'For those us who grew up in a system where information control is all-encompassing, processing ideas contrary to what we were taught and believed all our lives is not easy,' writes Yaqiu Wang in an op-ed on the Hong Kong protests. (via latimesopinion)
calling the posters an “insult to China.” It said the group “resolutely defends the motherland’s unity … resolutely opposes any act that attempts to split China.” Such language comes straight out of the Chinese government propaganda lexicon. To these students, their earlier teachings remain the only way they can argue orThis is doubtless what the Chinese government intends.
When I was in school in China, facing incomprehensible concepts like “the scientific system of Mao Zedong thought,” and “socialist system with Chinese characteristics,” I told myself not to think about their meaning but just to memorize them and regurgitate them on the exams. When you live under Communist Party rule, not thinking is self-preservation.
Even emotions are calibrated by the state. We are taught to be happy about certain events, to be sad or angry about others, but never to pause and ponder why. Shortly after a friend of mine emigrated to Hong Kong from the mainland in early 1997, China’s paramount leader, Deng Xiaoping, died. My friend, then a middle school student, went to the Liaison Office, Beijing’s representative in Hong Kong, to pay tribute.
Even though it is challenging to expose Chinese students to fundamentally different ideas, it’s important to continue interacting with them. Universities and educators should double down on respectful, nonjudgmental , mindful that the students may feel compelled to appear to defend the Chinese government. Chinese authorities have long monitored and conducted surveillance on students from China on campuses around the world.
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