Part II
Jun/04/08 08:59 PM
So we're midway through our two courses here at Chinese University of Hong Kong for the summer program. Because of this, we've received two new professors. Both are Chinese. However, they couldn't be more different from eachother. One is ardently pro-China (and probably the closest I've ever come to a Communist [other than my liberal friends back home]), while the other is fervently anti-China. We had the pro-China professor first at the beginning of the week and were shocked by his lecture. Throughout class we would frequently look at eachother with puzzled looks as he uttered a seemingly ridiculous statement. Most Hong Kong people feel a connection to China because of their Chinese roots and heritage, but strongly and publicly criticize the country for its communist ways. So, this professor was something totally different for us.
A few quotes that I wrote down from class:
-When questioned about the removal of residents for the construction of the Three Gorges Dam- "Let me rephrase some of what you said. They weren't kicked out of the Three Gorges. They were 'relocated'". (The girl who asked the question has been there and says that these people most definitely were not simply "relocated")
-On Tibetan protests- "We call them disturbances" (as opposed to politically grounded protests)
-"Mao famously said that if we can feed every person in China, we're doing well. We're feeding everyone these days"
-"China is doing well on pollution now. That might not have been the case for the last 30 years, but we're better now" (as we're all still recovering from our coughs from the Beijing pollution two weeks ago)
-"Guanxi (the Asian practice of forming relationships to do business) isn't corruption. It's nepotism" (Oh, okay then. Nepotism isn't that bad)
-"LG is trying to buy GE" (I watch the news almost 24/7 and highly doubt I and all my classmates would have missed a story like that)
-"The Communists are lucky. They've picked the right people to lead this country since Mao. The politicians have been well-trained. You may be cynical and say his [Hu Jintao] earthquake reaction is for show. It's not. He cares"
-On China's low GDP per capita rate- "GDP per capita doesn't mean anything. We need to focus more on the rich"
-"There are 7,000 people in Tibet causing all this noise"
On the other hand, our second new professor started off class today (the anniversary of the massacre at Tiananmen Square) with a reflection on the incident and the actions and deaths of students. He strongly criticized the response of the Chinese government over the past years and hammered them for covering up the facts. We brought up the fact that when you search "Tiananmen Square" from Google in China, nothing comes up. He also tore into China's economic policies and human rights violations.
A few of his quotes:
-"The logic of control for the Chinese government has not changed over the years. However, we see the power of the NGO's as change after the earthquake"
-"The office of propaganda won't let media publish reports of poor quality school buildings or coruption. It will only allow the publication of heroic military stories and rescues"
-"All countries find enemies. In China, the Chinese people are the enemies"
-"In China it doesn't matter which university your degree came from, only the type of degree" (regarding the effect of the Communist system on competition and hiring practices)
-"Fords and American cards last forever. Japanese cars fall apart after 10 years" (This isn't really anti-China. I just found it funny that his view of American cars was the exactly 180 degrees opposite of Americans' views)
Anyways, the second half of the term looks to be much more interesting than the first half class-wise as we will get the opportunity to see two radically different approaches to business and politics in Asia and China. As absurd as some of the first professor's rantings are, its interesting to see the other side of the story argued for the first time here in ultra-capitalist Hong Kong.
A few quotes that I wrote down from class:
-When questioned about the removal of residents for the construction of the Three Gorges Dam- "Let me rephrase some of what you said. They weren't kicked out of the Three Gorges. They were 'relocated'". (The girl who asked the question has been there and says that these people most definitely were not simply "relocated")
-On Tibetan protests- "We call them disturbances" (as opposed to politically grounded protests)
-"Mao famously said that if we can feed every person in China, we're doing well. We're feeding everyone these days"
-"China is doing well on pollution now. That might not have been the case for the last 30 years, but we're better now" (as we're all still recovering from our coughs from the Beijing pollution two weeks ago)
-"Guanxi (the Asian practice of forming relationships to do business) isn't corruption. It's nepotism" (Oh, okay then. Nepotism isn't that bad)
-"LG is trying to buy GE" (I watch the news almost 24/7 and highly doubt I and all my classmates would have missed a story like that)
-"The Communists are lucky. They've picked the right people to lead this country since Mao. The politicians have been well-trained. You may be cynical and say his [Hu Jintao] earthquake reaction is for show. It's not. He cares"
-On China's low GDP per capita rate- "GDP per capita doesn't mean anything. We need to focus more on the rich"
-"There are 7,000 people in Tibet causing all this noise"
On the other hand, our second new professor started off class today (the anniversary of the massacre at Tiananmen Square) with a reflection on the incident and the actions and deaths of students. He strongly criticized the response of the Chinese government over the past years and hammered them for covering up the facts. We brought up the fact that when you search "Tiananmen Square" from Google in China, nothing comes up. He also tore into China's economic policies and human rights violations.
A few of his quotes:
-"The logic of control for the Chinese government has not changed over the years. However, we see the power of the NGO's as change after the earthquake"
-"The office of propaganda won't let media publish reports of poor quality school buildings or coruption. It will only allow the publication of heroic military stories and rescues"
-"All countries find enemies. In China, the Chinese people are the enemies"
-"In China it doesn't matter which university your degree came from, only the type of degree" (regarding the effect of the Communist system on competition and hiring practices)
-"Fords and American cards last forever. Japanese cars fall apart after 10 years" (This isn't really anti-China. I just found it funny that his view of American cars was the exactly 180 degrees opposite of Americans' views)
Anyways, the second half of the term looks to be much more interesting than the first half class-wise as we will get the opportunity to see two radically different approaches to business and politics in Asia and China. As absurd as some of the first professor's rantings are, its interesting to see the other side of the story argued for the first time here in ultra-capitalist Hong Kong.
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