Shanghai Institute of International Studies

Tuesday May 27, 2014

The lectures we have had at SIIS have been really interesting and more interactive than the past two universities. The Chinese students sit in on the lectures too, although they are not as vocal as us (most likely because it is hard to debate politics in your second language).

Today's lecture was especially stimulating because the professor conducted it more like an actual class. Instead of lecturing and having a Q&A at the end, he asked us tough questions and forced both the Chinese and American students to not only answer the question, but to think through the logic of our answers and provide logical reasoning. He also gave us all push back on the answers we gave, essentially playing devil's advocate. This approach was just like our classes back home and I think it is the best way to learn. If you aren't put on the spot and forced to think through these issues it's easy to just give any answer and not really understand the depth of these issues.

The first question he posed, which we spent a significant amount of time on was "is China becoming more assertive?" The Americans generally answered that yes China is, while the Chinese all agreed they weren't. However I think this divide is largely due to how each side views the word assertive. I think the Chinese students view it with a negative connotation, therefore it would not apply to them. I also think they do no see how their military modernization, regardless of their intentions, appears inherently threatening to the US and the region.

There were so many great comments, I wish I could regurgitate them here, but there is not enough room so I wii have to end here!

Cheryl

To ‘Avoiding Entrapment’

While out at dinner with graduate students from the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies (SIIS) tonight, the world’s favorite dictator came up in conversation. Namely, the tradition of
memes begun under Kim Jong-il, entitled “Kim Jong-il looks at things,” which has been so nobly continued by Kim Jong-un, under the auspicious label “Kim Jong-un looks at things,” came up.

One of the SIIS students bemoaned the Chinese-North Korean relationship as an embarrassing nuisance.  We shared our concerns that North Korea’s precarious political leadership and penchant for provocations could lead to conflict on the peninsula.  In comparison, I observed, “The United States worries about entrapment by Japan in the same way China worries about entrapment by North Korea.”  In other words, both China and the United States could be pulled into armed conflict because of long-term allegiances and promises to two nations which recently increased in feisty-ness.  In a semi-solemn moment, we gladly raised our glasses to ‘Avoiding entrapment.’

If the students we ate dinner with tonight reflect the thinking of China’s next generation of diplomats, then there is hope China will at least refuse to be drawn into another peninsular debacle stemming from the Kim family’s hunger for power and perhaps even clamp down on the
North Korean regime’s erratic behavior.

Look on, little Kim.  So long as looking is all you do.

Benjamin J. Hayford

Chinese Television

Watching Chinese TV is an interesting experience. Unlike in the US where we have telenovela, every single channel is in Chinese. Not that I expect them to accommodate us, we don't have any Chinese channels in the US. But it really hits you how much you are cut off from the world without news when you get email that Thailand (where I am going after this trip) has declared martial law and absolutely no one on the trip knew.

My favorite Chinese show, hands down, is a show called something like "Sing With Me." Basically it's like The Voice except judges vote by deciding to sing along. It's all very dramatic when a judge pushes a button and a microphone comes swinging around and they burst out in song. The interesting part is how much they have taken form American TV vs how much they have added. They have shows that are literally The Voice China, but once they find a good idea they take it to a whole new level. It results in a whole group of American students talking about the great Chinese television rather than some of the less appealing aspects of China like extreme inequality or lack of human rights. Well played China, well played.

Caroline Rothrock

Tian'anmen Square

Tiananmen Square was an interesting experience. In America you hear about the event involving the students in the 1980s, however much of the population seems unaware that there were any deaths there just a few decades ago. Much like the other sites, we were treated like super stars. People came up to all of us to get pictures with the tall Americans, which is still a novelty to them.

One thing that surprised me about Tianamen was how open the area was. For some unknown reason I assumed the area was somewhat blocked off. Instead it was surrounded by rather busy roads. We were able to walk to the square from the Forbidden City and then right over to the national museum afterwards. Seeing the squares surroundings explains why that location was chosen. Not only was it right next to the historically important Forbidden City, but it was also directly in front of the People's Congress. We didn't get too close to the giant picture of Mao, but honestly we didn't need to. It was just a wall next to the street. For a place with such intense history the scenery was surprisingly underwhelming.

Caroline Rothrock

Honest and Brave Intellectuals are Needed for the U.S. and China to Become Good Friends

In the United States, academics and businessmen from time to time receive political appointments and serve at the pleasure of the President. Various roles throughout the administration are filled by women and men with experience leading Universities and corporations. The revolving door between administrations and think tanks is not replicated in the Chinese governance system. In China, political reliability is highly valued and politicians are advanced based on performance measures, with an emphasis on economic performance over the past thirty years. However, the Democratic and Republican parties value political reliability as well. The Communist Party of China and the Democratic and Republican parties in the United States groom individuals who are politically reliable. To be an honest and brave intellectual while remaining politically reliable can be a difficult task in the People’s Republic of China (P.R.C.).

This morning we had the distinct privilege of hearing from one of the most honest and brave intellectuals in the P.R.C., Yang Jiemian. His words renewed my hope for a bright future between China and the United States. Yang believes, “The best way for peace is to do business.”

He spoke to us about the recent Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA) Summit, which was held in Shanghai last week, on the 20^th and 21^st. Yang noted, “We need a new momentum of building Asia into a more secure, more peaceful, and more prosperous region of the world.”

Looking forward, he is confident China and the U.S. can become good friends. His poignant words left a lasting impression on our combined group of Bush School and Shanghai Institutes of International Studies graduate students. “We are all human beings,” he said. “We want a happy life. We want to educate ourselves. We want our children to be better than ourselves. We want peace.”

Following the lecture, Dr. Mu observed, “Sometimes intellectuals must be brave and say what they think.” Indeed, Yang Jiemian is the type of brave and honest intellectual China desperately needs as it rises.

Benjamin J. Hayford

21 May 2014 Pengzhou, Sichuan Province

By Sean Larsen

Today we left the bustling cities, smoggy air, and heavy traffic behind as we headed to Pengzhou, a rural community north of Chengdu. On our way we picked up several undergraduate students from the Southwestern University of Finance and Economics (SWUFE) and enjoyed the opportunity of conversing with and learning much from them.  Pengzhou was a beautiful mountainous region full of lush green trees towering over a quiet riverbed.  Among the solemnity lay a few scarred remains of the 2008 earthquake that killed about 70,000 people, a humbling thought for those of us who have never experience such vast tragedy.
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We made a few stops in the area to observe a little bit of the life of the rural Chinese. We paused for a bit at a little nursery with rows of greenhouses full of blooming Gerber daisies and corn drying above. Aligned in neat rows out front were fruit trees, various types of vegetables, and large hydrangeas not quite ready to make their show of beautiful pinks and blues.  The little row of rooms where the caretaker lived were accompanied by pens of chickens and massive pigs.  And a little old lady graced us with her presence and shyly allowed us to take some pictures with her. It is amazing to ponder the events that have transpired in her country over her 80 years of life and the changes she has witnessed.

With a hand full of daisies, we left the little nursery to visit a nearby primary school.  A little class of six and seven-year olds joined us in the courtyard and sang a couple of songs for us. We presented each little girl and several of the bravest little boys with a daisy as they each told us their name.  Fortunately they were willing to interact and speak with us and we greatly enjoyed seeing their excitement of having such strange visitors.  We were impressed by how nice the school was, especially being in such a rural area.  It is obvious that China does put a good amount of investment into at least some rural education programs.

This visit to Pegnzhou was a very rewarding experience for all of us and we were grateful for such an opportunity to experience a side of China rarely seen by foreign eyes.

Chinese Foreign Affairs University, Beijing

On Friday we had the opportunity to sit in with a graduate class at CFAU. This was probably one of the most memorable things we have done thus far. We walked into the room and I immediately noticed writing on the board that looked familiar. They had just been learning about deterrence theory, hand tying, costly signals, etc.  This being my area of interest, I was immediately excited about the coming conversation.

As far as the students, I expected them to not necessarily be unfriendly, but rather more skeptical of Americans. They were actually the opposite. I first introduced myself to a male student who promptly found a different place to sit, (he didn't seem to want to be in class) but after that I found two girls, roommates named Susie and Sun shu. These girls were both first year students and were lovely. We chatted about school and our lives at home and realized that we have a lot in common. It was extremely surprising how similar our classes were, although as students in the same field we shouldn't have been surprised. They read Waltz, Mearsheimer, and my personal favorite Schelling. I think the experience made all parties realize how similar we are, even if our cultures are very different. It was also encouraging to have a conversation with the future government workers of China about the continuation of friendly Sino-U.S. relations in spite of differences.

I look forward to meeting the students in Chengdu and Shanghai next!

Cheryl
16 May 2014