The First Decade of the Wang Foundation--- a Retrospective

In September 2001, the U.S mainland suffered the worst terrorist attack in history. Dr. Peter C. C. Wang was shocked and deeply felt the urgency and necessity to promote world peace. He decided to donate 4 million US dollars to his alma mater, Pacific Lutheran University to establish the "Wang Center for Global Education " so as to promote cultural exchange among young students from all over the world. The philosophy of education of the Wang Center and/or Wang Foundation service learning and poverty alleviation has been widely recognized in the academic world and has become a successful model for American international education.

Currently, 40% of undergraduates from Pacific Lutheran University study abroad, much higher than the 3% of the U.S average. The university has achieved great success in promoting exchange with Asian and African students. Upon the recognition of the educational philosophy of the Wang Center, the Melinda and Bill Gates Foundation donated two million US dollars to Pacific Lutheran University.

The success of the Wang Foundation made Dr. Peter C. C. Wang and his wife Dr. Grace L. Wang strongly believe that cross-cultural exchange can widen young students’ vision and help build a just and peaceful world. In 2004, this couple formally established the "Wang Foundation" in Salinas, California to promote cultural and educational exchange between Chinese college students and their American counterparts.

Dr. Wang thinks that poverty is the root of world instability and only when all human beings develop and prosper together can the world achieve true peace. As a Chinese American who deeply loves his motherland, Dr. Wang decided to help those impoverished compatriots in rural China. After visiting a dozen Chinese universities arranged by the State Council, he and his wife selected Tsinghua University as the partner to engage in poverty alleviation in rural China by funding partially summer service learning program and long distance education. It is a new path to poverty alleviation in China.

Unlike other poverty alleviation programs, Dr. Wang advocated that American students and Chinese students should work together in this summer service learning program (SSLP) run by Tsinghua University. As such, American students have the opportunity to know more about rural China while Chinese students can have the experience of working in international teams. At that time, because not so many Americans realized the rise of China, this Tsinghua program was unable to recruit American students to participate. Dr.Wang and his wife went to American universities in person to convince presidents to send students to China to attend the SSLP. Through their efforts, they finally found the first group of 158 American volunteers.

In order to ensure the smooth progress of the SSLP, this dedicated couple flew from California to China to visit fieldwork sites located in villages designated by the State Council as the poorest villages, such as Lankao in Henan province and Chicheng in Hebei province. They urged local leaders to improve the living conditions for visiting students. After that, they went back to California to interview American candidates and patiently explained to them the rugged conditions in rural China so as to reduce cultural shock when these students went to China. With their cultivation of American students, Tsinghua University held the first "Poverty Alleviation Through Education Summer Service Learning Program" in 2006. More than 500 Chinese and American students formed more than 32 teams, going to remote impoverished villages in China to teach English and other subjects, to train teachers and students and to disseminate knowledge on technology to local farmers. The "left-behind children", especially those girls who dropped out of school, benefited a lot from this program.

The "Poverty Alleviation Through Education Summer Service Learning Program" not only benefited tens of thousands of children in rural China, but also changed Chinese and American students' views on their respective countries and culture. It also enhanced mutual understanding. For Chinese students, the spirit of service and the leadership skills they gained from this program cannot be acquired from classroom, while for American students, their participation enabled them to have first-hand understanding towards Chinese culture and what is beyond the prosperous urban life in China. American volunteers said that through SSLP, they now have sincere friendship with their Chinese teammates and the children in rural China, which has not only changed their views towards contemporary China but also influenced their views towards the world.

UK forecast guru James Martin from Oxford University said, "Peter Wang is right to insist that the ideals of justice, sustainability, and peace are intertwined, and that education is the key to advancing these values. Peter Wang has been at the forefront of this movement with his pioneering work at Tsinghua University, bringing over one thousand Chinese and American students together for service assignments in rural China." The SSLP, first proposed by the Wang Foundation, is a meaningful new direction of development for higher education in the new century. In 2007, Dr. Wang and his wife received the "Peace Builder Award" under the witness of former vice president Walter Mondale.

Summer service learning, as a way to alleviate poverty and an education model, has attracted more and more attention. In November in the same year, the "Wang Foundation" held the first “International Symposium on Poverty Alleviation through Distance Education and Summer Service Learning" in Tsinghua University. More than 150 participants from the State Council Poverty Alleviation Office, Ministry of Education and Chinese, American and Japanese universities took part in the discussion on the establishment of sustainable poverty alleviation system through education.

The contributions Dr. Wang and his wife have made to China's poverty alleviation in poor areas received much attention from the media. In 2009, a well-known American newspaper, the Christian Science Monitor, reported on the influence of the program of the Wang Foundation on Chinese college students' career choice and views towards life in the article "China Boosts Rural Education". In the same year, Poverty Alleviation Office of Education of Tsinghua University published the Summary of Wang Foundation’s work in Service Learning and Poverty Alleviation and the British prediction guru and philanthropist James Martin specifically wrote a preface for the brochure, speaking highly of the contributions Dr. Wang has made to poverty alleviation theoretical work and practice.

For the Wang Foundation, the year 2010 is a landmark year. Apart from funding the Poverty Alleviation through Education program, Dr. Wang opened Humming bird story blogs on Tianya Community and WenxueCity Community, conveying to the readers the idea of poverty alleviation. In the article the Relation between China's High-speed Rail Development and Poverty Alleviation & National Defense, Dr. Wang put forward views on China's economy, diplomacy and national defense, aiming at calling for more people, especially the youth to join in the efforts of poverty alleviation.

In 2008, Goldman Sachs predicted that China's economy in 2025 could surpass the United States and its size would double the size of the U.S. by 2050. After the recent financial crisis, Goldman Sachs changed the time prediction when China would exceed the U.S.A. in GDP to 2020. However, due to China's large population and unbalanced development, China's poverty will be a long-existing problem. We still have a long way to go in the course of poverty alleviation. China's rise in economy is a challenge to the Unites States, but more importantly, it is an opportunity for collaboration.

Dr.Wang holds that foreign language proficiency of the youth in California is essential to the competitiveness and international influence of California in the future while the key to improve students' foreign language proficiency is teacher training. Due to the close relation between the future of California and the Pan-Pacific countries, he paid special attention to Chinese language teaching and Chinese teacher training. Since May 2010, the Wang Foundation has been actively participating in the discussion and formulation of "California Language Road Map", contributing ideas to improving the foreign language proficiency of elementary and high school students and ideas in the areas such as Chinese teacher training, teaching materials, fund raising and operational models. In October 2010, the University of California Language Teaching Association invited the founder and CEO of the Wang Foundation, Dr. Wang to serve as Governor on the Board of Language Consortium to provide guidance to the development of language teaching.

In order to further promote mutual understanding and cultural exchange between Chinese and American people, Dr. Wang suggested that American teachers who want to be certified in Chinese language teaching go to rural China to have total immersion through the SSLP. As such, they can improve their Chinese proficiency while teaching Chinese students English. Therefore, Chinese language teaching in the U.S.A. and China's poverty alleviation through education can grow together. This program shall be carried out with students from American and Chinese universities, including Stanford University, Smith College, Peking University, Tsinghua University, Fudan University, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Hong Kong University of science and Technology, Hong Kong Chinese University, and City University of Hong Kong. Wang Foundation shall be the principal sponsor of TECC at Stanford University with many sub-chapters throughout China and America.

Over the past 10 years since the establishment of the Wang Center, Dr. Wang has not only made tremendous contributions to promoting the friendship between Chinese and American youth as well as advocating the idea of poverty alleviation through education, but also proposed many pioneering ideas in building a just, peaceful and sustainable future. Dr. Wang creates wealth with the attitude of self-perseverance, gives back to the society with the spirit of sharing, and helps build a bridge to peaceful and prosperous future under the guidance of "just do it".