The Brittany and Adam J. Levinson Program in China and Asia-Pacific Studies offers a unique approach to the study of contemporary China through a set of courses on China's language, history, politics, economy, society and foreign relations, and by providing students with experience both on-and-off campus, including three years in Ithaca, one optional semester in Washington D.C., and one required semester in Beijing.
Program Resources
Program News
Congratulations to the Levinson Program/CAPS Class of 2025!
"Many of us came into Cornell in the aftermath of a global pandemic, amid deteriorating U.S.-China ties, and a world more fragmented than ever. But rather than retreating into simplicity or cynicism, we chose to lean in. While each of us came to CAPS with different backgrounds, experiences, and reasons for studying China and the Asia-Pacific, we were united by a shared curiosity—a desire to understand the region not through secondhand narratives, but by immersing ourselves in its societies, grappling with its complexities, and forming our own perspectives through lived experience. -Feifei Hung, recipient of the Extraordinary Journey award and class speaker of 2025.
Extraordinary Journeys: Feifei Hung
'I've learned to be humble, open-minded and not complacent as a lifelong learner'
Congratulations to the Levinson Program Class of 2024!
Congratulations to the Levinson Program Class of 2024!
Off-campus Learning: Beijing and Washington, D.C.
The Levinson Program major in China and Asia-Pacific studies gives students experience both on and off campus, including one required semester in Beijing and one optional semester with Cornell in Washington, during which students participate in internships and cultural immersion. This unique and ambitious program offers CAPS majors unprecedented pre-professional training mapped onto a solid Cornell liberal-arts education.
Career opportunities with the Levinson Program
With three years of intensive Chinese language training, internships in Beijing, and the option to complete additional internships in Washington, D.C., Cornell graduates with a major in CAPS are well suited for entry- or higher-level positions in consulting, journalism, law firms, businesses, financial services, NGOs, diplomacy, and other government and public service agencies. An undergraduate CAPS degree also readily prepares one for graduate studies in law, business, and other disciplines with a focus on China.
CAPS 4001 Travel Journals: Learning Beyond the Classroom
Wendy Chen '19: Field Trip to Dunhuang, Gansu Province 甘肃省, 敦煌市 Fall 2017
"Walking in the sand was incredibly tiring, each step was extremely taxing on the body, but it was so worth it. The eight of us got into sledding tubes that were linked to each other and down we go. I cheered as the adrenaline pumped through me, as the wind whipped my hair back, as the small individual grains of sand pelted my face and lodged itself into every single exposed surface of my body and clothes. Still, it was an amazing ride that was much too short for my (and some other people's) liking, inciting cheers of 'one more time!' and 'let's do it again!' as we got off our tubes and tried to shake the sand off of us to no avail."