Description

The Undergraduate student research fair is a chance for undergraduate students who have done research abroad to show their findings to their colleagues and professors in the University of Toronto academic community. At this year’s student research fair, students Aaron Wilson, Sharath Voleti, Steve Zhehang Deng, and Hyojin Jung presented their findings from their recent research trip to Taipei, Taiwan, and Xiamen, China that explored the political, economic, and cultural relationship between these two dynamic cities.

As part of the University of Toronto’s JPA411 course (titled, Global Taiwan, and taught by Professor Joseph Wong of the Asian Institute) wanted to see how relations in the cross strait were developing, and examine how a former war zone has been transformed into one of the most politically, economically, and culturally dynamic areas in East Asia. Led by Professor Lynette Ong of the University of Toronto’s Asian Institute led the student delegation on an experimental learning experience that forced students to contrast the different experiences of two similar, but very different regions. Students of the Taiwan-China International Course Module were able to witness how the dynamic interaction between politics, trade, tourism, language, culture, and entertainment affected change in the cross-strait relations, and were able to study potential future trajectories in cross-strait relations.

The students took part in a 7 day trip during the reading-week break with financial assistance by the University of Toronto’s faculty of Arts and Science, and scheduling assistance from the Taiwan Economic and Culture Office (TECO) in Toronto. Professor Lynette Ong, the students who took place in the Taiwan-China course module, and the Asian Institute would like to warmly thank the help of TECO-Toronto for making their research trip such a success.