Yukon, Ho!

Anyone who has ever spent time with me will know that I'm a huge Calvin and Hobbes junkie. Almost everything I see or hear immediately calls up into my head some C&H strip that then frames whatever my situation may be (and makes me chuckle on the inside). I mention this because, having now been back in the US for over a full month, I still get the same response when I bring up my recent trip to China: "oh wow, China! what an adventure!"

"Adventure" is a perfect word/concept to illustrate. I grew up a military brat, which, interestingly enough, has its own wikipedia page. That's really cool. While I'm usually loathe to reference any article or wiki page that uses the horribly trite phrase "global citizen," this is nevertheless an interesting entry, and actually seems pretty spot-on. Anyway, I think that "adventure" holds a pretty significant connotation for military brats, and the more I think about and reflect on the trip we took, the more I'm able to comfortably call it an adventure.

Which, of course, brings up the fantastic additional content C&H's creator, Bill Watterson, drew up for the opening of his collection Yukon Ho!:

Calvin and his stuffed tiger, Hobbes, secede from the family and decide to away from home to the Yukon. While it doesn't quite work out as planned, there's a terrific story arc that follows, including one of my favorite lines, "Calvin's Log: Journey to the Yukon, Day One: Have traveled 200 yards from our starting point. No snow so far." They abandon their journey shortly thereafter (following a mutinous decree of double-rations for Hobbes, who wants an extra sandwich), but it's nevertheless an enjoyable account of childhood adventure. They rummage up a few supplies, attempt to map out a course, and, in the end, are completely unprepared for what they encounter. (sound familiar, guys?)

We didn't see anything like the Yukon on our grand adventure to the People's Republic, but we did see some really cool stuff, like the Summer Palace,

 

The Temple of Heaven Park

And the Great Wall, all the while following... this:

Seriously. We followed the flower

Where happy flower went, so did we

Ever vigilant

I think it's important to wait between returning from a trip and sharing thoughts about it. Having taken that time, I think it's perfectly reasonable to call this an adventure: we got jazzed up and excited for an exotic trip, attempted to prepare through class sessions and readings, and hoped that we packed enough clothes, money, and snacks to last the length of the journey. I, for one, was not even close to fully prepared... But that's the beauty of adventure - you learn as you go, and usually lament having packed insufficiently.

We traveled as a group and in order to fulfill "contact hours" had only a few hours here and there of "free time." But there was ample opportunity throughout the trip to wander and explore once we arrived at monuments or sites (when we weren't following the flower!). Without a doubt my favorite experiences were my discussions with the Chinese graduate students we met in Shanghai at SIIS. A great conversation I can recall during a discussion with a student about Realist theory and US-China relations, as we were joking around and talking about Mearsheimer - not to be confused with making fun of Mearsheimer):

Liu: "Whenever I've spoken with American students, they always seem to be afraid to ask hard questions; they always want to stick to the easy, non-controversial questions."
Jack: "Ok, let's play hardball then... Does China want to be a regional hegemon at the expense of the US and our ability to project power to guarantee security for willing East Asian states?"
Liu: "Well... according to Mearsheimer, yes! We want you out of our seas so we can be the hegemon in our own region, not you. You should not expect any less from China."
Jack: "Yeah... whether we should or not... that's probably not going to happen. There will always be too much rhetoric against cooperation, since our relative decline is viewed as zero-sum to your rise. So, maybe some accessions could be made on both sides, without China needing to push for hegemony - because, let's be honest, neither side really wants to go to war, right?"
Liu: (laughs) "So you ARE scared of us, then!"

I think this highlights the degree to which we really CAN engage in meaningful dialogue as students of IR, when our respective educational backgrounds line up (a challenge, given that Chinese scholars and students both will readily admit to a deficiency in their teaching and application of theory) but there are obstacles. It's similarly interesting to discuss domestic politics with the students, especially in public. The overriding expectation is that reform will happen soon, but it's interesting to see them express that in a hushed whisper, when one so naturally takes for granted the political freedoms afforded Americans at home. To see a student loudly proclaim himself a member of the Communist Party and laud its merits (and then quietly revert to normal, apologize for the career-necessary digression, and explain why he's sick of the system) is fascinating, even other-worldly.

I'll try to blog again sometime before the end of the week, just to expound more on the political and IR-related takeaways from the trip. They're currently bouncing around in my head in a haphazard manner (I'm still working on the paper), so I assume a few more days will let it all settle out in a more clear sense. In the meantime:

"It’s a magical world, Hobbes, ol’ buddy…Let’s go exploring!"

-Jack