Obama and Hu have pledged for 100,000 American students to come to China over the next four years (up from the current 13,000 a year), so what could that look like?
US Ambassador Huntsman addressed FACES, a group of American & Chinese students, on Nov. 21, 2009
The student group FACES (Forum for American/Chinese Exchange at Stanford) offers one vision: it brings together 20 American and 20 Chinese students at Stanford University in the spring and then the same students again in China in the fall–the latest conference was jointly held at Peking and Remin Universities in Beijing last week. Three takeaways from my FACES experience:
- Pragmatists trump ideologues;
- Familiarity breeds friendship;
- US-China programs benefit from robust institutional support.
These three lessons lead me to believe that student exchange can contribute to a more cooperative US-China relationship.
1. Pragmatists Trump Ideologues
Students care more about economics and exchange than politics, if FACES is any indication. Admittedly, there is a selection bias: top students passionate about the US-China relations tend to be cooperatively inclined.
Still, the group is willing to tackle sensitive topics: a discussion of religious freedom raised more than a few eyebrows because student groups tend to be closely monitored in China, especially at elite universities. One panelist addressed the subject of why some Chinese youth choose to join the CCP despite then having to renounce (or disguise) their religious faith: “I ask them, ‘Why do you want to join the CCP?’ ‘To get a good job,’ they reply. It’s not because they’re Marxists. I’ve been in China for 6 years and never once met a Marxist.” In the end, materialism–not ideology or the CCP–was cited as the main inhibitor of religion in China.
When a Taiwanese student (3 of the 20 “Chinese” were from Taiwan) indicated a separation between China and Taiwan, he was jokingly jeered. But in a later serious discussion, students were all in favor of holding a FACES “China” conference in Taiwan in the future. The mainland Chinese sounded eager to visit Taiwan—more interested in sights, clubs, and the reputedly gorgeous girls than any political symbolism. The risk lies with older, powerful, and more political generations: jeopardizing sponsorship from Peking, Renmin, and Fudan Universities, for example.
2. Familiarity Breeds Friendship
For one week, students room, debate, karaoke, joke, feast and gan bei together. This in-person exchange is of a different nature from the impersonal internet exchange that can arguably further entrench “rednecks, red guards, and trolls.” Diverse ideas are exchanged in a civil forum, instead of an echo chamber of pre-existing views. I know of innumerable friendships (and a few relationships) that have arisen from FACES, but have not yet spoken to anyone alienated by “the other side.”
Is the social integration seamless? Absolutely not. Social differences persist even among the most internationally-oriented students. Karaoke kept all of the Chinese up late (followed by mafia, the wildly popular group game until 4am). The Americans all dropped out early, with waning enthusiasm for public singing and many exhausted from an earlier night at a club. Many Chinese, on the other hand, paid their first visit to a club (which can be viewed as locales of ill-repute in Chinese culture). Suffice it to say that not all were converted into Paris Hilton, or clubbers at all. On a positive note, it is reported that students were universally satisfied with the copious quantities of banquet food.
3. US-China Programs Benefit from Robust Institutional Support
It seems everybody needs a China strategy today—not just companies, but also governments, universities, and donors, which is good news for China-oriented student groups. FACES was founded at Stanford University to promote mutual understanding following the hysterical reactions to the 2001 spy plane incident. While it required tireless effort, the group has since garnered institutional support from universities (Stanford, Peking, Renmin, Fudan, and Zhejiang) and private donors, as well as corporations (New Oriental and Renren were conference sponsors).
US Ambassador Jon Huntsman feels the air of cooperation in the room
The same goes for attracting speakers: US Ambassador to China, Jon Huntsman delivered the keynote address on Nov. 21 at Peking University, stating that President Obama told him, “some relationships transcend politics” and touting a seemingly genuine spirit of pragmatic bipartisanship; Huntsman did after all give up a governorship and shot at the presidency in 2012 for the post. President George H.W. Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice have spoken in the past, while the President of Stanford University, John Hennessy, regularly addresses the FACES conference at Stanford. Such institutional and financial support indicates that political, business, and academic leaders do attach importance to the US-China relationship.
Hopeless Idealists?
While perhaps idealistic, these students are not of the fresh-off-the boat, coming to see “Red China” for the first time variety. The majority of the Americans speak decent Chinese (some excellent) and have a strong China focus (whether it be politics, arts, economics, sports, or cuisine). The Chinese students all speak fluent English and most have been abroad. FACES students include Rhodes, Marshall, and Truman Scholars, the discoverer of a new species of newt, an accomplished concert pianist, and perhaps the world’s foreign expert on China’s Happy Farm game—future leaders. President Obama was not the only one striving to strengthen the US-China relationship in Beijing last week.
More:
- FACES Website (now accepting applications for the 2010 student delegate class)
- FACES Blog
- Twitter: @StanfordFACES
Kai Lukoff, American, was a FACES delegate ’07, executive ’08, and is now a proud alum. He is also perhaps the world’s foreign expert on China’s Happy Farm game. His opinions do not represent the official views of the FACES Organization. On Twitter: @klukoff
Seems like a great program for bridging the gap. I especially like that the students live together, this is something that is lacking from many study abroad programs in China were the “foreign students dormitory” is actually a hotel filled with English and no Mandarin. It’s going to be tough to give 100,000 American students an authentic China experience!
yes, living together is a key part of the program! in the early days of FACES, students were “hosted” in dorm rooms for the week, making for some especially close quarters. with sponsorships, we’ve since upgraded to hotel rooms, but roommates are always mixed Chinese/American and carefully considered.
i too find it lamentable that “foreign students dormitories” in China are English-language hotel. For foreigners, why come to China? For Chinese, where’s the opportunity that many so badly seek to mix and meet foreign students? When I was at Shanghai JiaoTong University and lived in the foreign student’s dormitory, the vast majority of my foreign friends (on a one-year study abroad) never made any Chinese friends. Thus the best remaining way was at the dining hall or playing soccer, but a group like FACES is a far more natural avenue of building friendships. Perhaps Chinese Universities are of the opinion that “Expats in China don’t need to make Chinese friends?” http://is.gd/54yfW
when i started ChinaEDG, a FACES-inspired econ discussion group, the JiaoTong University was hostile. They said we could meet once ever (once a week was far too often), and kindly sent a teacher along to “observe.” See http://chinaedg.blogspot.com and http://www.chinaedg.com
The FACES program itself is clearly not one that could scale to 100,000 students, but I think there are aspects, such as living + socializing together and a forum for the discussion of substantive issues that could be incorporated.
Exchanges are a great way to enhance mutual understanding and tolerance, but only if supported through the right programmes – I think many people have had very bad experiences on language based exchange programmes in the past due to poor planning.
Secondly, is the infrastructure in place to suddenly double the number of inbound US students – especially at a time when students from other nations are also coming in larger numbers. By this I refer to accomodation, support staff, auxiliary services, class numbers, etc? Even now I find that some universities struggle to properly accomodate the students they have, and not every new student will be fortunate to end up in the Jiao Tong’s, Donghua’s, or Peking’s of China.
But perhaps students are not so demanding?
I think on some level, the FACES conference–and many other student exchanges–serves as a microcosm of U.S.-China relations on the governmental level. Your first point, “Pragmatism trumps Ideology”, suggests that both sides are much more interested in tackling trade, finance, and climate change than awkward and potentially jarring issues such as human rights. For better or worse, Obama has been criticized widely for failing to (publicly) emphasize human rights in bilateral relations, although he did stress the importance of internet freedom and raise human rights in private discussions with officials during his latest visit to China. Nevertheless, the broad agenda of issues that require U.S.-China cooperation–the financial crisis, the value of the yuan, carbon emissions–will probably overshadow any principled disagreements we might have on issues of human rights. It makes sense, at least from a utilitarian perspective, but it’s somewhat disconcerting given increasing restrictions on civil society within China…
For the record, I’m a Chinese American student who’s thinking of applying to FACES this coming semester. I’m one of those conflicted people who cares deeply about human rights in China as well as the U.S., but I also recognize the pitiable state of knowledge that Americans have regarding China and Chinese people in general. Lazy, often biased reporting from the Western press doesn’t help. I’m hoping that a concern for human rights doesn’t count as a negative in the selection process…
your microcosm comment rings true. http://jamesfallows.theatlantic.com/ has an excellent series on how Obama was widely portrayed as failure and wimp in US coverage of his visit. Two excerpts:
1) We All Know that Obama was humiliated and stonewalled by the haughty Chinese leaders, in contrast to the titanic American presidents of yore who spoke sternly to Mao and his successors and therefore always got just what they wanted in Beijing. Richard Cohen of the Washington Post has reminded us of his fecklessness again.
2) Howard French, quoted on James Fallows:
“I am known for having had a pretty consistent focus on human rights in my work as a journalist [JF note: this is very true], so the comments that will follow should not in any way suggest that I believe in a de-emphasis in human rights with regard to China…. But the problem with the way the press has covered this is there’s a kind of implicit premise [that...] is misleading, I think. Maybe disingenuous is even a better word, because it seems to suggest that if Obama had pulled a Khrushchev and banged his shoe on the table on these issues and really jumped up and down and made a lot of noise, then this would have achieved a markedly different result for the better. I don’t think there’s any evidence of that. It may have made certain people in this society feel better about themselves, but if the goal is changing behaviors in China or obtaining political or diplomatic results with China, I think the evidence is the contrary.”
FACES certainly has students critical of the Chinese government (and US too). We had a student focused on China in Africa this year, and he challenged a number of speakers and certainly didn’t gloss anything over: http://african-politics.com/ It’s in the direction of the Obama’s “pragmatic approach”: raise all issues (the topics at the Stanford conference tend to be more controversial–Tibet, Taiwan, etc.), but focus on those where there’s room for cooperation. I’m in no way involved with the application review process any longer, but I’d highly encourage you to apply!
As a previous delegate and organizer,Ｉtotally agree with what Kai has said. FACES is really a great program!