Psychology Professor Blogs About China

COLUMBIA, Ky. -- The first time Lindsey Wilson College Associate Professor of Psychology David Ludden visited Shanghai, he found a relic of 19th-century European colonialism. That was more than 20 years ago.

This time, he is finding a city that is a symbol of China's arrival on the world stage teeming with more than 20 million people.

Through the end of July, Ludden is spending a sabbatical in the eastern Chinese city where he is visiting Shanghai Normal University. Ludden, left, will teach psychology graduate students at the university, and he'll also meet with scholars at the public university.

Also during Ludden's five-month sabbatical, he is posting semiweekly observations of everyday life in the dynamic city to his blog, "China Perspective."

"I will interact with its people, trying to understand life in this rapidly changing country and how the Chinese view their relationship with the rest of the world," he said. "Although I will consider cultural differences, I will mostly be searching for the commonalities of human existence that bind us all together. … I want to give people an idea of what China is like from the Chinese people who live there."

LWC has a partnership with Shanghai Normal University. The college has hosted a professor and student from the Chinese school, and Lindsey Wilson has sent a student to Shanghai Normal University. Ludden hopes the relationship will continue to grow as China and the United States become more interdependent.

"It's no longer the case where you can think, I'm from Kentucky, I live in Kentucky and I only care about things that are here in Kentucky,'" Ludden said. "It doesn't matter where you live in the world -- we're all interconnected. China is certainly one of the most important countries in the world now. In the future, the things that go on in China are going to have a big impact on this country. So we really should have an understanding about it. And one of the best ways to deal with another country is to understand their point of view on things."

Ludden said his sabbatical will also help him introduce new ideas and perspectives about psychology to his students when he resumes teaching at Lindsey Wilson.

"Whenever faculty travel abroad and get an experience outside of the country, they can bring that back into the classroom," he said.

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To read David Ludden's "China Perspective," go to: davidludden.blogspot.com.