By Joyce Kryszak
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wbfo/local-wbfo-825065.mp3
Buffalo, NY – The State University of New York at Buffalo is taking a lead in the cultural outreach with area schools. In its first effort, the UB Asian Studies Department partnered with seven schools to bring author Ji-Li Jiang to Western New York to talk about her 1997 memoir, Red Scarf Girl.
When students go to college they are exposed to worlds they never knew. Campuses offer exchanges with students from around the globe and bring in lecturers who help break down cultural barriers and misconceptions.
UB's new outreach program wants to begin that cultural exchange earlier.
Bruce Acker is assistant director of Asian Studies at UB. He said they want to reach students when they are young - before those walls go up.
Acker said children are not the only ones who need to be re-educated. He said, despite Asia's prominence in the world, many Americans remain Euro-Centric.
Children's book author Ji-Li Jiang agrees. She tours the country talking to students about her experiences growing up in China during the Cultural Revolution. Jiang's book tells about how her country used propaganda to win her loyalty, and even to try to get her to denounce her father.
But Jinag tells students there is good and bad about China today. Jiang founded a not - for profit organization to promote a better East-West cultural exchange. She leads an adult tour of China each summer to help educate teachers and others who want to understand the cultural differences and similarities.
The author's visit to Western New York was sponsored by the National Committee on U.S-China Relations and the Five College Center for East Asian Studies.
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