Stay in Wenzhou, Share the World: Start A World Culture Journey with WKU

Last Sunday, the first session of “Stay in Wenzhou, Share the World” Salon hosted by Wenzhou-Kean University (WKU) was held in downtown venue Half-Study.

One city, one story.

The first session was presented by Dr. Keith Kiely, a WKU faculty member from Ireland, about his birthplace Limerick.

What kicked off Wenzhou citizens’ “tour” to Limerick was an Irish song sung and played by Dr. Kiely. In the subsequent 40 minutes, he introduced Limerick’s paintings, movies, music, sports, education and other customs and practices. Old castles, amazing wall paintings and dynamic tap dance were shown to explicate Limerick’s charm, as additions to Dr. Kiely’s introduction.

Despite linguistic differences, people all yearn for a tour around the world. Therefore, Irish cheese and Baileys were available at the sharing session to help the audience better experience Irish culture.

In the following free chat time, WKU faculty from Greece, the U.S., and other countries joined Dr. Kiely’s sharing and held animated discussions with Wenzhou citizens.

As a Chinese-American jointly established higher education institution, WKU has more than one hundred faculty that come from all over the world and bring diverse cultures to the University. WKU’s Executive Vice Chancellor Philip Connelly regards this activity as the beginning of WKU’s integration into Wenzhou, with a hope that it will build a bridge among Wenzhou citizens, WKU and world culture. “The event allows Wenzhou citizens, without the necessity of travel,  to communicate with our faculty members for more direct understandings of world culture, thereby enabling them to ‘travel around the world’ in Wenzhou.”

“Stay in Wenzhou, Share the World” Salon, hosted by WKU, organized by Wenzhou Half-Study and Wenzhou-Kean Overseas Cultural Communication Center, is held every month. Each session will be themed with a specific city and WKU faculty will also join the session every time. The theme of the session in January will be Paris.

Let’s “meet” in Paris next time!