In Fall 2018, ISSS invited students to submit photos of their home town, or places representative of their home town. We wanted to learn more about the places where our students come from and give them the opportunity to share with us the beauty of their worlds. The Worldfest event committee selected ten finalist photos from a set of criteria, and at Worldfest, audience members voted on the favorite photo. All finalist photos have been printed and will hang in the ISSS Lounge, to help make ISSS a "home away from home" for international students.
Chung-Hao Liu, FIRST PLACE WINNER
Sansiantai is a famous tourist spot in Taiwan. You can not only walk through cross-ocean bridge to the small island but also enjoy the beautiful scenery because the Pacific Ocean is under your foot. - Chenggong Township, Taiwan
Chengwu Zhang, FINALIST
Local tea is cultivated in layered terraces. - Xiaogan, China
Hyun-Woo Kim, FINALIST
View of Taebaek mountain range from Buseoksa (Temple). - Yeong-ju, Republic of Korea
Janardhanan Raghavan, FINALIST
One of the longest beaches in the world, Marina beach. Picture depicts a bird's eye view of the vast expanse of land and water and how tiny a part we play in this ecosystem. It also portrays that humans irrespective of class or quality are equal specs under Mother nature. - Chennai, India
Jingyu Xu, FINALIST
This photo was taken when I traveled around China and I think it is a good one representing certain aspects of Chinese landscape. - Phoenix Ancient Town, China
Tianle Xie, FINALIST
DongGu Lake - Ningbo, China
Tianli Chen, FINALIST
A small historic villiage in Nanjing, China. I took a set of photos there, all focus on the traditional buildings in black and white and traditional color: red. - Nanjing, China
Yihang Li, FINALIST
5 am - Shenzhen, China
Zeqing Shao, FINALIST
This photo was taken on August 7th, 2017 by me, while my parents and I were visiting the Jiuzhaigou Valley. An astonishing thing was, the next day an earthquake hit the Jiuzhaigou Country and triggered landslides and caused power failure. I appreciate what nature has brought to us, but also lament for how nature and human beings could be easily hurt by unprecedented natural disasters. - Jiuzhaigou Valley, Sichuan Province
Zijian Huang, FINALIST
Tranquility in a bustling city. - Shenzhen, China
Nha Truong
Sunset in the lake near my house - Dong Ha, Quang Tri, Vietnam
Kim Tran
The photo was taken in the morning after fishers come back from a whole night working off shore - Phan Thiet, Vietnam
Yang Zhou
High view - Shangaj, China
Chuling Wu
This is a photo of an ancient building. - Xian, China
Yiyu Chen
Gulang Island. - Xiamen, Fujian, China
Elshaimaa Ali
A beautiful sunset in Aswan and a little boat on the famous river the Nile and from the other side there are a lot of Palms - Aswan, Egypt
A B M Hasan Talukder
A typical morning around the University of Dhaka campus! - Willimantic, Bangladesh
Hyeonji Lee
I took the picture at 'Dalmaji-gil' which is the one of 'The Eight Views of Busan' and a promenade behind of my house. Going for a walk with my friends is the most favorite things, and the picture was taken while I was walking. - Busan, South Korea
Simin Zhang
We gave Shanghai the nick name "magic city" because it seems to have the powers to call people back. This photo was shot from the old city (west side of the bund) reflecting the modern and beauty of the new city (east side of the bund). - Shanghai, China
Mingchu Tang
Nature and Civilization - Shenzen, China
Avinash Bhardwaj
I took the photo while I was returning home after my college. The reflection of the sunset mesmerized me and I imminently took out my phone and captured the moment. - Hartford, CT
Yu-Ju Chen
Natural harbor with mountains around - Suao Town, Taiwan
Ryan Chen
The Bond night view in Shanghai. - Shanghai, China
Lakshmi Ravi Narayan
Holy Cow! Cow roaming stray, with the Mysore royal palace as backdrop. Cows are smeared with turmeric as part of the rituals in the annual harvest festival (Pongal). - Mysore, Karnataka, India
Haoyang Zhu
Cherry blossom season. - Wuxi, China
Saurav Dhar
Monument of freedom fighters of Bangladesh Liberation War 1971. - Khulna, Bangladesh
Joseph Mundia
This is a cheetah. Fastest animal on land. I took the photo back in 2014 at sweet waters in my hometown. It reminds me that home is a beautiful place. It also symbolizes that my potential is limitless. I just have to focus and run for it! - Nanyuki (sweetwaters), Kenya
Xueyi Deng
Like most small towns in China, my city for years has been trying to improve the economy and speed the urbanization process. So during the summer I visited the oldest part of the town and visited the once busiest but now dying avenue, and saw how people live in the shadow of the tall buildings. - Dongguan, China
Jibing Lin
A river across the city. - Nantong, China
Jiaxiang Cao
The dark evening of old town. - HuZhou, China
Yaliang Tang
A woman wearing traditional Japanese festival costume is standing in the center of the main street of Nagano which is my hometown. I used to dance in this festival when I was small. - Nagano, Japan
Qi Lin
This photo was taken by my iPhone at dusk and the building in there is IFC. IFC is located at the heart of Guangzhou. It's also named West Tower and formed a central axis line in Guangzhou with East Tower. - Guangzhou, China
Jingwen Ding
Tianjin Eye, built in 2007, is a 120-metre (394 ft) tall giant Ferris wheel built above the Yongle Bridge, which is the 4th tall Ferris wheel in the world. It's built over the Hai River, which is know as the "mother river", in Tianjin, China. The picture was taken on a cruise on Hai River. - Tianjin, China
Haomin Liu
Sunset, River, Pavilion - Jilin, China
Lily Kwok
A day at Las Cuevas beach along Trinidad's North Coast. - Las Cuevas, Trinidad and Tobago
Prabodha Abeykoon
I lived in a rural area back in Sri Lanka, surrounded by trees rather than buildings. So I want to call this "MY HOME VILLAGE". This is the view I saw every morning for past 25 years - different shades and shapes of green, right in front of my house. I never valued it those days, but now I miss it everyday. - Galagedara, Sri Lanka
Ayush Sengupta
The city of Kolkata which houses millions, is a mix of modernity and nostalgia. It is crowded, often chaotic; but it is a city with a soul. The picture shows a street packed with vehicles stuck in traffic, including the city's iconic yellow taxi and a city bus, with the routes written in the local language Bengali. - Kolkata, India
Puxin Shi
Chinese classics. - Taiyuan, China
Weiqian Wang
This photo was taken from a window at my old apartment in China. I lived on the 16th floor, and I always liked the view when I looked out from the window. I took that panoramic photo at dusk. The sky was red and clean, and the city looked so beautiful. - Taiyuan, Shanxi, China
Caroline Jager
Sunrise in my hometown in the Alps - home is where the mountains are! - Inzing, Austria
Yanina Prystauka
Beneath the Roof of Minsk - the European capital outside the European Union. - Minsk, Belarus
Xinyi Tang
It's the machine for pumping oil, and my city is famous for oilfield. - Daqing, China
Bingyang Zhang
A child of grace and happiness, at peace with her surroundings. - Harbin, China
Yuxuan Li
This is a kind of famous local food in my hometown. - Jinan, China
Tilun Wang
A beautiful summer day with my favourite person. - Shanghai, China
Nicholas May
Rafting on Yulong River. - Guilin, China
Anam Qureshi
It shows the culture and beauty of Saudi Arabia through my eyes. - Dammam, Saudi Arabia
Yu Fu
Looking at the factory shaky and unsteady, the grass growing with no worries, and the rainbow appearing suddenly, I couldn't help but press the shutter, as if I had captured a new beginning. - Zhengding County, China
Huyun Lu
Suzhou ancient style garden. - Suzhou, China
Hao Gong
This photo was taken in the old city of Jerusalem when I was a Kibbutz volunteers in Israel. Israel is the second homeland for me. - Jerusalem, Israel