Here is something about my trip to Beijing. Let me know what you think about it!
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My visit to the Peking University (PKU) at Beijing was part of the Cross-Cultural Capstone Design program led by the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering. In November 2011, we traveled to Beijing in a group of 15 students and professors to present on our project developments. We were there for 5 days.
China..from an outsider's point of view
During the visit, we were exposed to a different university environment than University of Toronto. My experience with PKU was one of disgust and wonder. Their residences were dirty; the human congestion was much less than ideal and their buildings were bare and empty. I was not impressed with the Chinese level of wireless connectivity, not getting access to many of the English websites. At the same time, I am also aware that PKU students have lived and thrived under these conditions. Although the living standards at PKU differ considerably from our university, I know that living behind the shabby university walls are students so ambitious and inspirational that it would shame myself. To me, that was an indication that many things are matters of preference in the process of attaining success. I was disgusted with their living quarters and internet access, yet I was also amazed that these were not major hindrances to these Chinese students as they were to me. To me, their ability to stay focus regardless of their surrounding environments was already a success to me. Being among the students at PKU have led me to a conclusion that sometimes, success lies in the process of achieving an end goal and not a goal in itself.
It has been said, “seeing is believing”, that seeing for yourself is to experience the truth. My trip to Beijing was filled with answers that remain unquestioned and new questions that were unanswered. While I was busy feeling disgusted and amazed at the same time, I recorded some of my observations that baffled me. This short essay records some of the observations that I have made.
1. The fashion that I have seen in Beijing is a questionable mix of North American and Chinese styles. Perhaps this is what is called an “integration of culture”. The Chinese brought in the Western concepts of simple (but adequate) dressing and added their own fluffy cutesy accessories and bright colors (think of metallic gold). These tend to be on the “loud” side, where the colors scream for attention and the fluffs spell Chinese. At the university of Toronto, sometimes I know that a student is from China when I see his/her fashion styles. I find it odd that I can identify a Chinese student from China not by her facial features, but by the way she dresses. Odd as it may be to me, this observation leads to me to ask a question: Is this an implication of their inner desires to be seen as Westernized?
2. I consider myself to be indifferent to popular beliefs that Asians are conservative and that to us, physical contact in public is a taboo. However, I cannot help but to notice the large amount of students who held hands on the PKU campus. Now, why did these scenes in Peking University surprise me? Firstly, I believe that I have seen more couples holding hands on the PKU campus than on U of T’s. Secondly, I wonder if this surge in the dating scene implies deeper voids within the students that need to be filled. Students at PKU are known to be hard workers who would self-study until 10pm every night and achieve almost perfect scores in exams. When I mentioned this to a professor, he remarked that I spend much of my time within the engineering buildings and is not exposed to the arts and science students at U of T. At the same time, I wonder if it could that some of them feel that academic achievements do not satisfy them emotionally and there is a need to find solace in a close relationship with someone of the opposite gender.
With that said, I know that my observations are somewhat flawed. There may not be explicit relationships between Western tendencies and fashion styles, nor is there a psychological explanation between finding fulfillment in a dating relationship and the abundance of students who held hands on PKU campus. Even if there are, these matters will not have a linear causal-effect relationship. My professor once said, “To find the answers, you must know the answers.” Perhaps these observations are my first steps to answering some of the questions I have about Chinese and China.
My comments are purely made from what I have read and seen outside of China.
China does make an interesting observational piece, doesn’t it? I guess the ‘bareness’ of China that you see- in terms of their education and culture may be a result of the social and cultural tumult that China has been through since Mao’s time. China has been through so much! The fact they have universities, where students can somewhat freely engage in true intellectual challenges and discourses, is remarkable when one remembers what China was like during the Cultural Revolution.
Do the Chinese feel more of a need for human connection than others? I am inclined to think ‘not’. But I would imagine the need for human connection when you are lost in a throng of millions of people. Slightly off-tangent, but I wonder what is the moral compass for many of these Chinese? Is China still recovering from living under close to 20+ years of not even being allowed to think any thoughts of their own? I don’t know.
I don’t know whether China is necessarily trying to be more Westernised. I think people like me ought to be critiqued more. I do wonder why Western culture is deemed as more ‘cool’, whereas Eastern cultures (save the Japanese zen-thing) is considered interesting but tacky. It’s all in the mind, isn’t it?
By the way, absolutely loving the new look on your blog- I didn’t know you changed the format as I have been reading your blog from my RSS feeds
Hello Jo!
Thank you for your comment
I want to comment on the part where you said you’re not sure if China is necessarily trying to be more Westernized. I do know that my friends have told me that Chinese who are fluent English speakers are highly regarded and prized. A friend had to make a farewell speech in English because it brought pride to his parents. Of course, that particular friend grew up in Canada and hence, is fluent in both Chinese and English.
But going deeper into that, does the attitude of looking up at an English speaker serve as an indication of desires to be Westernized? That will go into definitions of what is Western and if the English language falls into that category. Looking at history, I am inclined to think that English has been used as a colonial tool and its language status (if language has a status!) has since been elevated to one that is more “civilized”, along with the Western culture. This is my hypothesis, if you will allow me. I am not sure myself. Like you, I have not experienced living under a Chinese government and everything I know about China is through comments made by people I know. This topic is definitely that fascinates me, especially after my trip to Beijing. Sometimes I wish I can study this instead of engineering, but I guess one should make do with what one has for now