For this, my final blog post, I want to look back over the entire three weeks to discuss our experiences directly related to the Chinese and especially our interaction with the Chinese students at the various universities and institutes we attended. The first thing I noticed about the Chinese is how happy they all seem to be. Aside from their crazy, aggressive driving, they are very friendly to one another and to foreigners. Especially in cities like Shanghai, Chinese and foreigners seem to coexist and blend well together.
One of the greatest experiences while in China was the opportunities we had to converse with the Chinese students at their school or those who came on the daily excursions with us. Each had a unique life story and interesting views concerning their country, it's past, and the current and future relationship between the United States and China. In general, after speaking with the students, I felt optimistic about the future relations of our countries. Most of the Chinese youth speak English very well, watch American TV shows, play American sports, even eat American food. Most have a great desire to visit the US, and most probably will at some point in their lives. They mostly have favorable views towards the US, even if they don't totally agree with our government. They know, as we do concerning them, that the youth of today see things very differently than our leaders. I have hope that the ability of the youth to look past differences and their desire to continue cultural exchange may be what keeps the partnership between our nations.
Sean Larsen
3 June 2014
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