EASSU

📣📣📣Looking for a fun way to contribute to an up and coming undergraduate journal?

The East Asian Studies Student Union is hosting a photo and artwork competition for the front cover of our journal! We are accepting photographs and artwork (digital and handmade). Artwork should have a tangible connection to East Asia, or East Asian Studies.

Include a ~100 word abstract explaining the inspiration behind your artwork and its substantive connection to East Asia/East Asian studies.

The deadline will be on August 30. Winners will be chosen by popular vote and their work will be featured on the front page of our journal.

📣📣📣Looking for a fun way to contribute to an up and coming undergraduate journal?

The East Asian Studies Student Union is hosting a photo and artwork competition for the front cover of our journal! We are accepting photographs and artwork (digital and handmade). Artwork should have a tangible connection to East Asia, or East Asian Studies.

Include a ~100 word abstract explaining the inspiration behind your artwork and its substantive connection to East Asia/East Asian studies.

The deadline will be on August 30. Winners will be chosen by popular vote and their work will be featured on the front page of our journal.

This summer, students at the Munk School’s Asian Institute — Luna and Yuzhou from East Asian Studies, together with Derek from Contemporary Asian Studies — shared their ITAC research experience with U of T Summer Abroad students in Shanghai.

Their project, Survival Infrastructure: How Couriers in Shanghai Build Stability from Precarity, looks at delivery couriers’ work and living conditions in Shanghai through interviews, surveys, and field observations.

The mini-lecture gave Summer Abroad students a closer look at how student research happens on the ground. It opened up conversations about fieldwork, research design, and the challenges of learning from people‘s everyday experiences in the city.

For EASSU, this experience shows how East Asian Studies and Asian Studies more broadly can connect academic learning with real research, local encounters, and student-led conversations in Asia.

Thank you to the Richard Charles Lee Insights through Asia Challenge (ITAC) Munk Undergraduate Programs, Asian Institute U of T, East Asian Studies at U of T, Faculty of Arts & Science, and Summer Abroad at UofT 🌍✈️ for supporting student research and experiential learning.

Special thanks to Professor Victor Falkenheim for his supervision and support!

📍 Shanghai
📚 ITAC Research Experience
🌏 U of T Summer Abroad

Had a truly amazing time with Professor Victor Falkenheim and the EASSU team at the Bank of China for the University of Toronto Shanghai Orientation! It was a pleasure connecting with incoming students, sharing our experiences, and introducing them to the vibrant East Asian Studies community at U of T.

We hope to see even more students become part of our growing community. 💙

UT Shanghai Orientation is almost here!!!❤️‍🔥

Come learn about course registration, dorm life, major planning, and more. EASSU & UTCSSA members will be there to welcome you and answer your questions!

📍Bank of China Building on the Bund (No. 23 Zhongshan East Road, Huangpu District, Shanghai)
📆 1PM on June 20, 2026

‼️‼️‼️EXTENDED DEADLINE

Are you still working on your submission? Good news — the deadline for our project submissions has officially been extended!

📌 New Deadline: July 4th, 2026

We can’t wait to see your submissions!

The East Asian Studies Student Union is recruiting ~6 undergraduate editors for it’s undergraduate journal OnEast! We are looking for committed students seeking to gain valuable academic experience and wish to be part of a dedicated team. We expect most work to be done over the summer months (June - August), with a time commitment of around 10 hours a month. All applicants will be contacted and interviewed. Applicants can be students from any undergraduate program. The deadline for applications will be June 5. For more information, check our website, https://eassu.sa.utoronto.ca/openings/. To apply, submit your resume and a writing sample to www.forms.gle/Hzd2XhXzQLptbxM18.

Looking to publish your work and strengthen your academic portfolio? The East Asian Studies Student Union is relaunching its undergraduate journal, OnEast, for the 2026–2027 academic year. Get published in a student-led academic journal, earn publication credit, and showcase your work through a rigorous independent peer review process. The EASSU is aiming to publish 8-12 submissions by late August/late September. If you are unable to make a submission in our Summer publishing cycle, we are planning to open another call to submissions in the beginning of the 2026 Fall semester.

EASSU promotes: Uncover a new perspective on North Korean history through a fascinating book talk with journalist and author Jonathan Cheng.

Join us for a special conversation with Jonathan Cheng, China Bureau Chief for The Wall Street Journal, as he discusses Korean Messiah: Kim Il Sung and the Christian Roots of North Korea’s Personality Cult — a compelling historical narrative exploring the surprising Christian roots behind North Korea’s political mythology.

🗓 May 9, 2026
🕐 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM
📍 Community Room, Toronto Public Library – Danforth/Coxwell
1675 Danforth Ave, Toronto, ON M4C 5P2

Hear from the author, join the Q&A, and engage in thought-provoking discussion on Korean history, religion, and politics.

📚 Featured in The New York Times — don’t miss this opportunity to connect with the author in person.

🎟 Free event, RSVP required
🔗 Register now via the QR code!