Though
I wrote the majority of this post before leaving, I was undecided whether to
include it at the end of my blog, as I did not want to end on a negative
note. Looking back on China now –from
almost a year ago–, I have extremely fond memories, but believe it necessary to
include the following. On a side note,
please excuse awkward tense shifts, as I am writing in the present about the
past, and combining these ideas with subjects written already.
Having
safely returned to the land of the free, I intend to comment on subjects that
could have drawn the attention of China’s “proofreaders”. Before seemingly bashing the society that I
lived in for four months, I would like to preface my remarks by saying that I
thoroughly enjoyed studying abroad in China.
I do wish to return to China, but only to explore smogless landscape,
not to live.
Although
one of the first words that comes to mind when people think about China is
communism, the first time I even considered China a communist country was a month
into my trip. Around the (fiftieth?)
anniversary of the school at which I stayed, a few students with red armbands
were stationed at its entrances to welcome visitors. I saw the same red armbands on random
individuals through the city during the transition of China’s highest
officials. The armbands are supposed to
signify that the wearer is some form of volunteer that is in touch with government
officials.
From
simple observation, I would assume China was communist in name only, but after
getting to know my teachers, my impression changed. One of my teachers never intended to become a
teacher, but was told to become a teacher.
Although he was one of the best teachers I’ve ever had, he simply had no
other choice than to teach; however, I do not believe this is as common
today. From a political perspective,
China may be rather communist, but from an economic standpoint, the country is
slightly more capitalist. [That being
said, I am almost as far as one can get from being knowledgeable about both
political systems and economics. These
were just my impressions from both my observations and from a single sociology
class.]
Although
communism was not obviously present, nationalism (coupled with racism) was
overt. From the few conversations that I
either participated in or overheard in the company of native Chinese students,
the students were willing to yield that China has issues with the environment
and human rights. However, their first
attempt at rebuttal usually involved pointing out the problems of other nations,
accusing the US of doing the same, or underplaying the issue within China. Although this is my subjective opinion, I
think even world-conscious individuals are influenced from a young age. I cannot say whether the people are fed
distraction, or whether “leading by example” means significantly more in
Chinese culture.
Moreover,
I have heard some of these students admit that they take most of what they
learn in school about government with a grain of salt; they accept that censors
play a role in most everything they encounter in the news and historical
texts.
The
activism surrounding the F!@#ing Islands epitomizes the nationalistic nature of
China. [And in hindsight, I do not
believe this subject means anything to the American public anymore, nor did it
at the time, but it was a heated topic during my stay in China]. In order to use the internet in my dorm, I
had to go to a site to log on. On said website,
a rather large picture took the place of what would have been an advertisement
on an American website. The picture displayed
an overlook of the Diaoyu Islands, and was accompanied by the bolded words,
“The Diaoyu Islands is forever Chinese territory” [please note their
grammatical error].
One
could interpret this statement as propaganda, or as the internet sellers’
support of the China’s side of the controversy.
It is interesting to note, however, that this statement was in English,
not Chinese, and was viewed by all of the international students at the
university trying to access the internet.
I can only speculate the intentions of the statement, but it certainly
made me feel uncomfortable because many Chinese held hostilities against the US
for siding more in favor of Japan on the controversy.
Around
one month into my stay, when I was in the car with my martial art instructor,
we saw a sign on the back of the car in front of us calling for war with Japan
and the US. Also around this time, my
language partner’s father’s car was keyed simply because it was a Toyota.
Although
there are (or at least I hope they are classified as) extremists, everyone I’ve
spoken with, including my martial arts coworker/instructor, does not care at
all about these islands. In addition,
the consensus is [or was, at the time] that the Chinese government itself will
prevent the situation from escalating because of economic relations with the
US.
That
being said I also saw iPhone cases with nationalistic remarks on the Diaoyu
Islands and coin purses with racist anti-Japanese slang, akin to the n-word,
sold in market places.
Concerning
the government’s influence on the people themselves, the subjects for our
research projects had to be approved by the teacher and the director of the
program to avoid attracting the government’s attention. Typing certain subjects into a search engine
triggers programs by censors, [the internet is set up in China in such a way
that there really is no such thing as an anonymous internet use] and the school
does not want to be known for housing dissenters.
Someone
told us that his internet was shut down for several hours because he was
unintentionally directed from one site to another that discussed forced
abortions. At one point during the
semester, one of the students in my program could not access facebook despite
having a VPN that should have allowed her to get around censorship.
Because
I did not know much about China before studying abroad, was unaware but only
heard notions of how there are many human rights issues within China. I witnessed the discrimination and
maltreatment firsthand, however, of nomad minorities during an extended trip to
rural China. China’s government, in an
attempt to feign an interest in environmental protection, recently quarantined
a family we met to a reservation. It
reminded me of the relocations of Native Americans in US history.
Despite
the horrific smog in Beijing where I studied, the Chinese government wishes to
preserve the grasslands to convey an interest in environmental protection
(likely because environmental protection is a growing issue in the US and other
developed countries). This is one of the
more mild instances of a lack of human rights, but is similar to the others in
the way that these issues simply are not discussed. In China, the people may know that there are
significant human rights abuses, but the government does its best to hide the
details, and the people do not feel they can make a difference.
Because
of this mentality –the general acceptance that nothing can really be done so
why not save the trouble– I have gained a greater appreciation for
America.
I
have never been so proud to be an American.
Concerning
random people that I met that were unjustly treated, one was an English teacher
that was put under house arrest for a month because his student attended a
protest and wrote on a sign in English.
(The student is presumably still in prison). Another individual was tortured for over a
month for attempting to enter Tibet. (He
was assumed to be a spy, but actually just wanted to visit family). I was informed by another individual that if
I wore all white (a symbol of mourning the loss of life) in Tiananmen Square as
a sign of protest around the time of the appointment of the new Chinese president,
I would have been shoved into an unmarked van in less than a minute.
While
discussing China’s history with a different Chinese individual, he mentioned
that he was at the Tiananmen Square protest, saw the tanks, and knew classmates
that died there. Although I wished to
learn more about his perspective, I do not think it appropriate to ask. I think it would have been akin to asking a
Vietnam veteran about war stories before he or she had time for the scars to
heal.
Honestly,
I was taken aback, if not awestruck, because I never made the connection that
those individuals around me had personal connections to major, tragic
historical events.
On
a side note, this man said casually in an appropriate juncture in the conversation
that he is a socialist –a word that is thrown around far too much in the US in
my opinion.
I
consider myself extremely lucky to have been able to learn from him.
Another
tangent that I did not necessarily feel appropriate to address while I was in
China involved the subject of medicine.
It was my impression, mostly imposed upon me by a close Chinese friend
of mine, that old-wives-tales are accepted as legitimate forms of care. When faced with a serious medical condition
that could easily be remedied in the US, she was given old-fashioned Chinese
medicine. In addition, in our Chinese
language textbook, we were taught the distinction between Western medicine and Chinese
medicine.
Another
side note: This same close Chinese
friend told me that she knew she was studying hard because her teeth were
bleeding after brushing them. I tried to
understand, and believe what she meant was that significant mental effort/exertion
can manifest in physical form.
For
my capstone project, I dissected a number of scientific articles about
acupuncture. In summary, I do not believe
there are proven conclusions on the
subject to validate its implementation as a legitimate treatment. There are apparently benefits, but nothing
conclusive about the origin of the benefit has been found.
Moreover,
all the articles that supported acupuncture employed deductive reasoning
instead of inductive. This is a huge
distinction, not like old and modern, but more akin to medieval humorism and current
empiricism. Instead of being able to
create predictions (theories), I received the impression that acupuncturists
put pins in peoples’ backs and tried to draw conclusions on why it helped. I could not find any research that related the
layout of acupoints to the physiology, such as nerve or muscle arrangements, of
a person.
What
bothered the hell out of me on the subject was an article published by a
renowned research facility in Beijing.
Not only did it lack (inductive) evidence and proper methodology to back
its conclusions, but it was also highly subjective, even mocking western
science in its introduction.
All
of the aforementioned material aside, I find myself squashing the negative
preconceptions people have of China in conversation. It is NOT a backward place (in parts). I will also, however, disagree with people
that believe China is a “sleeping dragon” that will eventually rule the world.
Moreover,
I abhor generalizations about China because, frankly, no two places in the US
are very similar. I believe China is a
land where there is no black and white, but a mosaic of grey. Even the majestic and celebrated Great Wall
has a backstory of travesty. I have
learned to appreciate further the understanding of context and background.
I
will NEVER consider myself an expert, let alone someone proficient in
understanding Chinese culture.
I
have learned a ton from this whole experience, and am so incredibly thankful
for the opportunity. Although one
inevitably uncovers things one does not like anywhere one goes, I maintain that
China is not a bad place. That being
said, I do not want to live there. I made
friends with the American students I traveled with and with locals alike, and
intend on staying in touch with them for as long as possible.
Despite
that almost a full year has passed since I left for China, I still relish in
the memories, occasionally bring up my experiences and observations in
conversation (hopefully only when appropriate), and continue to appreciate and
reflect on all that I have learned.
I
will always continue to appreciate and reflect on what I learned.
