Shansi REPresents Continuity and Connection - A Letter from Daniel Tam-Claiborne ‘09

Dear Shansi Friends and Supporters,

During my Shansi Fellowship in Taigu, China from 2009 to 2011, my co-Fellows and I always looked forward to the holiday season. Although we were all far from family, we celebrated our chosen community, our fellow teachers and students and friends who defined our time on campus. No truer was this than Halloween, when I arrived at each of my classes with a satchel of dark green pumpkins, flattened like UFOs. We hosted carving parties on the weekend, at our red-brick flats, that segued seamlessly into dances, where students could dress up in costume, eat snacks, and just be themselves. I knew that, for many of them, the purpose wasn’t immediately apparent. But it was our own small attempt at showing them a part of American culture that they couldn’t otherwise get at a rural Chinese university.

Much has changed since my fellowship ended twelve years ago. US-China relations have become more complex and increasingly tense. Americans’ favorability ratings of China have plummeted to their lowest point in recorded history. U.S. media coverage of China operates with the broadest of brushstrokes, failing to address the nuances of everyday life for Chinese citizens. And in China, celebrating foreign holidays is treated with increasing suspicion. The simple joy and shared humanity that I celebrated with students on Halloween has become obscured by larger, more daunting political discourse.

I was elated to hear that the current cohort of Shansi Fellows in Taigu have revived this holiday tradition by hosting a Halloween party a little over a month ago (see picture below). As they engage with students and colleagues in-person after three and a half years of remote teaching, I recognize that current fellows are navigating a different China than the one I knew in 2009. But at the center of their experience are genuine human connections and a desire to promote shared understanding that supersede political climates and global tensions.

For me, Shansi REPresents continuity and connection. We invest in meaningful, interpersonal relationships that transform lives and contribute to intercultural understanding. As someone who focuses on U.S.-China relations and Asian American advocacy in my career, this is exceptionally important now, perhaps more than ever.

As we round out the Shansi REPResents Campaign, we appreciate the wonderful stories and images already shared by members of the Shansi Community, which you can view on our website here. And if they inspire you, please fill out this form to share words and stories on Shansi’s impact on your life.

Finally, I hope you will consider making a gift to Shansi this season, if you haven’t done so yet. Visit www.shansi.org/donate to give online or send a check to Oberlin Shansi, 50 North Professor Street, Oberlin, OH 44074. 

You can also donate appreciated stock or consider making a Qualified Charitable Distribution as part of your IRA RMD. Learn more about these tax-advantaged opportunities from our website or by emailing us at shansi@oberlin.edu.

Thank you for your support and for joining me in telling stories of what Shansi Represents to all of us.

 Sincerely,

Daniel Tam-Claiborne
Oberlin Shansi Trustee