At the HNC, China becomes an extended classroom, seamlessly integrating academic insights with real-world experiences. In our latest blog, Ellie Randolph, MAIS '24, shares her academic journey as a foreigner in Nanjing and her travels across China.
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| Ellie Randolph |
The question asked by the cashier, high school student, or the old man yelling through his cigarette from across the street.
“不是，我是美国人。” No, I’m an American. This answer never upsets anyone, they just assumed otherwise. It is not hard to understand why. According to the New York Times, there are only 350 American students currently in China, and a significant portion of those are here at the Hopkins-Nanjing Center. Even the advisability of business travel between the US and China is being questioned. Russians in China are a more common sight, especially in the south (Guangdong is Siberia’s Miami).
When speaking with the international students at Nanjing University, whose dorms overlook the HNC campus, they confirm their classes have almost every nationality (German, Danish, English, Belgian, Indian, Ghanian, Russian, etc.) but no Americans. China has reopened at long last, but person-to-person exchanges between Chinese and American people are still in lockdown.
The discussion has been had many times before, but the lack of Americans in China presents major difficulties for the future of our diplomatic relations and our shared personal experiences and impressions of each other. Ambassador Burns has repeatedly emphasized the importance of person-to-person exchanges between the US and China; building relationships that are proof that the connection between our two countries is more than geopolitics. Proof that we can still share common ground and personal goodwill, even when our governments disagree.
There many reasons for the lack of Americans in China which have already been examined elsewhere (the expensive, exhausting flights with 3 layovers!). You can read the state department’s warning about the risks of traveling to China and the concerns of business executives over their personal safety in China. I have no interest in contradicting these warnings, the people writing them are professionals with valid insight.
Over fall break I spent two days on a solo trip to Hangzhou. I arrived at a B&B near Linyin Temple on Friday evening, late enough that the local restaurants were just closing for the night. I went for a short walk and stopped at a family-run kiosk for ramen and water. The Laoban lived behind the store with her family.
As I was paying, the Laoban’s daughter came home from after-school activities. As soon as she saw me, she ran up to the store and said excitedly, in perfect English, “Hello! How are you?” A high school student preparing for the dreaded Gaokao, she was eager to practice her English with the foreigner. “Joy” (a pseudonym, but her name means happiness, and she said she is almost always happy) asked where I was from (was I Russian?) and why I was in China.
I asked her about her studies (in Chinese, so her mom could understand too) and they both eagerly explained China’s grueling high school system. Her mother shared how China and the US have very different education systems. In China, middle school through high school are the most difficult years, while education in the US is less toil until university. We agreed the Chinese system is overly burdensome on children, but with such a large population competition is always intense.
As a woman, I feel completely safe walking around Nanjing by myself, even at night, something I haven’t felt in the US for years. I have never been catcalled in China (although I have been harassed by scooters that rule all pedestrian walkways). A friend recently explained that when she refers to a street as “seedy” she means dirty or decrepit, not dangerous. Dirty but safe. (*This applies to Mainland China, if you are in Hong Kong, ignore the men in the subway offering a cheap hotel room.)
China, viewed on the ground, from the everyday, walking streets at night level, is safe, beautiful, and friendly. People here know the difference between geopolitics and the American sitting next to them on the subway; Americans are welcome with the Chinese people. Maybe if the newspapers shared these stories too, more American students would come study in China.