/li-ka-shing-arts-initiative/ en /li-ka-shing-arts-initiative/%3Ca%20href%3D%22https%3A//www.mcgill.ca/li-ka-shing-arts-initiative/article/jake-lang-icl-cohort-may-2025%22%20hreflang%3D%22en%22%3Eview%3C/a%3E Hi! My name is Jake, and I am an undergraduate student studying religion and East Asian studies. Throughout my humanities education here at ɬ�﷬ (and by Prof. Buckley at the welcoming ceremony), I’ve been taught a certain lesson that encountering any other culture—or individual—with sincerity and good faith requires a certain openness. An openness not only to new people, places, and experiences, but also to new and different ideas and ways of being. However, this openness also comes with vulnerability. Vulnerability in encountering the unfamiliar, in making mistakes and cultural faux-pas Wed, 17 Jun 2026 11:58:18 -0400 Jake Lang 650 /li-ka-shing-arts-initiative/%3Ca%20href%3D%22https%3A//www.mcgill.ca/li-ka-shing-arts-initiative/article/paloma-hesry-icl-cohort-may-2025%22%20hreflang%3D%22en%22%3Eview%3C/a%3E As a student majoring in Liberal Arts and minoring in Chinese supplementary language, this program felt tailor made for me. Indeed, the morning classes helped me improve my Chinese proficiency, and the colloquial exchanges with the friendly tutors allowed me to boost my conversational skills. What is exceptional about this program is that the learning curve is not limited to Chinese fluency and language competency. While some people in the cohort were discovering Chinese culture and customs, for my own account (as a French/Chinese person), the program felt like digging deeper into my roots Wed, 17 Jun 2026 11:37:55 -0400 Paloma Hesry 649 /li-ka-shing-arts-initiative/%3Ca%20href%3D%22https%3A//www.mcgill.ca/li-ka-shing-arts-initiative/article/ella-paul-chowdhury-icl-cohort-may-2025%22%20hreflang%3D%22en%22%3Eview%3C/a%3E My name is Ella, and I’m a third-year Art History major at ɬ�﷬. In May 2025, I had the immense privilege of participating in the Li Ka Shing Arts Initiative Intensive Chinese Language Program for a second time. As a repeat participant, I was in the unique position of being already familiar with a place so far from home and getting to experience it through new eyes. Though my improved Mandarin level after another year of studying at ɬ�﷬ made a huge difference in my ability to engage with a new culture and environment, it was ultimately the people who made this month so memorable. The Wed, 17 Jun 2026 11:11:26 -0400 Ella Paul-Chowdhury 648 /li-ka-shing-arts-initiative/%3Ca%20href%3D%22https%3A//www.mcgill.ca/li-ka-shing-arts-initiative/article/ava-carere-icl-cohort-may-2025%22%20hreflang%3D%22en%22%3Eview%3C/a%3E My name is Ava Carere and I am grateful for the opportunity I had to participate in the Intensive Chinese Language Program. As a fourth year psychology major and East Asian Literature and Language minor at ɬ�﷬, I am especially curious about the intersection between culture, background, and psychological experience. My main goals for this trip were to learn everyday phrases, improve my fluency, and gain a deeper understanding of cultural differences between the East and West. One teacher described our classes as “language for living”, and accordingly, I was able to master Mon, 15 Sep 2025 05:00:01 -0400 Ava Carere 642 /li-ka-shing-arts-initiative/%3Ca%20href%3D%22https%3A//www.mcgill.ca/li-ka-shing-arts-initiative/article/prof-lucyna-m-lach-faculty-collaboration-program-shantou-university-september-2024%22%20hreflang%3D%22en%22%3Eview%3C/a%3E I am very grateful to the Li Ka Shing (Canada) Foundation and the Faculty of Arts for providing me the opportunity to travel to Shantou University in May 2024. I enjoyed spending quality time with ɬ�﷬ and Shantou students and faculty, shared in their enthusiasm for the program, and learned how impactful an experience such as this was for academic development. I was proud to be part of this moment in their lives, representing ɬ�﷬, and contributing to this important exchange. I was at Shantou University between May 3rd and May 17th, 2024. Ms. Yunung Lee, a doctoral student in the School Mon, 04 Nov 2024 16:46:36 -0500 Lucyna M. Lach 641 /li-ka-shing-arts-initiative/%3Ca%20href%3D%22https%3A//www.mcgill.ca/li-ka-shing-arts-initiative/article/kimberly-yang-advanced-research-student-may-2024%22%20hreflang%3D%22en%22%3Eview%3C/a%3E Introduction My name is Kimberly Yang, a third-year undergraduate student majoring in Joint Honours Philosophy & East Asian Studies at ɬ�﷬. My particular interests and fields of study revolve around Chinese religions, politics of memory, and the phenomenology of culture & identity making. Going into the Advanced Research Program funded by the Li Ka Shing arts initiative, I had many hopes, desires, and goals for the program - in part because an opportunity to travel to China and take part in student research is far and few, but even more so because I had been on this program once Mon, 09 Sep 2024 15:17:54 -0400 Kimberly Yang 640 /li-ka-shing-arts-initiative/%3Ca%20href%3D%22https%3A//www.mcgill.ca/li-ka-shing-arts-initiative/article/chelsea-wang-advanced-research-student-may-2024%22%20hreflang%3D%22en%22%3Eview%3C/a%3E I am a U4 student majoring in Philosophy and Political Science and minoring in Religious Studies, and my research was focused on the phenomenology of culture. Specifically, I was interested in the way in which the Chaoshan region’s unique history of migration manifests itself in its distinct cultural identity and using this as a case study to shed light on the concept of “worldhood” in phenomenology. Though, conducting research for this project was not my only goal. As a Canadian-born Chinese person with a complicated relationship with my Chinese identity, I wanted to take this opportunity to Mon, 09 Sep 2024 15:03:15 -0400 Chelsea Wang 639 /li-ka-shing-arts-initiative/%3Ca%20href%3D%22https%3A//www.mcgill.ca/li-ka-shing-arts-initiative/article/yunung-lee-advanced-research-student-may-2024%22%20hreflang%3D%22en%22%3Eview%3C/a%3E My name is Yunung Lee, and I am currently entering my third year as a PhD student in the School of Social Work at ɬ�﷬. My research focuses on identifying the barriers and promoters of educational upward mobility among first-generation college students in the United States. I joined the LKS-STU program as an advanced research graduate student to conduct a side project related to my dissertation. During the 2024 STU trip, my goal is to interview first-generation, low-income students at STU, as well as faculty members, to identify the key factors influencing students' journeys Mon, 09 Sep 2024 14:52:54 -0400 Yunung Lee 638 /li-ka-shing-arts-initiative/%3Ca%20href%3D%22https%3A//www.mcgill.ca/li-ka-shing-arts-initiative/article/mathilde-hardouin-advanced-research-student-may-2024%22%20hreflang%3D%22en%22%3Eview%3C/a%3E My name is Mathilde Hardouin, and I am a second year Poli-Sci and East Asian studies honors student. I aspire to work in diplomacy in East-Asia which is why I put a huge emphasis in my studies on learning languages and understanding cultures. As such, since a very young age, I have been attracted to China’s rich and fascinating history and culture, leading me to start learning Mandarin at age 11. After years of classes, my desire to visit China was intense, but the occasion never presented itself: between the costs of traveling, the hurdle of finding a time when travel would be possible and Mon, 09 Sep 2024 14:45:03 -0400 Mathilde Hardouin 637 /li-ka-shing-arts-initiative/%3Ca%20href%3D%22https%3A//www.mcgill.ca/li-ka-shing-arts-initiative/article/serena-zhang-icl-cohort-may-2024%22%20hreflang%3D%22en%22%3Eview%3C/a%3E Hello! My name is Serena Zhang, a student entering my fourth year at ɬ�﷬ completing a joint honors degree in East Asian Studies and Political Science. Contrasting this reflection to my initial letter of intent when applying for the STU Intensive Chinese Language Program is the craziest full-circle feeling, to say the least. In that letter, I had mapped out three key goals: to expand my Chinese cultural knowledge, to learn more about the city of Shantou and its unique characteristics, and to reach a level of Mandarin that allowed me to better communicate with my relatives in China. In Mon, 09 Sep 2024 14:14:26 -0400 Serena Zhang 636