For some, America is known for big cities, flashy celebrities and well-known universities and for many international college students, MSU opens a new way of life.
But the change in culture takes time to get used to, so journalism associate professor Geri Zeldes and telecommunications, information studies and media instructor Troy Hale made it their mission to get the transitional experience in a documented film.
“I thought to myself that it’d be interesting if we did a film about how Chinese international students were navigating their life on MSU’s campus so that it could mirror what America looks like through the eyes of Chinese students,” Zeldes said.
On Monday, the documentary “Imported From China,” debuted its first showing. Students of various ethnic backgrounds packed into three Communications Arts and Sciences rooms to view finance junior Jeff Li’s experience as he made the transition to a new and different American lifestyle.
Zeldes opened the event by giving the audience background information on the increase of the Chinese student population. In 2006, there were 96 international Chinese incoming freshmen. Today, the number has increased to more than 4,000.
Zeldes said the mission of the film was to get a snapshot of a Chinese international student to show just how easy or hard it is to adjust to the MSU community. Before filming began, Zeldes and Hale sent a mass email to more than 1,000 incoming Chinese international students to find a someone willing to be the face of the documentary — Li was one of the few to reply.
The filming process started in summer 2011 during the international academic orientation and wrapped up this past summer. During the span of two years, Li was able to share his experience as a student, demonstrating how relationships were nurtured and shaped across cultural boundaries.
“I wanted to push myself out of my comfort zone,” Li said. “There were so many things to get adjusted to. My heart beat … trying to get my words together instead of chaos, and at that time, my English was not that well.”
After a few filming sessions, Li said the process became easier and he quickly became comfortable.
Li said he would wake up and Hale and Zeldes would ask if they could ask questions on camera. He always agreed.
Hale said he takes pride that he and Zeldes were able to capture this trend before it became a big part of MSU’s.
He said it was something that was just starting to gain attention, and now they are able to tell the story.
“The thing that I like about the film, we saw what was going very early and having covered it for two years, now, it’s becoming more mainstream news about all the students internationally coming into the US from China,“ Hale said.
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