Exploring Community, Culture, and Identity at NYU Shanghai

At NYU Shanghai, the Global China Studies major caught Leyla’s eye immediately. This innovative interdisciplinary major examines the socioeconomic, religious, cultural, and political trends and transformations of China. Across the curriculum students analyze the country’s historical and current interactions with the wider world. “I’m always searching for ways to learn more about Chinese culture and the Chinese diaspora, so Global China Studies interested me from the get-go,” says Leyla, who also minors in Chinese and Spanish Culture and Society.

While faculty at NYU Shanghai teach in English, all international students study Mandarin to achieve fluency. By minoring in Chinese Leyla has had even more opportunities to master the language. She also practices talking with native speakers around the city and on campus where approximately half of the students are from China.

The remaining student population represents over 60 countries, so NYU Shanghai offers Leyla the best of both worlds. She stays immersed in China while interacting with people from wide-ranging backgrounds. She even spent a semester studying in Spain.

“It’s a very international school,” Leyla says. “That’s another reason I chose NYU. I’ve always loved learning about different cultures and meeting people from other countries.”

Throughout the 30 years that China’s one-child policy existed, international families adopted more than 100,000 children from China. Like Leyla many adoptees return to China to explore their heritage. On campus and in Shanghai, Leyla is part of a vibrant community of adoptees who grew up in Europe, North America, and Asia.

“The adoptee community in Shanghai is so connected because we share many similar experiences,” says Leyla. “Looking Chinese but not being culturally or linguistically Chinese is challenging when you’re in China. It can feel like you belong to both America and China but also to neither. You’re in this liminal space where you’re straddling both worlds.”

In 2023, Leyla teamed up with three fellow transnational adoptees affiliated with NYU Shanghai to host a two-day adoptee symposium. The event included adoptee-only workshops and a public screening of the documentary Found. The film follows three Chinese American adoptees who travel to China together after DNA testing reveals they are cousins. After the screening, Found director and NYU Tisch School of the Arts alum Amanda Lipitz joined remotely to speak with the audience. Following that, the organizers discussed their personal connections and reactions to the film.

“We shared our experiences as transnational adoptees and how it feels to be back in Asia and interact with our identities in that context,” Leyla says. “It was fantastic because I’ve never gotten to share my story in that way before. All of us felt touched by how engaged everyone was.”

The symposium is now an annual tradition with the 2024 event attracting attendees from around the globe.

As Leyla enters her senior year in fall 2024, she’s weighing several postgraduation possibilities, including working as an English language teacher. Eventually, she hopes to find a job related to international adoption. Wherever her career takes her, she expects to return to China regularly.

“Shanghai is such a wonderful city. It’s a diverse and international cultural hub, and I will always want China in my life,” she says. “In the same way, I always want to be connected with the Chinese adoptee community, no matter where I am in the world. As long as I make space for that, I’ll be happy with whatever happens.”