There’s recently been a lot of discussion about Chinese students in the United States. After The New York Times and The Chronicle of Higher Education published “The China Conundrum,” a feature article explaining why Chinese students and American colleges are sometimes a “tricky fit,” the Internet was abuzz with commentary.
Three blogs were also posted on the issue in The Diplomat. First there was “The Clash of Civilizations” by Jiang Xueqin (my former teacher at Shenzhen Middle School), who characterized the tension between Chinese students and Americans as a clash of “fundamentally different values, norms and worldviews,” and then a response, “How to Help Chinese Students,” by Kevin Slaten, who offers some ideas on how to resolve the problem. After reading these discussions, I felt compelled to offer my own perspectives as a Chinese student in the United States.
I’m currently a sophomore at a university in Illinois, where there are over 3,000 students from China, making up more than two-thirds of the international student body – one of the highest concentrations of Chinese students in America.
Personally, I get along well with my American and Chinese classmates, but that’s not the case for the majority of Chinese students on campus. In my conversations with my Chinese classmates, it’s obvious they are often prejudiced against their American peers. Some told me they thought Americans were silly because of the things they find funny (jokes about cheese are a mystery). Some said Americans were too stubborn because American teachers couldn’t be bribed like their Chinese counterparts. Some say Americans are selfish because they party, get high, or have had sex in dorm rooms (while their Chinese roommates tried very hard to pretend they are asleep). And some say Americans just aren’t very friendly, because they don’t seem interested in speaking to people without fluent English.
Of course, a tiny minority fall in love with U.S. culture. But for most, their frustration with their American peers only grows.
Mr. Slaten proposed a series of measures that colleges could take to help these disgruntled Chinese students, including: “Promote Chinese student participation in student groups,” “More careful student selection,” and “English enhancement programs.” These ideas have been put into practice by my own college: we have a department dedicated to helping international students, and English as a Second Language (ESL) classes are mandatory for most students from non-English countries. But while these solutions are well-intentioned, they don’t always work.
The reason why most Chinese students never participate in student organizations is that they have their group already – their Chinese clique.
Sure, it would be nice if each Chinese applicant could be evaluated individually through interviews. But as Mr. Slaten says, in order to avoid the Americans’ worst nightmare of being labeled “racist” by interviewing all Chinese students, then every applicant from all corners of the earth must be treated the same. How would colleges boost their budget to make this possible? Probably by recruiting more Chinese students.
Having English enhancement programs is also a good idea in principle, but passing the English proficiency classes is easy. One can either copy – or for the more industrious people, paraphrase – from a paper his predecessor has done, or simply submit poorly written, undecipherable nonsense and pray the professor will be so frustrated that he’ll give up reading and scrawl down a “B.”
Last month, when one of my Chinese classmates was told that his ESL paper got rejected because “The language of this essay is so incorrect that it is unreadable,” he declared angrily that he would protest to the teacher, and that “if he doesn’t give me a grade I’m satisfied with, I’ll go talk to his supervisor.” I never found out how that confrontation turned out, but anyone who has seen the Coen brothers movie “A Serious Man” might get a good idea.
One of the problems with “helping” Chinese students assimilate into U.S. universities that such efforts can actually feel a little condescending – many don’t want to assimilate. “We are all adults here, and I can manage my own life perfectly fine,” one of my friends told me after reading the online debates. “What makes them think I want their help?”
I’ve mostly encountered three types of Chinese students in the United States. First, there are those who lead a hermitic life, spending all their time either watching anime in the dorm room or studying alone in the library. It’s the same kind of lifestyle they’ve grown comfortable with after more than a decade spent in China’s education system. For them, coming to the United States is either a last resort after failing in China’s national examination, or simply just a poor decision.
Then there are the growing number of Chinese students from well-to-do families who came to the U.S. simply because they could afford it. For them, the real life is back home – that’s where all their money, connections and social status is – so America is merely a diversion, an opportunity to travel, buy luxury products more cheaply, and get a degree before inheriting the family business or getting a job in China via their parents’ connections. They form their own circles where they party, gossip and drive fancy cars, just like they did back in China.
In fact, far from wanting to assimilate into American culture, they spend time scoffing, for example, at Americans’ poor dress sense. “Why are they always wearing hoodies, and tennis shoes?”
And then there’s the third type of Chinese student. They throw themselves into the foreign environment and embrace the new experiences, with or without help. They choose the most difficult – and most rewarding – classes, where they work diligently to contribute from their unique cultural perspectives. And despite the initial obstacles, they never give up trying out new activities, learning from different cultures, and growing as individuals. At the end of college, they make the professors and students they know feel both fortunate and proud. But it is this kind of Chinese student that is the hardest to find. I’ve only encountered a couple since I’ve been here.
So, why aren’t the vast majority of Chinese like them? Is it that colleges aren’t selecting their applicants carefully enough? Is it that Americans aren’t giving Chinese students enough help in the “assimilation process”? No. It’s because there simply aren’t over 157,000 people in China who can go to a foreign country with drastically different social norms and succeed in that new environment. After all, it isn’t just Chinese students – find 157,000 Americans and throw them into China and you’d probably have something similar happen.
The big problem, though, is that the focus on attracting massive numbers of (fee paying) is that it is actually reducing intercultural experiences, even for those most determined to fit in, because the gravitational pull towards the Chinese circle becomes so strong. With so many Chinese students on campus, it’s tempting even for adventurous students to hang around with those who can speak their first language.
One Chinese student who comments on Jiang Xueqin’s article under the name “toyo” makes this point well:
“There’re just too many Chinese students and we don’t necessarily need to push ourselves out of our comfort zone to maintain a normal social life,” he says. “I have some Chinese friends who came to US for high school and made many American friends there, but stepped back to the circle of Chinese students in college.”
As a result, colleges with large Chinese student bodies are actually becoming less appealing to Chinese applicants who have the best chance of fitting in. Over the summer, when I asked one Chinese high-schooler whether she’d like to come to my university, she responded: “It might make a good backup school, but it wouldn’t be my first choice. There are way too many Chinese people there.”
It seems that the real problem with Chinese students in the United States isn’t about assimilation programs – it’s that there is a disproportionate focus on recruiting from China. With an influx of nearly 160,000 Chinese students in the 2010/11 academic year (a 23 percent increase from the previous year), it’s inevitable that the majority of them will fail to be properly incorporated into their colleges. And just as much as Americans frown upon the hoards of Chinese students who don’t seem to be contributing much to college life, Chinese often comment sarcastically that they thought it was America they were coming to, not Chinatown.
Still, there is a solution. It’s a simple one, and one that most colleges must have thought of, but wouldn’t dare to consider seriously: Recruit less Chinese students. Instead of hundreds of thousands per year, let in…say…50,000. That will make it easier to focus on quality, not quantity.
By doing this, U.S. colleges would get a larger percentage of intelligent, motivated and capable Chinese students, who, in turn, would have a much more “immersive” American college experience. This means more diversity, more exchanges between cultures, and better education quality for both the Americans and the Chinese.
Unfortunately, this also means a significant loss of revenue. As “toyo” says at the end of his comment, “People tend to choose the easier way.” The problem is that the easy way is hurting Americans and Chinese.
Zhou Yeran is a sophomore and English major at a university in Illinois. He blogs regularly for his college newspaper.
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Greg
Very good insight. The truth is, the US universities might not be willing to decrease Chinese student enrollment, for they bring so much new money onto the campuses. Education is a business, and this model is not likely to change in the next couple of years, until people really get pissed off about having to pay so much money for such a crappy education. For now, I doubt somebody will be interested in tackling the issues you brought above. Wait a couple of years, and except for top American universities, the US will lose its attraction power.
Few Americans are really interested in China. Send them there and you will see. They will do exactly what most Chinese students do: they stay together in their little groups and don’t bother really learning about Chinese history, culture and language. This is a key aspect we have to acknowledge. As if Chinese students were the only part of the problem.
webster0105
I have to agree.
gngottawa
I agree with almost everything except: “find 157,000 Americans and throw them into China and you’d probably have something similar happen.” This just isn’t so. American students abroad (and I’m writing from Canada and have also taught in China) are risk takers and much more confident outside their comfort zone than Chinese. I’d also emphasize the appeal of small colleges over a well known university. The small international student body and more intimate setting enable Chinese students to better acculturate.
XJ
but the thing is, American students who go study abroad are those risk takers while most Americans are so satisfied with living in the US and haven’t recognize the importance to know other parts of the world.Especially many students who go to China, they already have taken Chinese for several years and ‘fall in love’ with the culture or the language. On the other hand, Chinese people who go to the US can pretty much represent the whole student body, there are risk takers, dream chasers, geeks, nerds….it is a mix. People come to the US for different reasons. i have to admit that it is very easy to get closer with americans if you are in a small liberal arts school where you can simply invite someone to have lunch or coffee.
As a Chinese, it is also hard for me to understand why many Chinese people are so not willing to go out. It gives westerners the wrong impression that Chinese don’t drink and don’t party. going out doesnt mean getting shitfaced… it is just a simple easy way to hangout with friends and meet new friends.
Patrick
I am in agreement with the writer regarding the issue of sending less Chinese students to America to achieve better quality. From my own personal experience when I studied in South Korea for 2 months I forced myself to interact and hang out exclusively with Koreans and other international students because there were no fellow Indians I could talk to, in hindsight I realized that the time I spent with students from other nationalities was way more rewarding and enjoyable. You can miss out on a lot of things if you group yourself only with people of your nationality or ethnicity.
Katelyn
I couldn’t agree with this post more. As an American student studying the political economy of China as well as the Chinese language, I’ve spent a lot of time trying to get to know the Chinese students on my campus. I’ve run across all three types that you’ve described.
For a year I volunteered with the English Language program at my university, tutoring Chinese students and organizing small social events to help include them in on campus clubs and programs. The staff of the program had no idea how to get students more involved, and neither did I.
Your article raises a lot of good points and verifies looming suspicions that I had about why and why not Chinese students don’t seem to/ or in some cases don’t want to, get involved.
Thanks.
Craig
Interesting article, although I find that generally, cultures thrown into a new culture ten to form cliches and hate on the new culture they’re all stuck in together regardless of origin.
If there were tons of American students in China, it would be basically the same….
George Washington
Great article… Thanks for your effort. U.S.A really has a problem with the rich kid type of Chinese. I can honestly tell you that in my years at University of Canberra (in Australia) between 2002-05, I only ever saw the hermit-type (but they did work very hard, even if some had been somewhat failures back home in China) and the absolutely committed, intelligent type.
U.S.A has totally compromised the quality of its education by basically offering ‘pay for degrees’… And there are many familiar names… For example Uni of North Carolina… Asians in both China and Taiwan TOTALLY know the U.S Uni’s that basically sell degrees… The scene is a disgrace… But then, those rich Chinese don’t care – they know they are buying it, so why should the Uni’s care about things like ‘assimilation’… Let’s face it: the best Uni’s get the smartest Chinese. The dumb/unethical Uni’s get the dumb and rich Chinese… No shame either way… It all works out in the end… Merry Christmas!
Sing
@George Washington Where did you get the evidence that UNC is selling the degree? I only know in China they can print the diploma of any university you want. Yes there maybe some small universities doing that but not major universities. Why blame the US unis. For post secondary education you have to be on your own no one going to tell you what to do. University life is just like a miniature of real world. You do not work hard enough you going to fail and not getting a degree.
James Kennedy, Beijing
Excellent aricle. If 157,000 Americans studied in China, they would cause chaos. If fact, investigating that would make a great next article.
I agree that accepting fewer students would help the students who are admitted. But it would be seen as “racist” and would cause the universities to lose revenue. Neither of those outcomes will allow a “limit” rule to be enacted.
I have another suggestion: suggest that Chinese students apply to smaller universities with few Chinese people. Even better, publish a “Top 10″ list of universities based on how few Chinese students there are. The Chinese worship numbered lists, so branding (mostly liberal arts) colleges as “Top 10 All-American Schools” would sway a significant proportion of Chinese applicants.
It’s racist, of course, but these lists would only be published in China, where racism is celebrated.
kaipan
Chinese students and American universities are pimping each other – Chinese students pay full tuition; American Universities enroll them.
Chinese (foreign) students are nothing but a cash-cow for US universities.
Saudi students (in the 1970s) were the cash-cow the cash-cow for US universities.
America could not care less if Chinese students learn, the US just wants the money. If Chinese students are so stupid they don’t take advantage of the educational situation, well, who’s the fool?
The Americans already have the (tuition) money.
Luke Corbin
Great article. Hit the nail on the head.
shen liang
“And then there’s the third type of Chinese student. They throw themselves into the foreign environment and embrace the new experiences, with or without help. They choose the most difficult – and most rewarding – classes, where they work diligently to contribute from their unique cultural perspectives. And despite the initial obstacles, they never give up trying out new activities, learning from different cultures, and growing as individuals. At the end of college, they make the professors and students they know feel both fortunate and proud. But it is this kind of Chinese student that is the hardest to find. I’ve only encountered a couple since I’ve been here.”
I know what you are trying to say, and I hope I don’t sound too critical. What you say above means they are not really “the third type” (which also means whether they represent Chinese students is actually in question). They are not a type at all. They are exceptions. Consider the scale.
lifeng
Interesting article. The first thing comes to my head is that:let it be. The reason why this phenomenon could raise so many discussion just because there are so many Chinese student study aboard. China develops very fast, so the parents can afford the money. Though they are rich, they are still traditional chinese guys who inherit the chinese ‘zhongyong’culture? And because of different view towards life, people etc., most importantly, Chinese guys want receive the same reaction when they are showing kindness to other people. However, those U.S guys are more indenpendly and do not care much about this secret feeling. So, they will both do not feel comfortable and will stay in their individual comfort zone. assimilation process need some time. Let it be.
Jesse’s doppelgänger
Apropos and worth reading:
http://pacificrimshots.com/levels-of-understanding-2/
Ray
Culture conflict is inevitable especially between the Asian and westerners, and lack of communication is the major obstacle, that is the root cause, the author failed to point out.
Vic
Agree with every word the author said based what I’ve seen and heard as a Chinese who has a lot of friends went abroad. The focus of the discussion seems misplaced to me: if the students themselves don’t want to be fitted in, it is not the question of how school/education system/society can help. Sadly, that’s the case I’ve seen as Zhou described here.
However, to me there is a fundamental cultural crash here. US has a tradition to design and improve the system/mechanism to ensure objectives achieved under the assumption that people may not do it. Chinese do the opposite.
R.X.
Great article! I just wanted to add that American university culture tends to encourage people to socialize with “their own.” This is a problem that has been addressed in discussions of American students of various ethnicities. African Americans, Asian Americans, Latinos, European Americans etc. tend to socialize with people of the same race. So it’s not surprising that internationals would also do the same.
Tiffany
Agree. There is a psychological study recently with a similar conclusion. It is about the barrier to socialize with people from different countries. It’s said although it seems easy to make friends with Americans, it is hard to be good friend with them.
Megan
Your piece was extremely interesting for me to read – especially since I studied Chinese in Chongqing, China last spring of my junior year in college. And it’s also interesting because even though I consider myself a very independent woman, and have no problem traveling by myself, I found that when presented with this study situation in China, there were many days where I had to force myself to recognize that I was in China to study Chinese and learn about the culture – not hang out with Americans and create our own little “USA.” As for your statement, “find 157,000 Americans and throw them into China and you’d probably have [a similar situation],” I completely agree. While I was traveling with a friend to the coastal cities I noticed larger communities of expats there than were in Chongqing, and a majority of them had created their own home-away-from-home space. Basically, I just think you did a great job and would like to read more of what you’ve written. You’re neat, let’s be friends.
Robert
I have been teaching in South Korean universities for 9 years. In my current university, I get a lot of Chinese exchange students. They have been my star students. They seem to be the ideal student when it comes to attitude, and I love having them in my classroom. Obviously, they would have an easier time with Koreans because their cultural values are on more even ground. I teach in the English Literature department, so these students already have a good grasp of English when they come. I can understand the problems they would have in a U.S. university, and would assume that a Korean would have similar problems. I would be interested to know if that were true.
Tiffany
There might be another kind of student from my personal experience, those who tried to learn the American culture and try to be Americanized at first, but later find they are unwilling to accept some aspects of the American culture. So, they will choose their own way to live It is only a rational choice of their preferred lifestyle, which will be the same for them to live in any corner of the world. Although we are studying here, we also have the right to have our own life here.
JinBJ
Such a good read, it’s heartening to know there are people at the front lines of cultural interaction with such developed perspectives. I think one of the best things about US universities is their consideration of the ‘whole student’ and what he or she has to offer. I find the current situation with Chinese students a bit cynical, and I think it undercuts the US competitive advantage in higher education. Nobody who has ever taken a course at PKU or Tsinghua would ever say these schools compare well with even mediocre American state schools, but to have them be the preferred choice because they require higher gaokao scores? US schools should apply the same policies for acceptance or they will become a haven for the lazy rich.
Daz
It’s a good article. (I don’t think anyone would be bothered to read my comment but if you do, I don’t agree with this article)
To cut it short: This is a problem of students in general from any backgrounds in any universities all over the world. You can categorise students in general. I’m sure you can find American students who stick to people within their friend circles, or who perhaps don’t go out as much or don’t socialise. So why make it a big deal out of Chinese international students? And perhaps imply that Chinese students who fit in are ‘far better’. (the latter statement probably has gone too far. but that d make my point. )
Colleen
This is a good article presents various perspectives the Chinese students come from. I commend that part. Yet I must say that the solutions suggested are not solutions at all even if they were carried out. What do you even mean by letting a few students immerse in American culture by being more selective? This IS American culture. America is this huge country that has people from extremely different backgrounds-culture, ethnicity, economical, and social background. Even white people just among themselves would not be able to “fit in” with each other. Look at high school cliques. It’s not like there is one way to be American and there is one unified American culture.
All these different groups make up a part of American culture. Do you think having less Chinese students will make Americans(are you thinking of Americans with non-immigrant parents?????) suddenly say, “Oh! I should randomly talk to the Chinese boy/girl over there?” When there is cultural exchange, people should just stop thinking there is one culture from that country. Culture is not just some freaking food or entertaining exotic things. Culture is fluid. When you are talking to a Chinese person, you are not learning Chinese culture, you are learning Chinese culture from that person’s perspective, and what the person’s way of practicing and making sense of things.
Anyway that cultural interaction however you define it or imagine it is not going to happen. It’s kind of ridiculous to say that the current way of universities accepting students from Asia hurts Americans. How does it hurt Americans?? It’s quite natural for people with longer citizenship status feel ownership of a nationality and see newcomers as some kind of invader, but that’s not how it is. The Chinese students may be having an unhappy study abroad experience that is different from their picture filled with interaction with other cultures, but it doesn’t do any harm to other Americans. If you call the inconveniences of Americans for not knowing how to deal with this new group/cliques forming in their universities, they need to work on getting over it. Even if culture shock can be a problem and annoyance, it is actually beneficial for Americans that believe they are the only ones in the world and the ones ruling the world.
The question should not just be “How should the Chinese assimilate and how could they be helped if they need to be helped?” Another important question is “How can the Americans that feel like they have been here forever be helped to accept that migration is a common social phenomenon that happened throughout history and is a big part of modern society? How can they be helped to feel less annoyed when they hear a foreign language on campus?” I even see Americans complain about people not writing stuff in English on the internet when the internet is as far as I know the World Wide Web, not the English only zone… So I ask you how do you think Americans can assimilate to the reality of the globalized world and complex relations created by humans that decided to see beyond their borders. Seeing the result, we can say that globalization doesn’t mean we learn a few fun things from this culture and that, and wish we could return to those days when we were swimming in our own fishbowls oblivious to the existence of “others,” but if this is what already happened and we need to learn how to deal with it, then trying to cultivate a purer fish bowl with only a few foreign fish, is not going to be beneficial to anyone.
Andy
Totally agree with the author, who has significant insight into what goes into the minds of foreign students, not just Chinese ones. It’s exactly applicable to other privileged students from overseas who don’t really care about studying, just wanting to earn themselves a degree in America, the UK, or Australia, or elsewhere.
Mike
Chinese students, including those educated in Hong Kong, tend to regard the teacher as all-knowing and they treat the teacher with respect and rarely challenge/debate. So this for them is a new form of learning. Be patient as this is changing, and not just in the classroom.
Arwen
Why do I have a different picture of the situation?
I ｓｅｅ three types of Chinese students.
Type 1: the rich ones who stick with each other as the author described.
Type 2: hard working students who think that finishing their school assignments and actually learning something from school is their way towards success in life, those are satisfied with a tiny social circle of Chinese around them and believe that making effort to assimilate culturally is not worth the effort. This group usually comprises of the most intelligent students.
And type 3: Those that wants nothing else than fit in with their American peers, and spend more time partying then studying. This group usually consists more of girls and their goal in college is not to actually learn something but rather find an American boyfriend who would be their gold ticket to a green card. Unfortunately, I have a hard time viewing this group as the “hard-working” and “intelligent” type that the author describes.
Rossa
I’m from Toronto and we have a massive Chinese community. The Chineses students at U of T have no problem fitting in, Canadians have no time welcoming them. Mind you, this is downtown Toronto which is very cosmopolitan and open with all cultures simply because we are a melting pot.
It helps that we have a massive Chinatown close to the University, and it helps that Canadians are accustomed to Chinese.
Jez
The problem here in Australia is that our universities are so concerned with accepting anyone and everyone as long as they’re paying, and the biggest money-maker of all is international students. The university I go to offers students an in-house English program so they don’t need to pass any accredited IELTS-type exams; as you’d expect, the in-house course is grossly inadequate and designed purely to get the dollars through the door, so Chinese students (and middle-easterners fall into this trap as well) with little to no actual English proficiency are given the green light and allowed to enrol. Then we give them the option of using a Chinese-English dictionary in their exams; as long as their English is good enough to translate topic notes for weekly classes (and I assume translated copies are easily found for sale anyway) there’s no actual need to live outside that Chinese bubble.
Add in that Chinese in particular are of a different cultural bent to us westerners: while they seem boring and insular, we must seem like overly-extroverted alcoholics to the point that going to the pub must feel like a night on the set of Jersey Shore. And the western fear of being labeled a racist doesn’t exist for them – our efforts to sample other cultures are borne (often subconsciously) of that overriding pressure to appear more tolerant than previous generations. There’s no such pressure on Chinese students – for them, it’s perfectly acceptable to come to Australia and speak only Mandarin, live exclusively with other Chinese students, eat Chinese food every meal and take the exact same subjects (business or economics) as your countrymen. Variety and the individual just aren’t celebrated in their culture, plain and simple.