China ’s mass communication evolved in the contemporary period, it is necessary to gain insights into China ’s traditional cultural and historical legacy and how those cultural and historical traditions shape the present and even the future of the country.

“A true scholar must be well-read and well-traveled.” This well-known Chinese saying points to two essential qualities that a successful student and scholar must possess—ample book knowledge and practical experience (the latter resulting from field trips far and wide). I believe this principle holds especially true for practitioners of mass communication because it is more of an applied academic discipline. For half a year just as a freshman, I did internship at XX Television Station—one of China ’s major TV producer—where I performed two types of responsibilities: translating English materials into Chinese and editing news. The first responsibility exposed me to the standard practices of western mass media while the second allowed me to obtain practical work experience.

Later, working as an interning reporter at XX Daily, the largest newspaper in the city, I concentrated on the issue of possible water pollution in the Three-Gorge Region where the world’s largest hydrological project is under way. For a whole month, I traveled to 10 counties and investigated the operation of the 19 water treatment factories in this region. In addition, I interviewed 12 environmentalists and based on detailed facts and statistics I gave an objective and detailed analysis of the possible negative impacts of the project on the local water environment and urged the local authorities to take concrete measures to guard against possible consequences. My serial articles produced widespread sensation and made the protection of water environment the hot subject of the time in the local media. For me, this was a most important experience as a feature story writer because for the first time in my life I made extensive field trips and reported on the issues most closely related to the welfare of the general public. This experience significantly heightened my awareness of the social responsibility of the journalist and of the role that a journalist can play in promoting the social welfare of the people.

My independent thinking, sound academic performance and practical media experience distinguished me from most of my fellow students and came to the attention of Prof. XXX, a leading scholar on “cultural communication” in

my university. At his invitation, I became a key member of his research team and served as his research assistant. I read a number of leading academic journals including liuxuepaper.com