Building a Sino-US cultural relations' bridge
WHILE the first day of 1979 was widely marked as the important start of the normalization of the Sino-US relationship, there were actually some fine bridges extending between the two nations even before the big day, which had been growing stronger throughout the years.
Around Christmas in 1978, 52 Chinese in black suits and overcoats arrived at JFK International Airport. They were the first group of selected scholars sent by the Chinese government since 1949 to further their studies in the country with the most advanced technology at the time.
Their arrival not only signaled the ending of a nearly 30-year hostility between China and the United States, but also started a 40-year chapter of continuous scholar and student exchanges between China and the world.
Nearly 5.2 million Chinese studied abroad from 1978 to 2017, with more than 80 percent returning to China afterward. In 2017 alone, more than 350,000 Chinese were studying in the US, top of all source countries for foreign students there.
In addition, an increasing number of exchange programs have been popping up in recent years, tightening the bonds between China and the world by bringing more scholars to China. According to Professor Shen Dingli of Fudan University, while there were only about 30 overseas sister schools with active exchange programs with Fudan, the number exceeded 300 by now with institutional exchanges. “The trickle has grown into a running river. We were just honored to have been part of it,” said Shen.
Shen Guoxiong
78, two years in the US from the end of 1978 to 1981
As a member of the first batch of Chinese scholars visiting the US after 1949, 78-year-old Shen Guoxiong, former deputy director of the Shanghai branch of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, remembers the countless flashlights and clicking of cameras the moment they stepped out of the airport.
Then the representative member read out a statement drafted on the flight, Shen knew they would be part of history, and hoped they would live up to their mission.
“We were there not only for learning advanced technologies, but also for the potential friendship between the US and Chinese peoples,” said Shen.
As an assistant researcher on micro-electronics at the Shanghai branch of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shen had long thought about seeing how the world’s most advanced countries were doing in micro-electronics rather than by reading about it in limited printed documents.
Yet, it was merely a dream until he was suddenly informed of a possible chance to study in the US sponsored by the government in late 1978.
“It was big news for many Chinese researchers at the time, since the US was widely-recognized as a country with the most advanced technology at the time, yet no academic exchanges had happened between China and US for nearly 30 years due to the hostile relationship. As John King Fairbank once put it, from 1950 to 1971 Washington sent more men to the moon than to China,” said Shen.
However, not every candidate could make it to the final list for the US. They needed to prove their qualifications through rounds of exams that included professional competence and English.
Thanks to years of studying various micro-electronic documents mostly written in English, Shen, who had taken Russian as his first foreign language at university as most Chinese scholars did at the time, still stood out among the hundreds of candidates from all over the nation and won his seat in the first team of 52 scholars.
In Washington where Shen took four months of intensive English training before actually visiting New York’s Cornell University, Shen witnessed the moment when Vice Premier Deng Xiaoping visited the US, and the setting up of the Chinese Embassy.
Bearing in mind the creed of studying hard so as to serve the motherland back home, Shen was determined to make the best use of his two years in the US.
“By actually seeing the advanced integrated circuit equipment working in the Cornel lab, I realized that there was a tremendous gap in micro-electronic science and technology between China and the US which we are still today on our way to trying to catch up,” said Shen. While most US professors took two-day weekends, Shen worked at least six days a week to learn as much as possible.
His researches on micro-electronics based on his learning in the US were honored with a second and third prize at the Shanghai Science and Technology Progress Awards after his return in 1981. Yet they had limited impact in the industry at the time with the gap still being huge.
“As a previous researcher in micro-electronic science, I was so thrilled to hear that Huawei is making great progress in chip technology in recent years,” said Shen. “I believe it as a fruit of long-time training with countless researchers’ studies and exchanges with the world throughout the years. Our days will finally come.”
Shen Guoxiong (right, bock row), his fellow schoolmates and the dean at Cornell University.
Meng Guoqing
76, two years in the US from 1979 to 1981
Though reading about the central government’s plan to send scholars to the US, it had never occurred to 76-year-old senior engineer Meng Guoqing, director of Shanghai Overseas Returned Scholars Association, that his own fate would have been related.
With his father once working as a tax bureau chief for the Kuomingtang government, Meng was stunned when he was notified to take the exams as a candidate scholar from the Yanzhou Coal Mine Design Institute to the US.
“To be frank, I had dreamed about power and money, but never studying abroad. Yet the heaven-sent chance just bumped in my head without any premonition,” said Meng. It was not until he was given a small note with the two Chinese characters “Mei Guo” (the US) after rounds of exams and auditions that Meng was sure he was really going to the US as part of the eighth Chinese scholar team in 1979.
Long soaked in the intensive atmosphere of “class struggle” in the “culture revolution” (1966-76), Meng was terribly sensitive during his first few months in the US. When a pretty blonde woman approached him at Denver airport in Colorado, it took Meng quite a while struggling whether to trust her words of taking him to the Colorado School of Mines.
From P6
“What if she was an FBI spy? And how should I explain my innocence back in China?” Meng drafted a whole play in his head when choosing to follow her, yet never used it as she was just a secretary at the school.
Being one of the very few from the Chinese mainland at the time, Meng was much like a rare animal in the school that caught attention wherever he went, yet most of the students and teachers were friendly and kind.
“They had similar happiness and passions like us. Though curious about China, hardly anybody posed difficult political questions as I had worried before,” said Meng, “That’s when I really understood that ‘People are always people’, even though we tend to address others as comrades while they preferred Mr and Ms.”
Though offered US$500 as a subsidy every six months, Meng never made an overseas call home throughout his stay in the US, so as to save as much money as possible when he returned. Yet, in face of the rich research papers and documents about advancing, he never hesitated copying them at his own expense, and shipped dozens of kilograms back China. Returning in 1981, Meng was recruited by the first high-pressure water jet technology research team in Shanghai. “With limited talent, I personally did not make much significant achievement in the field. But I am glad to have been a transferring hand that brought the world’s advancing technology back to my mother country,” said Meng
Meng in the Town of Golden where Colorado School of Mine is located in 1979.
Meng Guoqing (left) with then former US president Gerald Rudolph Ford in Vail Mountain Resort in 1979.
Shen Dingli
57, two years in the US from 1989-1991
Regardless of the growing number of government-sent scholars to the US since 1978, 57-year-old Professor Shen Dingli of Center for American Studies, Fudan University, nearly missed his chance to further his studies at Princeton University with the largely decreased quota for government-sponsored scholars in 1989.
“Just getting my PhD and not yet on the faculty of Fudan University, I was almost crossed off the list, but strived my way back with a significant record of 21 published research papers by graduation and willing to be a visiting scholar at my own expense,” said Shen.
Though he majored in physics from bachelor to PhD, Shen had long been interested in international relations. With a recommendation from Chinese physicist Xie Xide, Shen won his chance to study “Arms Control and International Security” with guidance by Professor Frank N. von Hippel, a theoretical physicist and professor of public and international affairs who had been advocating nuclear disarmament for years.
“I always remembered Professor Hippel’s words when I asked him whether his argument against the US government view would bring any negative influence on his career. He said, this is a country of people. As an owner of the country, I have the right and the obligation to help it make better choices,” said Shen.
Though many of the scholars visiting abroad in the late 1980s chose to stay, Shen flew back to Shanghai as soon as he had finished his studies in the US.
“Even though China in the 1980s was still poor and not so developed, it was my motherland which I had long loved. I felt it my obligation to help the government function better with my work just as Professor Hippel did for his,” said Shen.
After returning from the US, the once gentle, modest and courteous scholar started to grow thorns in his profession. He has so far published more than 2,500 papers, giving his sharp views and suggestions on China’s security, especially on nuclear non-proliferation issues.
“I am never afraid of making my voice heard, as it was out of my heart for the safety of my motherland,” said Shen.
Shen Dingli gives a lecture in Irish parliament in 2015.
Anthony Shop
36, four weeks in China in 2018
Co-founder of Social Driver and chairman of the National Digital Roundtable, 36-year-old Anthony Shop made his first visit to the Chinese mainland last June as a member of the Zhi-xing China Fellowship to explore the digital revolution here.
The annual program initiated in 2014 is implemented by the China Education Association for International Exchange and Eisenhower Fellowships to engage emerging leaders across the world to better understand China, leverage their talents for better social and human services, and deepen people-to-people exchanges between China and the world.
“We all know that the digital revolution is changing the world in so many ways. I was curious about how this global phenomenon is affecting China, with different social media applications and systems from what were used in the US,” said Shop.
With smart translation apps, it was not that difficult for Shop to communicate with the Chinese even with his very limited language skills. However, having no Chinese bank account which could entitle him to use AliPay or WePay made his four weeks in China a bit hard, as almost everybody in China was paying with their phones.
Though short, the four weeks in China helped Shop at least scratch the surface of how Chinese people use technology to communicate with one another, with companies and with public institutions. And, he met some wonderful people who he hopes to stay in touch with for years to come.
“It is easy to focus on differences, but I believe people truly want to make the world and their communities a better place for themselves and their loved ones, and this is something the Chinese people and American people have in common,” said Shop.
According to Shop, many Chinese people seemed surprised to learn that he does not own a gun. No, not all Americans own guns.
Anthony Shop visits the Great Wall in Beijing.
