Jennifer+Y.

Phase I: Who Am I? What's My Place?


 * What __really__ makes up your identity?
 * I am a teacher dedicated to cultivate world citizenship and facilitate students’ self-actualization. I love food, travelling, teaching, movies, exhibitions, concerts, as artistic, turns out to be my trademark. **


 * What __really__ makes up your sense of place?
 * I grew up in the center area of Beijing, a metropolitan city. Luckily enough, the serenity and peacefulness in our neighborhood helped keep a good balance in terms of my lifestyle. **


 * What roles do your identity and sense of place play when you work with others in a group project?
 * I have to concede that making work fun and easy always tops my priority list. **** J ****Usually, I prefer to provide suggestions focusing on how to make our work efficient and artistic. **
 * What are the qualities that you bring to the GLIP conversation that will help you make a contribution to your global group?
 * My cultural background befits as it brings the “modern harmony” philosophy to the group. Plus, my educational experience in China, Canada and the USA will bring a multicultural perspective. **


 * What is one local problem (where you live) that you believe needs to be addressed? Suggest some steps could you take to try to solve it?
 * I noticed that in our country China, the education and assessment framework tend to encourage singular value, which is to compete for the best. Nonetheless, the limited resources could not afford the desired result that everyone should be satisfied with their social status and self-achievement. That in turn, brings anger, anxiety and the obstacles for real self-actualization. **
 * What I firmly advocate is the multicultural values, meaning that each individual pursing his or her own dream, instead of living up to their parents’ expectations. **
 * Finally, some problems have been around for a long time. What qualities do you think a person must have to step up and try to solve them?
 * Initially, a person whowouldn’t take issues for granted tends to reconsider some social phenomenon. Moreover, the bravery and courage to be different and voice his/her own opinion leads to better chances of succeeding in making a positive change. **

Phase II: Sense of Place

Upload image (s) here: This is an image of Tian'anmen, or Gate of Heavenly Peace, which is located in the central area of Beijing, the Capital of People's Republic of China. This historical site has witnessed the evolution of Chinese culture, from the conservative toward more democratic and open. Therefore, it is widedly used as a national symbol.
 * 1. Selection of image for home location with rationale; **


 * 2. 3 facts about home location that contribute to Sense of Place; **

The gate was originally named Chengtianmen (simplified Chinese: 承天门;traditional Chinese: 承天門; pinyin: Chéngtiānmén), or "Gate of AcceptingHeavenly Mandate", and it has been destroyed and rebuilt several times. The original building was first constructed in 1420 and was based on a gate of an imperial building in Nanjing with the same name and hence inherited the name Chengtianmen.

The Chinese name of the gate, Tiānānmén 天安門, is made up of the Chinese characters for "heaven," "peace" and "gate" respectively, which is why the name is conventionally translated as "The Gate of Heavenly Peace". However, this translation is somewhat misleading, since the Chinese name is derived from the much longer phrase "receiving the mandate from heaven, and stabilizing the dynasty." (受命于天，安邦治國). TheManchu transliteration, Abkai elhe obure duka, lies closer to the original meaning of the gate and can be literally translated as the "Gate of Heavenly Peacemaking." The gate has a counterpart in the northern end of the imperial city, Dì'ānmén 地安门 (Manchu: Na i elhe obure duka), which may be roughly translated as the "Gate of Earthly Peacemaking".

The western and eastern walls have giant placards; the left one reads "Long Live the People's Republic of China", while the right one reads "Long Live the Great Unity of the World's Peoples". The right placard used to read "Long Live the Central People's Government"[citation needed] on the founding ceremony of the PRC, but after the ceremony it was changed to "Long Live the Great Unity of the World's Peoples". Both placards are written in simplified Chinese instead of traditional Chinese characters in 1964. The phrasing has significant symbolic meaning, as the phrase used for long live, like the palace itself, was traditionally reserved for Emperors of China, but is now available to the common people.

Project Hope (希望工程) is a Chinese public service project organized by the China Youth Development Foundation (CYDF) and the Communist Youth League (CYL) Central Committee. Started on October 30, 1989, it aims to bring schools into poverty-stricken rural areas of China, to help children whose families are too poor to afford it to complete elementary school education. Through Project Hope, the CYDF has also sought to improve educational facilities and improve teaching quality in poorer regions.
 * 3. Identification of special project or group that provides support and resources to home location**

By the end of 2004, Project Hope has: 1. raised over 5.6 billion Renminbi in funds. 2. financed education of more than 3,400,000 poor rural students 3. built 15940 "Hope Primary Schools" (希望小学), which consists of 2.5% of all the rural primary schools. 4. established "Project Hope Scholarship"(希望之星奖学金), providing financial assistance to about 130,000 secondary and tertiary students. 5. funded over 14,000 primary schools in rural areas to build libraries 6. built over 150 distance learning centers to help students living in remote areas. 7. Some 80 percent of the Hope Project primary schools and students aided by the project are located in China's middle and western regions, which are less developed. (Liu, 2004)
 * Achievement:**

According to a report by National Research Center for Science and Technology for Development (Xu, 1999), 93.9 percent of residents in 29 provincial capital cities aged above 16 have heard of Project Hope, and 63.5 percent have contributed to it in various ways. The report drew the conclusion that Project Hope has become the largest and most influential non-governmental welfare project in China.
 * Influences:**

The "Dancing Beijing" emblem of 2008 Summer Olympic Games, depicting a Chinese seal inscribed with the character "Jīng" (京), from the name of the host city in the form of a dancing figure.
 * 4. Information or a picture that represents some cultural aspect of your home location (i.e., holiday celebration, art museum, folktale, sports activity).**

Phase III: Identify Local Issue:

What is your local issue?
 * I noticed that in our country China, the education and assessment framework tend to encourage singular value, which is to compete for the best. Nonetheless, the limited resources could not afford the desired result that everyone should be satisfied with their social status and self-achievement. That in turn, brings anger, anxiety and the obstacles for real self-actualization. **

What can you do to be address the issue?
 * What I firmly advocate is the plural values, meaning that each individual pursing his or her own dream, instead of living up to their parents’ expectations. **

What is the global impact of your local issue?
 * I would tend to fear that the inequilibrium in China's job market results from people's preferences in terms of decent jobs.**

Add these thoughts to your Group's Discussion Forum on Local Issues