Now some teachers will write about their students, sharing odd or quizzical bits from papers and exams for the sake of humor. I wouldn’t do that to my students, but OTHER people’s students…sure, why not?
From an op-ed on China and North Korea in Student Newspaper from the University of Southern State, USA*:
The Chinese mentality is nothing new. If one delves deep into the history books, they can find that the Chinese have possessed such a thought process since their earliest days. They were, and remain, “The Middle Kingdom” or “The Central Nation.” (In fairness, the Europeans have often thought of themselves as “The Middle Earth,” but they at least have the geography to back it up.)
Ok, I’m not a Europeanist, but has anyone not named J.R.R. Tolkien ever used the term “Middle Earth” when thinking of Europe? And exactly what kind of maps do they use at this school to geographically “back up” Europe’s location in the middle of the earth? (I’m not even going to get into the whole “let’s read WAY too much into the ‘Middle Kingdom’ translation of Zhongguo,” more experienced journalists than this kid have made the same mistake.)
Since the rise of Mao Zedong and the People’s Republic in 1949, the ambition and pride has been melded with secrecy and authoritarianism.
Well, Mao rose to power beginning in about 1928 or 1935 or the 1940s (it was a bumpy road) but yeah, secrecy, authoritarianism, and a decent braised pork were pretty much the secret of the Chairman’s success.
China is a country that remains in denial about its murderous rampage two decades ago at Beijing’s Tianenmen Square.
Other than the odd mix of Wade-Giles and pinyin, the kid has it mostly right. Except that “China” did not go on a murderous rampage in Tiananmen Square or Beijing. The PLA, under orders from the CCP leadership, opened fire on the Chinese people. That’s why it’s tricky to use countries as subject nouns.
China is a country that continues to actively persecute religious orders, including Christianity and Tibetan Buddhism.
Overlooking that Christianity and Tibetan Buddhism aren’t “religious orders” but religions, it’s only half true that the CCP persecutes followers of either faith. That is, they persecute the half that follows the wrong guy. You can be Catholic in China, just not ultimately loyal to the Pope. You can be a Tibetan Buddhist, but it’s probably not a wise idea to decorate your home in Dalai Lama paraphenalia.
China is a country that is constantly attempting to assert its power in a negative way. The detention of an American naval crew in 2001 — after a Chinese fighter jet rammed the American surveillance plane in international airspace — was but one example of Beijing trying to execute a power play.
Ah, the hyperbole of youth. Name a country that asserts its power in a positive way 100% of the time? Norway? In any case, it’s probably a stretch to think that the PLA had one of their pilots pull an airborne Nathan Hale for the sole purpose of playing five on four hockey for two minutes.
Now the purpose of this isn’t to mock the student op-ed editors (okay, maybe just a little). But the attitude and ideas in this student editorial are actually pretty representative of a general public perception of China, especially among conservatives. It’s easy for academics or journalists living and working in Beijing to forget how little your average American really knows about China, and this lack of information can lead to all kinds of misunderstandings.
Every semester, a new group of students arrives at our center here in Beijing, and one of the joys of teaching is helping students understand the nuance and complexities of China, challenging misconceptions, and offering guidance as the students experience a new country and culture.
Paraphrasing a cliche used for everything from preaching to print journalism, I see the job of a history teacher as “answering questions and questioning answers.” It’s about not letting students become too comfortable in certainties, but rather able to keep their minds open to all the possible ways of understanding the past. I tell ya, It’s a helluva way to make a living and I wouldn’t trade it for a single thing.
————-
*My goal is not to single out one student or university, but if you really must know which school it was, click here for the full editorial.
Maybe the student was thinking of the Mediterranean Sea. As for Wade-Giles, I don’t know where you get that. “Tianenmen” is a simple misspelling. The Wade-Giles spelling would be “Tʻien an men”.
Great post. You’re absolutely right about popular mis/conceptions of China and that many of us in China take what we understand for granted.
Middle Earth, LoL…
@Hanmeng,
Sorry, that was a little joke on my part. Yes, the Wade-Giles system is different from this spelling, but it’s common for students (and even a few profs) when a word is transliterated incorrectly to blame “competing systems.”
Good call on “Mediterranean,” though does Mediterranean refer to Europe or the sea’s position between Europe and other civilizations. I think we need a Europeanist or Classical scholar to weigh in here.
@Kai
Thanks.
Come on, it’s Alabama, what do you expect? I figured either Utah or the South. (One branch of my dad’s family comes from Mississippi, believe me, I know). Sometimes I wish Lincoln has just let them go.
At least they didn’t say “Yellow Hordes”.
I must be psychic – I knew it was going to be Alabama.
Or, it could be I knew the quality of education because I did my undergrad at a couple of Alabama schools.
“It’s easy for academics or journalists living and working in Beijing to forget how little your average American really knows about China.”
I honestly don’t think the problem here is lack of knowledge. It is the mindless arrogance of those who are so blinded by their American Exceptionalist views that they are totally incapable of understanding any other perspective.
Jeremiah:
Deng gave Chinese two great legacies: 1) his economical policy of reform and open-up, and 2) his pragmatism of “seeking truth from facts”. Western folks knew the first , and knew little about the second and how important it is to China’s past success, such as experiment-led large-scale economical and social development, and her continuous development. That is because they often refuse to see the political legitimacy of Chinese ideology. This is true even today and even to many foreigners who are now living or working inside China.
To help educate yourself, read the following essay by a well-know Chinese sociologist ( in Chinese though):
一场关于民主的辩论
http://news.cctv.com/china/20090520/105990.shtml
And the one trick pony rides again!
Shane, when you have an original thought, come on back.
My “one-trick” is enough to teach westerners
Except that by using such a simplistic term as “westerner” in its undifferentiated sense, you reveal just how remarkably sophomoric and parochial your thinking can be.
Also, I’d bet dollars to donuts that you are receiving or have received a great deal of your education in “The West,” where you now reside…and you talk about teaching whom? What a joke.
Not really. To most Chinese, there are three groups of people in this world:
1) Chinese of course,
2) Westerners who hurt China badly in the past and continue to hate China, and
3) people of the rest.
Once a westerner is “Han-ified” or did great services to China , we don’t call him/her a westerner anymore. We love to call him/her a Chinese friend or just any Chinese in western cloth, well-known examples are Dr. Henry Kissinger, Dr. Henry Bethune of Canada and John Robie of Germany.
BTW: another well-known misconception by westerners is to see Han Chinese as a monolithic race or ethnicity. Well, actually not, Han Chinese are formed by a very diverse group of people, and Han is mostly a culture concept that became the dominate culture in China over a long history. You may know such tradition started as earlier as the Spring and Autumn Period dating back to 8th century BC.
Just because “most people” believe something doesn’t mean it can’t be sophomoric, simplistic, parochial, or even wrong. That’s how “popular misconceptions” come about in the first place.
(I might add, that nobody I know thinks of China as a monolith, though you seem content to claim “We call…” and “Chinese believe…” as if all/most people here think alike. In so doing, you seem to fall victim to your own misconception… )
Jeremiah:
Good points on “popular misconceptions”, and that is also something I would like to point out through examples. It showed how important it is to continue to learn from each other without being judgmental. Habitual misconceptions can exist everywhere.
“nobody I know thinks of China as a monolith” — that is not true though when coming to the subject to Tibet. That is when most westerners show their true color.
There you go again, “most westerners” is a meaningless, empty phrase, which demonstrates a characteristic lack of nuance or sophistication in your argument. Finally, I think bringing Tibet into the conversation in such a awkward and ham-handed manner showed us YOUR true colors.*
*Though why you feel the need resort to cliche or dropping Cindy Lauper lyrics is beyond me.
Shane, that would be Norman Bethune and John Rabe. And I’m not sure why you feel such a strong need to educate Jeremiah- something tells me he’s already quite familiar with everything in your (completely irrelevant) comments.
But just so you know:
“2) Westerners who hurt China badly in the past and continue to hate China”
At the time China was being bullied by the “West” and Japan, my country, which is generally thought of as “Western” (although I would say “Southern” is far more accurate), was being colonised by England. And my ancestors came from countries that were brutally colonised by England for several hundred years- indeed, one province of one of those countries and the country my great-grandfather was born in are still English colonies. So please try to understand that speaking of “Westerners” as one giant monolith of evil imperialists whose only goal in life is to bully China isn’t just… what were Jeremiah’s words? “sophomoric and parochial”, but also quite offensive to many of us.
After reading the comments on this editorial, I feel confident that most of the readers of this blog are, to a greater or lesser extent, intelligent. Therefore I have two questions to post to this community that abhors generalization and stereotype:
1) Why should we assume that the content of a limited space column in a school newspaper would encompass the author’s entire world view and understanding of Far Eastern politics? Isn’t it far more likely that the author was writing for the least common denominator of a rather large public University?
2) If neither the Chinese nor Westerners should be stereotyped and grouped homogeneously, why should we accept posts casually deriding an entire state? As a proud student of the University of Alabama and a National Merit Scholar, I take offense on behalf of my chosen University.
While my critique of this thread sounds harsh, I do heartily respect the goal of the author of this blog. Stripping stereotypes and ignorance from the minds of students is surely a worthy task.
[...] (Go Bears?) who regularly posts some really great stuff on China. This past week, he decided to take to task an op-ed column written by a student from a university in the American South, highlighting the all too common [...]
Interested student,
Thanks for dropping in, and if my little jab at the editorial hurt any feelings, then I’m sorry. It wasn’t really my intention to single out a particular school or state, but I had to include the link at the bottom after the first few people who saw the post thought I made it up.
Unfortunately, it does read a bit like parody.
If it is any consolation, I chose the essay not because it was uniquely bad, but because it was bad in so many ways that are quite common in writing about China both by students, who hopefully will grow out of it, and professional writers, who ought to know better.
Ps. And believe me, I’m well aware of state stereotypes, the Boston Globe once referred to my home state as “Mississippi…with snow.”
Actually, I am enjoying the back and forth. InterestedStudent, really, I still visit my parents in Anniston, friends in Birmingham and do homecoming annually in J’ville, but truly, ignorance/colloquilism can best be summed up by the attidude expressed…Oh, never mind.
“But the attitude and ideas in this student editorial are actually pretty representative of a general public perception of China, especially among conservatives.”
C’mon man. I was faithfully following your words and trying to see the Chinese point of view and then — pow — damn the conservatives. Liberals are the only enlightened group when it comes to far eastern culture, and don’t forget it you red state retards.
I’m pretty sure most Americans of both political leanings know fairly little about the true China. There’s no need to declare your liberal superiority.
You’re a professor; we know you’re a liberal. And as a professor, you should know that even if you’re making the best point you’ve ever made in your life, you turn readers against you when you start waving banners. Conservatives won’t give a damn about learning Chinese history when you make decrees from your liberal tower.
OP,
That’s a fair point, except that I wasn’t saying that only conservatives have misconceptions regarding China.
Liberals have them too, bucket loads. Just different ones.
But the set of misconceptions in this particular essay reflect those commonly held by conservative commentators in the US, and I thought that was worth noting.
And don’t worry, I try to be fairly ecumenical in pissing people off. There have been several posts on this site in the past critiquing ‘liberal’ commentators as well.
Oh please,
In Jeremiah’s defense (not that he needs it), sure the vast majority of Americans, both liberal and conservative don’t know much about China, however I’d think the liberals are much less likely to make this kind of nonsensical, self-righteous judgment. Wouldn’t you think?
Pffefer,
You’re assigning liberals a predisposition “against” self-righteousness? That’s easily the funniest thing I’ve ever heard. Easily…
“I’d think the liberals are much less likely to make this kind of nonsensical, self-righteous judgment. Wouldn’t you think?”
As a liberal myself, I’d have to agree with you.
Pfeffer and Stuart on the same side of an argument?
Hang on, I’ve got Satan on line 2, wants me to send down some firewood and a decent space heater.
LoL, did stuart just self-righteously say that? Oh, I’m so tempted…but this isn’t the place. I shall refrain.
Overall, I think the whole “liberal” vs “conservative” self-identification thing is a bit unnecessary. Most people I know have values that peacefully coexist in both “camps”.
It strikes me as rational for almost any civilization, after receiving reports from explorers who have gone north, south, west, and east, to decide that it is central.
Hence we have the Middle Earth Sea and the Middle Yard [1].
Much of this post strikes me as needlessly snarky. Attacking spelling is a cheap way of attacking someone when you don’t have something substantive to say. Attacking someone for referring to the PRC as “China” is just bizarre.
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midgard
This starting to get a bit remedial,
Spelling is important because transliteration of terms demonstrates an awareness with literature on the subject. If somebody was writing about the US and spelled the president’s home as Wite Hoose, you’d worry.
Agreed: most civilizations think of themselves as “central,” which is exactly why essentializing China for doing so perhaps isn’t the best argument.
The issue is not PRC versus China, but “China” versus “Chinese government.” It may seem a small point, but it’s not a mere grammatical ‘snark,’ rather it’s an issue of breaking down the monolith.
“Hang on, I’ve got Satan on line 2, wants me to send down some firewood and a decent space heater.”
LOL. My comment, although sincere, was in part intended to get a rise out of my old pal Pffefer. And to my great surprise and delight it was Kai who stepped up…
“…did stuart just self-righteously say that? Oh, I’m so tempted…but this isn’t the place. I shall refrain.”
Oh but it IS the place, Kai; we’re on neutral territory – you can’t delete my comments here.
No, stuart, I generally avoid going on other people’s blogs to instigate off-topic personal fights (which is why some of your past comments were deleted over on CNR). An off-handed quip here or there, maybe, but I didn’t think me commandeering the comments here by quoting the many instances of you being self-righteous would be appropriate behavior as a guest on Jeremiah’s blog. Now, we can elbow each other here and there, but I’ll refrain from waging off-topic battles with you on other people’s space.
@ tdaxp:
I understand that “China” and “China’s government” can be and is often used interchangeably without any malicious thought. Usually context is sufficient to discern what they mean (Cafferty anyone?). However, I can definitely agree with Jeremiah’s preference for “breaking down the monolith.”
“I’ll refrain from waging off-topic battles with you on other people’s space.”
I’m not a huge fan of the NBA but I think you just threw an elbow or two while the referee was blind-sided. Liberals would never engage in such foul play.