China Gateway

China Gateway was envisioned by Professor Rebecca Nedostup of the History Department as an introduction to the wealth of information available on China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and the Chinese diaspora. To create the site, she drew on distinctive Boston College resources as well as the wider internet and digitized print material, supplemented by specially created learning objects. Taking an inter-disciplinary approach, she selected content that would be of use to both students and instructors in a variety of fields and for a variety of purposes, from general study to travel to Asia to discovery of the Chinese community here in Boston.

MTS staff members who assisted in the development of China Gateway used original photography (of scenes from Chinatown) and graphics incorporating Chinese art to emphasize the themes of the site.The learning objects are a powerful example of how a multi-media format can further teaching; for example, the learning object based on the Chinese calendar advertisement of the 1920s explores the culture of the time through analysis of the ad's symbolism (see Culture and History>History, Politics and Society). Ultimately, the site will be a collaborative effort including contributions from other China scholars at Boston College and beyond.