Capstone Academic Research Project

One important and distinctive component of the Alliance programs in China is the Capstone Academic Research Project, in which students delve into a particular area of interest over the course of the semester as part of their academic work. These projects challenge students to engage with Chinese people from various walks of life and deepen their understanding of an aspect of Chinese society, culture, business practices, or current policy.

The Capstone Project is intended as a research project that makes use of more than academic readings and secondary source materials (such as published research data and other findings). While these are potentially very important components of any research project and should be part of the project, the Capstone is more importantly intended to be a one in which students take advantage of being in China. The work will not only be more interesting but students will learn a great deal by using the resources that they would not have access to at their home universities. Students incorporate interviews, participant observation, and other methods to develop a final paper and presentation. Many students develop this project as part of a senior thesis or broader research project in the future.

The Capstone Project is a graded component of the required course taught in English -- at Fudan, Issues in Contemporary Society and Culture. The Capstone Research Project comprises 40% of the grade for this course. Graded project work includes a project abstract with a problem statement and research methodology outline, powerpoint presentation during the last two weeks of class, and a final paper of 3,000 words.

Examples of Alliance Students' Capstone Projects at Fudan

• Would You Marry My Child? The Search for a Spouse in Today's Singleton China
• 2010 Shanghai Expo: Culture in a Coma
• Chinese Pop Music: The Quest for Modernization
• Using Academic Achievement as Identity: Exploring Issues Behind China's Gao Kao
• Scientific Labels on Healthy Food
• Using English as a Fashion Statement
• Concept of Self and Its Relation to the Other in the Wake of Chinese State Socialism
• Global Climate Change in China
• Why I Won't Ever Really Fit in in China: No Place for a Female Jock in China
• In & Out of Shanghai's Foreign Restaurants
• The Place of Traditional Chinese Medicine in Modern China
• Obesity in China: As China's Wallets Grow…So Does Its People
• Video Game Culture in China: The Past, Present, Future and Everything
• Resurrection of Christianity in China: Finding God in the Whore of the East
• China - Japan Relations (and the Nanjing Massacre)

For more Capstone project ideas from Alliance students in all our China programs, click here.