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Christina J. Hsu
People's Republic of China
July 2004
View Previous Submission by Christina Hsu
The Sundry Yawns of the Sleeping Giant
I dedicated the last week of my grant to visiting public and private schools in Shandong province, where I gained a different perspective on the aging process and its role in socioeconomic development. By visiting school administrators and students in the poorest areas of Shandong, much of my previous research from surveys, conference materials, and interviews was brought to life. I was able to witness how demographic transitions affect human markets, and how wider access to education, especially in poor rural areas, is imperative for China’s future.
During one of my visits to a crowded classroom in Shandong’s Cao county (Cao xian), I asked the students in English, “True or False: Girls are smarter than boys.” I called on both female and male students who unanimously answered, “False.” I was taken aback at this answer – not only due to my personal outlook on the question, but because I had just arrived from Heze city, located only one hour away from Cao county, where the school principal was female and where the most energetic students were girls. As names of highly educated businesswomen and female professors from Beijing and Shanghai popped in my head, I became grateful for the reminder the Cao county students had just given me: that gender still translated into hierarchical roles in some parts of China, as it still does in certain minds and areas in America.
Anyone who desires to understand China first must dispel the stereotype that all Chinese people look, act, think and talk homogeneously. There are 56 ethnic groups in China, including the Han Chinese, who make up 92 percent of China’s population. During my travels throughout the country, I met people from 14 of the different 55 ethnic minority groups – most of whom have their own unique spoken language but who still maintain basic Han Chinese language skills. Like America, ethnic minorities are not the only element that makes China diverse. Chinese hail from rural and urban areas, rich and poor residences, Daoist and Islamic religions, modern and traditional ideologies. As China is dramatically shedding its image as a once-sleeping giant, changes impacting family stability and social class structures are taking place, causing education and employment to be key areas of development.
As I am stateside writing this, I think fondly of the diverse mix of generous and hospitable strangers I home stayed with during the Chinese holidays: a Buddhist elder in Guilin (Guangxi) who woke up at 5 a.m. to meditate and pray so that I would have safe travels during China’s National Holiday; a matriarchical Mosuo family at Lu Gu Hu (Yunnan) who roasted a pig for me and my friends while challenging us to a singing competition during Spring Festival; and a Tajik family who taught me how to play the ravap (a six-stringed mandolin) and served us fresh yak milk on the Karakorum pass (Xinjiang) during May Labor Day. Although each held distinctive traits, they were all curious about America, and their interests piqued especially when I mentioned I was an American with Chinese ancestry.
My most recent “home stay,” as of late, was in the San Francisco airport where I experienced a flight delay. While waiting for the plane, I met an American who had mistaken the Japanese hostages in Iraq to be Chinese. With plenty of time to kill ahead of us, we began to discuss the different countries in the Asia Pacific, my recent lessons in China, his experiences as a retired fisheries manager, our views on the many wars going on in our world, and the baseball season. This conversation with my newfound friend lasted ten hours – until the flight finally boarded.
The Fulbright grant has allowed me to see what and who China truly represents instead of relegating me to textbook examples; it has given me opportunities to share my experiences as an American with Chinese rural schoolchildren, college professors, government officials, the unemployed…and now with other Americans.
During the past ten months, I have gained research skills that I could not have obtained in the U.S. as a recent college graduate and have forged friendships that have given me an urgency to integrate China in my future work. My commitment to public service and dedication to global projects that hold international influence have only been strengthened due to my experiences as a Fulbright grantee.
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