Professor Kim Farmer Travels to China
Dr․ Kim Farmer, professor and chair of the Department of Criminal Justice, traveled to China this past summer where she taught classes and toured Beijing, Nanjing and Shanghai as part of the school’s study abroad program with Jiangsu Second Normal University.
“I did a lot of teaching,” said Dr. Farmer, who taught six different classes at Jiangsu in central Nanjing during her three and a half weeks in China. For the first two weeks, she taught a class on American criminal law and the criminal justice system, along with courses in corrections and criminology.
“I wasn’t sure how interested they (the Chinese students) would be so I kind of had to play it by ear and have a variety of things available depending,” said Dr. Farmer. “So, a little bit of those different areas of classes that I normally teach here at Bluefield.”
The last week of classes she focused on social issues and concerns. Jiangsu has several campuses in Nanjing, so she would travel by bus from one campus to another about an hour away. In addition to the classes she taught, Dr. Farmer also shared a lecture to the entire campus community and visited other classes as a guest speaker.
When she wasn’t teaching, Dr. Farmer was touring prominent sites in China, including the Temple of Heaven, Tiananmen Square, the Great Wall of China, and the Forbidden Gardens, where she was among about a million people participating in the tour.
“I did not notice any other people who looked to be Western (from Europe, Australia or the Americas),” said Dr. Farmer, “and I had numerous people come up to me who had never seen a foreigner before. I had to pose for pictures. They would come up and my tour guide would be my interpreter and say ‘they just want a picture with you.’ It was so touching and such a remarkable cultural experience.”
Dr. Farmer also toured the Mausoleum of the Ming Dynasty, the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum, and the Temple of Confucius. In addition, she visited the Oriental Pearl Tower, the second tallest structure in China at 1,535 feet that featured a glass floor on the top observation deck, and the Shanghai Tower, the tallest structure in China at 2,073 feet that features the world’s highest observation deck and fastest elevator at 45 miles per hour.
“I had never thought about going to China before in my life,” said Dr. Farmer, who reconsidered after hearing about the experiences other BC faculty members had. “I had to wait until my children were old enough for me to leave for that length of time. So, I applied and was selected to go, and the timing was perfect.”
While she enjoyed the teaching and the tours, Dr. Farmer said she appreciated most getting to know the people of China, and the lesson she took from them, she said, is that while we are from different countries and cultures, we are very much the same.
“Some of our basic needs and concerns and desires are the same for all people,” said Dr. Farmer. “That’s something that struck me, especially when talking with the women about what they most find enjoyment in in life. Even though we live in different cultures and have different practices, our basic wants and desires for life are the same.”