Artes Liberales

Premiered at the 2018 China Education Symposium at Harvard University, this documentary film explores the concept of “liberal arts education” and the perceptions of how international students from China feel about the liberal arts education system in the US. It brings a blend of interviews with professors, scholars, parents and students, discussing the academic challenges these Chinese students may face when they pursue higher education in the US.

Dr. CHEN Ceng is an independent film producer and director, who used to do research on human milk at the Mass General Hospital and the Harvard Medical School. She holds a B.S. in chemistry from Nanjing University, and a Ph.D. from Washington University in Saint Louis.

Dr. Chen is active in science academies and societies back in China, and she organizes many academic writing workshops for graduate students majoring in science. Through running these workshops, she discovered common challenges faced by the students while she was inspired to learn more about liberal arts education as an approach to tackle important topics in one’s life. Artes Liberales is her first feature documentary, and she “made this film for all the Chinese international students fighting to be successful in the US education system.”