I love seeing young people take action and jump in to help repair global issues. You don’t need to step onto the world stage like Greta Thunberg in order to make a difference. Every action you do in daily life, be it consciously choosing to forego the plastic straw or raising awareness and educating your community is making a difference to how our future will look.

Recently three students at Tsinghua International School (THIS) have created a series of cartoons to raise awareness on issues regarding environmental awareness. Meet Alicia Gao (grade 12), Andrew Li (grade 11), and Chelsea Wang (grade 12), creators of the Sustainable Spartans!

The Sustainable Spartans are a group of international relations students at THIS. Anyone who cares about our community and everyone who wants to make our community more sustainable could also be a Sustainable Spartan.

Through their cartoon featuring an adorable character called Leafy, the Sustainable Spartans teach their peers the importance of sustainability. “Sustainability is especially important because all of us share this home we call Planet Earth. Specifically, we should all devote time and energy to sustainability because we need to make efforts to create a better environment for not only us but also future generations. Creating this environment where people aren’t threatened by global warming, rising sea levels, flooding, and natural disasters is crucial to have peace. Time is important because only with time will we ever create a truly sustainable and non-rushed environment and energy is important because we need to dedicate effort in order to accomplish this goal,” says Li.

The group started the project as part of their International Relations class. “In our International Relations (IR) class, we have three units. The first unit broadly introduced IR and talked about concepts such as IR theories (e.g. realism, liberalism) as well as sovereignty. This unit defined the concept of “state” and differentiated it with “nation” and also broadly talked about the role of the international community and the UN, such as through the right to protection, where the international community intervenes in states that have failed to protect its people. Unit two focused on global peace because, given the concept of state, conflict naturally follows. Conflict requires states to compromise together and seek diplomatic solutions to complex and nuanced problems. This unit first dove into types of conflict, rules regarding wars (e.g. the Geneva Conventions), and justifications for war before discussing the solutions. Finally, unit three, which we just began, is on 21st-century issues; we’ve already talked about development and how the definition is multifaceted. All in all, these units culminate in two large projects: one ongoing one where we pick a country case-study and apply the concepts learned to our chosen country (I picked South Sudan), as well as one for the 2nd semester where we seek to promote sustainability within our communities – this project!” Li tells Jingkids. Instead of lecturing at students, the class inspires students to look, discover and find the global issues that they’re most passionate about.

Chelsea Wang, the artist behind Leafy, designs and illustrates the character each week. “I find inspiration through my research and knowledge and share my findings with the readers through Leafy and his friends,” says Wang. The Leafy cartoons will continue to run through March and April once a month and the Sustainable Spartans team always welcomes new ideas from their readers. “We are very excited to have our readers try to reach out and learn more. Readers can submit their ideas through the comments section under the WeChat official posts (THISSTUCO), and some can reach out to us personally. We are still working on more outlets for the comic such as Instagram, by then it will be more accessible and readers can comment or direct message the account to insert what they would like to know more about. Gradually, we want to make sure the readers are engaged and inspired to have questions about how we can reach the sustainable development goals.”

But the Sustainable Spartans isn’t only spreading their message through social media. Wang, Li, and Gao each shared simple everyday suggestions so that we can help do our part to save our planet.

Alicia Gao – One of my suggestions would be not ordering the free chopsticks when you get takeout. When ordering takeout, remember to check the box that says no need for tableware, so we can save the trees from making these wood chopsticks.

Andrew Li – One suggestion is using less. Whether this means bringing your own bag to a shopping center, recycling things for longer (such as electronics), purchasing only what is necessary, and giving everything a second home, using less helps to reduce the waste going to landfills and dumps. This simple change is very small, but requires effort to become routine. This could even extend to using food scraps as fertilizer in gardens – finding a second use for normally useless things is a great way to be more sustainable.

Chelsea Wang – Something so simple but many ignore is to make sure your garbage goes where they should go, and I mean that as sorting your garbage. Though Beijing has implemented rules on working towards a sustainable city, many places are still struggling to enforce the rule. But you have to understand that so many problems can be eased with sorting your garbage, not only allowing some materials to be reused, but also to be disposed properly to minimize the effects. So many of the sustainability goals can be worked towards with simply recycling and sorting your garbage.

Follow the Sustainable Spartans by scanning the QR code below.

KEEP READING: How Schools Make Dining Sustainable — and How You Can Do Your Part

Images: Courtesy of Sustainable Spartans

Two Beijing universities took the top two places in Asia for the first time in the world university rankings 2020 released by Times Higher Education (THE) on September 11. The poll includes almost 1400 universities across 92 countries, and the table is based on 13 calibrated performance indicators to provide an overall comprehensive comparison of different institutions.

Tsinghua University is at 23^rd place in the world’s top 100 universities, a slight decline from its 22^nd position last year. Peking University made a considerable jump to 24^th from its previous ranking of 31^st. Five other universities from the Chinese mainland made the top 200, namely University of Science and Technology of China, Zhejiang University, Fudan University, Nanjing University, and Shanghai Jiao Tong University, the same number as in 2019.

Meanwhile, on the poll, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology fell from 41^st to 47^th place, while Chinese University of Hong Kong fell to 57^th from 53^rd last year. The National Taiwan University was also ranked lower this year, in 120th place. Last year’s top Asian institution was the National University of Singapore, and it placed 25th this year compared to 23^rd in the previous poll.

Once again, the UK and US universities dominated all top ten places this year, while Canadian universities and some European universities have risen up.

The Paper notes that this year’s top universities in mainland China scored higher in citation power and research income, perhaps reflecting the Chinese government’s continued investment in higher education.

As we blogged before, China is gearing up towards expanding its pool of international students as well. In 2015, Vice Premier Liu Yandong stated that the government planned to increase the number of international students in China to 500,000 by the end of 2020. The country’s universities have continued to extend their influence and presence on the world stage.

Photos: pexels

Two Beijing universities are becoming more prestigious even as other Chinese institutions are losing esteem, according to a survey released by the Times Higher Education (THE) on March 11. The poll, dubbed the World Reputation Rankings (whose findings are based on nearly 10,000 responses from 142 countries), placed Tsinghua at 26th in the world’s top 100 universities, a considerable jump from its 36th position last year. Peking University, known colloquially as Beida, has ascended to 32nd from its previous ranking of 43rd.

Other Chinese institutions did not fare so well. China Daily reports that The University of Hong Kong fell from 43rd to the 51-60 slice, while the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology fell to the 71-80 slice. The National Taiwan University was also ranked lower this year, in the 61-70 slice. The poll’s top Asian institution was the University of Tokyo, which placed 12th (compared to 11th last year).

While Tsinghua and Beida may be celebrating improved rankings, overall the poll showed that China and its capital are still at a considerable distance from the upper tier.

US and UK universities dominated all top ten positions. The US also had the highest number of institutions on the list, at 43 while the UK trailed behind at a distant second with 12. Germany followed that with six.

The US also held the coveted number one spot in the rankings, with Harvard University being named "the world’s most prestigious university." The University of Oxford came in second.

However, Chinese news site China News quoted THE Rankings Editor Phil Baty as saying, “This is a strong performance by China. Its two leading institutions have made gains in the reputation rankings, reflecting the country’s commitment to developing world-class universities."

Photo: gigijin (flickr)

Back in kindergarten, my pudgy 4-year-old hands fashioned some pretty kickass Play-Doh dinosaurs, way before those other guys put them in 798. I thought myself ready for some proper training and so, with an air of juvenile confidence, I waltz right into Le Taotao Pottery Studio.

Tucked away in Tsinghua’s campus, the lush, peaceful space feels like a true artisan’s enclave, complete with a row of pottery wheels, three kilns and a kaleidoscope of colored clay. After bathing in the studio’s excellent feng shui, I slip on an apron and plunk myself in front of a wheel. My teacher Mr. Yang sets down a bowl of water and sticks a meaty slab of clay on the wheel before setting the machine a-whirring.

Masterfully, he demonstrates how to make a simple vase, stopping to let me try each step along the way. The lump of brown clay yields to his every whim, morphing from shape to shape.

“Easy,” I think to myself. “You just poke the stuff and it changes shape, no biggie.” He then molds the vase back into its original lump shape and tells me to give it a try.

The second I put my hand around it, mud goes flying. The runaway bits splatter all over Mr. Yang’s apron. Smiling at my apologies, he advises me to evenly distribute my grip and use my shoulders.

I try to heed his advice while I watch my lopsided bowl-shape spin mesmerizingly around, but all I can think about is the texture of the clay. It has a slimy smoothness I can only liken to the skin of a beluga whale I once patted at a zoo.

I dig my thumbs in and attempt to will the putty into submission. “It needs to lose weight, I think,” Mr. Yang laughs, and as I push harder to make it slim down, the top breaks off completely. Oops. It takes me three slabs of clay and countless tries to finally concoct a passable creation which bears little resemblance to the vase I had intended to make.

As I rub the clay out of the crevices of my hands and retire my apron, Mr. Yang offers some final pointers: “Don’t rush, and don’t be afraid to make mistakes.” This guy transforms clay into anything he can conceive of and doles out life advice to boot? Sign me up for a few more lessons.

Give it a spin at Le Taotao Pottery Studio. To set up a class, call 6278 1917.

This blog is from thebeijinger.com.