CID at Harvard University :: Events :: Graduate Student Lunch Seminar :: Bridging the Development Divide Between Rural and Urban China with Jianghua Chen

"Bridging the Development Divide Between Rural and Urban China"

Speaker: Jianghua Chen, Founder and Principal, Yinjialin Community School, Shandong Province, China

Friday, 2 March 2007
11:45 AM - 1:00 PM, Lunch served
Perkins Room, 4th Floor, Rubenstein Building, KSG

Biography:

Through his grassroots community school, which is probably one of the only of its kind in contemporary China addressed at community education, Jianghua Chen is providing a platform that brings together disparate cohorts to deal with problems and pressures in a reflective and peaceful manner. School activities—including a community newspaper and mock court—regenerate public life, community debate, learning and action. Chen is also a bridge builder between urban resources and the village. He invites lawyers and agricultural experts from the nearby city to give workshops on topics ranging from new planting techniques to relevant legal protections for farmers. This brings in outside information and perspectives that the villagers wouldn't otherwise have access to because urban institutions rarely consider the needs of rural areas and are isolated from up-to-date knowledge of legal or central governmental policy. Chen also built bridges among student volunteers and between these young activists and rural communities. Jianghua Chen's school is novel and visionary in the landscape of rural development work. The grassroots community-building work Chen is piloting is unique and holds much promise for becoming a model for sustainable rural development.