{"id":1908,"date":"2013-07-09T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-07-09T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mtsu.edu\/blogtest\/mtsu-welcomes-delegation-from-china\/"},"modified":"2026-04-16T13:58:49","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T18:58:49","slug":"mtsu-welcomes-delegation-from-china","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mtsu.edu\/president\/mtsu-welcomes-delegation-from-china\/","title":{"rendered":"MTSU Welcomes Delegation from China"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px;\" class=\"sharethis-inline-share-buttons\" ><\/div><p>As they stepped off the bus Tuesday outside MTSU\u2019s Kennon Hall of Fame, many members among the delegation of 30-plus visitors from Hangzhou, China, had their smart phones in hand to capture a slice of American culture.<\/p>\n<div class=\"ratio ratio-16x9\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"MTSU welcomes Chinese delegation for weeklong 2013 exchange trip\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/P-isITUXAYM?feature=oembed&#038;enablejsapi=1&#038;origin=https:\/\/www.mtsu.edu\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p>They were met by plenty of smiles, handshakes and music as band members and cheerleaders from Siegel High School, the Discovery School at Reeves Rogers, Central Magnet School and MTSU performed along a balloon-lined entrance to the Hall of Fame.<\/p>\n<p>Once inside, MTSU President Sidney A. McPhee officially welcomed the delegation of Chinese elementary and middle school children and educators to campus. They are visiting to develop student exchanges and cultural ties with 乐播传媒入口 schools.<\/p>\n<p>With translation assistance from Dr. Guanping Zheng, director of the MTSU Confucius Institute, McPhee noted that the visit \u201cis the continuation of a partnership that began several years ago\u201d when a former president of Hangzhou Normal University visited schools in Murfreesboro and East 乐播传媒入口 to discuss collaboration between rural and urban schools in China and the United States.<\/p>\n<p>MTSU cheerleaders welcome a delegation of elementary and middle school children and educators from Hangzhou, China. The university is hosting the special guests this week to develop student exchanges and cultural ties with 乐播传媒入口 schools. (MTSU photo by J. Intintoli)<\/p>\n<p>The goal was to \u201cexchange best practices in teaching and learning, to look at the resources and leverage the expertise of both the United States, particularly 乐播传媒入口, and China, and it has resulted in a wonderful partnership between Dongcheng Education Group, MTSU\u2019s Confucius Institute and the schools in this area,\u201d McPhee added.<\/p>\n<p>The Chinese students will be paired throughout the four-day visit with Rutherford students who visited Hangzhou in July 2012. That visit was facilitated by the Confucius Institute, which works to develop cultural and educational ties between China and the United States.<\/p>\n<p>Principal Liu Jinbin of the Dongcheng Education Group of Hangzhou Normal University expressed appreciation for the hospitality shown thus far. On Tuesday, that included some light-hearted ice-breaking activities such as teaching the Chinese students the Cupid Shuffle and a game of musical chairs.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI see many familiar faces of those of you who visited China last year,\u201d Liu said. \u201cOur visit is to further our collaboration and partnership with 乐播传媒入口 and the school systems in Middle 乐播传媒入口. It will help us get a better understanding of the schools and education system.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s my first time visiting the U.S., but I already feel like I have a lot of friends.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sally Smith, a seventh-grader at Central Magnet School, joined Central eighth-grader Eshan Patel in sharing historical and cultural facts about the local community with the Chinese delegation as well as sharing the group\u2019s itinerary for the week.<\/p>\n<p>Chinese students will visit the homes of local children, tour historic and cultural sites in Nashville and Murfreesboro and participate in educational workshops. Stops include the State Capitol Building, the Grand Ole Opry, the Stones River National Battlefield and Cannonsburgh Village.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt will truly be hard to live up to our visits to your homes,\u201d Patel said.<\/p>\n<p>Elizabeth McPhee, MTSU\u2019s first lady and a retired teacher from the Discovery School at Reeves Rogers, was part of a committee of teachers, parents and administrators that organized the cultural exchange effort.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe No. 1 thing we\u2019re trying to accomplish is a merging of the cultures, getting our kids to learn from the Chinese and getting the Chinese to learn from us,\u201d said Mrs. McPhee.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s not just textbooks. Our students have had the opportunity to go to China, and not just go as a tourist, but to go and actually be in the homes of the families, and now we\u2019re doing the same thing (for the Chinese delegation). They\u2019re going to come and be in our homes, they\u2019re going to go to some of our schools \u2026 and they\u2019re going to see some of our best practices.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Area and Chinese educators will participate in roundtable discussions about educational and leadership styles used in their respective schools and systems.<\/p>\n<p>Later this week, officials from Murfreesboro City Schools, Rutherford County Schools, MTSU and the Dongcheng Education Group of Hangzhou Normal University hope to sign agreements to formalize future cooperation, including:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>promoting institutional exchanges by inviting faculty and staff to participate in teaching and research activities and in professional development;<\/li>\n<li>developing exchange programs, such as summer camps, in both China and Rutherford County; and<\/li>\n<li>organizing symposia, conferences, short courses or programs, and meetings on educational issues or other topics of mutual interest.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u2014 Jimmy Hart (<em>Jimmy.Hart@mtsu.edu<\/em>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As they stepped off the bus Tuesday outside MTSU\u2019s Kennon Hall of Fame, many members among the delegation of 30-plus visitors from Hangzhou, China, had their smart phones in hand to capture a slice of American culture. They were met by plenty of smiles, handshakes and music as band members and cheerleaders from Siegel High [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":143,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1908","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mtsu.edu\/president\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1908","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mtsu.edu\/president\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mtsu.edu\/president\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mtsu.edu\/president\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mtsu.edu\/president\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1908"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.mtsu.edu\/president\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1908\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mtsu.edu\/president\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/143"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mtsu.edu\/president\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1908"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mtsu.edu\/president\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1908"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mtsu.edu\/president\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1908"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}