About 70 Duke University students signed up for a free trip to China in 2024. Even the university was surprised by what happened when they got there
When Jacqueline Cole heard about a free trip to China including the Duke Kunshan University — with all costs covered by the Jiangsu Foreign Affairs Office — in the summer of 2024 before her senior year at Duke University, it sounded too good to pass up.
But Cole, a Chinese minor, got her first clue that it wasn’t just a sightseeing opportunity in an email full of disclaimers that arrived at 5:36am as she was sitting on her gate in LaGuardia Airport.
The notice alerted students that professional photographers and videographers from 
Duke Kunshan University and Jiangsu media would join portions of the trip. She and other students were soon hounded by TV crews.
“I came to feel that the trip had two purposes: Yes, we were there to explore a mammoth country with a culture and government unlike the United States. But it also felt like we were helping promote the Chinese government.”
“There was a whole reality show’s amount of cameras.”
theassemblync.com/newsletter/duk
theassemblync.com/education/highQuote
Byron Wan
@Byron_Wan
Education and Workforce Committee Chairman Tim Walberg and Select Committee on the CCP Chairman John Moolenaar are calling on Duke University President Vincent Price to end the Duke Kunshan University (DKU) — which was established as a joint institute between Duke and Wuhan
Show more Duke Kunshan University (DKU) — which was established as a joint institute between Duke and Wuhan