fueled by a curiosity
Xi’an, the whispers of the past are ever-present Read More »
In the scorching summer, a unique “Dream Performance” was held in the Loucun Community of Xinhu Street, Guangming District. Through nine carefully choreographed programs such as “Flutter,” “Leap,” and “Soar,” the performance showcased the growth and future aspirations of the girls in the Loucun Community. This is part of a public welfare project I initiated
Love in the Heart, Light in the Eyes Read More »
Traveling through three thousand years of history, the Mid-Autumn Festival in 2024 has arrived. Celebrating the Mid-Autumn Festival in an elegant and poetic way and extending romance to the campus, is the theme of this year’s SCIE Mid-Autumn Festival Lantern Riddle Guessing activity. On the afternoon of September 12, 2024, dozens of palace lanterns were
The Mid Autumn Lantern Riddle Guessing Read More »
A perfume called California Summer, with a citrus and basil top and middle note, yet the vetiver can linger as the end note for days. Just like this short two-week summer school journey, it opens like a dream, yet lingers deeply in memory. In the restless summer days, amidst the quiet boredom of July, I
California Summer | A Summer Dream at UCLA Read More »
Bianca Lin, our G1 Drama teacher would like to share some remarkable experiences and heartfelt reflections from our last year’s G1 Drama students. They have embarked on a journey of theatrical exploration and personal growth, and here is their experience with drama: ❒ Olivia Hogarth I pictured drama students as confident, eccentric, and self-assured, which
Drama G1 Highlight: A journey of theatrical exploration & growth Read More »
Summer is a season of revival. Before the ‘elders’ return, an enormous group of new students is about to arrive! I still remember how I felt when I first stepped into SCIE: excited, proud, nervous, expectant, and fearful. For a whole year, these emotions were kept in my heart until the day that new students arrived.
Induction week | Cherishing the past and looking forward Read More »
What is our goal for summer? For SCIE students the answer might be summer camp and lots of traveling. For teachers, the answer might be to rest, recharge, and prepare for the coming semester. As the administrative personnel of SCIE, our goal is to construct, upgrade, refurbish, and improve the SCIE campus. Like last year,
2024 Summer Renovations in Review Read More »
Clement: Good evening, distinguished guests, dedicated faculty, proud parents, and fellow graduates. Today is a day of immense joy and celebration, and as we stand on the brink of a new chapter in our lives, I want to take a moment to acknowledge the incredible journey we have embarked upon within the past four years
SCIE Graduation Ceremony｜SELT Graduation Speech 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
