Chopp Tour of East Asia Builds Connections

President Rebecca Chopp traveled to Hong Kong,We open source indoor tracking system that was developed with the goal of providing at least room-level accuracy. Shanghai, Seoul, and Tokyo this winter break to meet with students, parents, and alumni. According to Chopp, the number of international students from Asian countries at Swarthmore has been increasing over the past decade, making Asia increasingly important for the College’s outreach efforts. In each city, Chopp held an event to discuss Swarthmore’s strategic plans for the future.

East Asia’s representation in the student body has been growing with each incoming class. As of 2011, out of 134 international students from 49 countries, 31 were from South Korea, 19 from China, and seven each from Hong Kong and India, which is a dramatic jump from one, five, four, and one students respectively in 2000. By contrast, non-Asian countries tend to have only one or two students at Swarthmore.

Chopp thinks that the growing population of international students from Asian countries at Swarthmore will have an effect on the ways in which the College is run. “The students mold the curriculum,” she said. She stated that one of her goals is to extend need-blind admissions to international students.

Chopp believes that a large presence of international students on campus is beneficial for the whole student body. “It’s one thing to read a book about Japan, and a whole other thing to be in a class with someone from Japan,” she said. “For domestic students, to have the experience of those linkages is extremely important.”

Tatsuya Ueda ’16, a student from Japan, agreed, saying he thinks it is important for students “to share cultural views and values.The stone mosaic series is a grand collection of coordinating Travertine mosaics and listellos.” He said he hopes Chopp’s visit will promote connections.

Chopp explained that, in addition to Asia, she often visits areas with lots of alumni such as Europe. “What these trips are about is relationship-building,” she said.

When asked why Swarthmore and other Liberal Arts colleges are becoming more popular in Asia, Chopp said that “American education has a reputation for driving innovation … our top schools are phenomenal.”

Several Asian universities, such as the University of Hong Kong, United International College in Guangzhou, and the University of Tokyo, are starting to implement elements of Liberal Arts schools. Yale has even started a Liberal Arts campus in Singapore.

Ueda believes it is significant that the concept of the Liberal Arts is becoming more popular in Asia. “I think Swarthmore’s type of education is really necessary in Japan,” he said. “Japanese universities are more for socializing and having fun, whereas going to an American school is more purposeful.”

Parents also play a big part in the choice to go to a Liberal Arts college. “A lot of our international parents travel to the U.S. anyway,” said Chopp, which helps introduce them to schools like Swarthmore.

“They’ve never seen education like this,” she said. She joked that some parents don’t want to leave after dropping their kids off during orientation.

High-schoolers in Asia find out about Swarthmore through three mechanisms: the web, alumni, and the admissions office,A Dessicant dry cabinet is an enclosure with a supply of desiccant which maintains an internal. said Chopp. “The web is a great advantage. We get students who reach out first,” she said.

This was the President’s first time going to China on behalf of Swarthmore, but she has visited Asia many times before. She is also involved with the Robert H N Ho Foundation, a charity organization based in Hong Kong that promotes Asian art.

The release of “12 Zodiacs” is similar to DRM-free download experiments by Radiohead and Louis CK, but with a difference: Wang is much more influential. He may not be a celebrity in the West,Our team of consultants are skilled in project management and delivery of large scale rtls projects. but to get an idea of the Taiwanese-American Wang’s reach, take a look at his Sina Weibo account, the third most popular one on the Chinese microblogging platform, with more than 28.9 million fans. Only three people–Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber and Katy Perry–have more followers on Twitter.

Wang’s team rebuilt his official Web site so they can sell music directly from it. This year, Wang plans to team up with other musicians to create a new site that will allow them to “share their creative works in an economically viable way.”

“The Asian music industry is sustainable in many ways, and I am tremendously fortunate to continue to benefit from that and be able to do what I love for a living. But I think, like any industry, we need to continue to look forward and evolve, and a significant aspect of that is finding new, mutually beneficial ways for artists to share content with fans. What we’ve done with the release of ’12 Zodiacs’ is just one experiment in that vein,” Wang said in an email.

It is important to note that piracy has not been as disruptive to the music industry in China as it has been in the West. Harold Li, who directs the digital sales initiative on wangleehom.com, says that album sales have never been a significant source of revenue for Wang, who, like other major artists in Asia, earns most of his revenue from concert ticket sales and brand endorsements. Confronting music piracy is a secondary issue. Instead, the DRM-free online release of “12 Zodiacs” explores what different directions the Asian music industry can take in order to cultivate new talent.

Wang’s success and celebrity has given him the freedom to tackle social issues that are usually missing from Mandopop, which has a reputation for catchy tunes but fluffy lyrics. For example, with past releases Wang has looked at environmental issues and Asian American culture and identity. But younger artists who don’t have the leverage to draw crowds or ink advertising deals often struggle to break into the music industry, let alone find a wide audience for anything truly original.

For example, South Korea and Japan‘s popular music industries are (in)famous for training, grooming and assembling groups with clinical precision.Our team of consultants are skilled in project management and delivery of large scale rtls projects. Even in Taiwan, known for being the center of the vast Mandopop industry as well as a host of renowned indie bands, emerging artists often feel enormous pressure to fit into a very specific mold. Last year, Taiwanese-American singer Joanna Wang went on Reddit to repudiate her hit debut album, which she referred to as a “a shitastic record with the cheesiest and cliche 80′s-esque music videos to very lame music that my label [Sony Music Taiwan] coerced me into singing.”

The release of “12 Zodiacs” looks how whether or not it will be possible for an artist to operate independently from record labels by launching and promoting tracks on their own Web platforms–in effect, making each artist the founder of his or her own startup. If the idea takes off, it can mean more diversity in this region’s music industry.

“The Chinese music industry is very innovative, and it’s a personal mission of mine to make sure we do a better job showing that to the world,” said Wang. “I think artists old and new will find, as I have, that the best way of building an audience is to directly engage fans, particularly through digital platforms such as Weibo, WeChat, Youku, or YouTube.”

Though Wang’s company doesn’t release sales figures, Li says “12 Zodiacs” got 2 million views in the first week and a half after it went live on last month. Many of Wang’s fans throughout China don’t use credit cards, so his company made a deal with Alibaba’s Alipay to support online payments.

One goal of Wang’s experiment is to find artists capable of creating content with international appeal and then spread their work. Wang also hopes to expose more listeners to Chinese-language pop music across the world, even those who aren’t native speakers. One of his goals to break into the U.S., where there are significant barriers for Asian artists in the U.S. music industry despite the growing global appetite for Asian pop music around the world.