Nov 30, 2011

Black Friday to Counterfeit Monday

Wednesday, November 30, 2011
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Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, marks the beginning of the Christmas shopping season, when Americans hit the streets, stores and shopping malls in a materialistic frenzy. A more recent term, Cyber Monday, has also been coined by online marketers for the Monday following Black Friday to encourage people to buy even more online. After reading a news article entitled 150 Counterfeit Websites Shut Down by Feds, I wonder if Cyber Monday might also be referred to as Counterfeit Monday - the day greatest number of fake goods are purchased online.

According to the article, the Feds used Cyber Monday to announce that they've shut down 150 websites selling knock-off or pirated merchandise to bargain-seeking e-shoppers. The sites sold a wide variety of merchandise including movie DVDs, NBA jerseys and Louis Vuitton handbags, two of the most popular pirated brand items worldwide. From the list of domain names seized in this investigation, it seems that any domain name with the word jersey in it is likely to be selling counterfeit NBA and other sports league jerseys.

Fake v. Authentic Louis Vuitton bags: Can you tell the difference? This website tells you how.
Interestingly, while the domain names of the websites were registered in the United States, most were operated abroad and mostly from here in China. No individuals have been charged so far, but law enforcement authorities are still investigating and may bring charges if they can identify and obtain personal jurisdiction over people running the websites selling the counterfeit goods. Being that most of the people involved in running the websites are located in countries outside the United States, this will be a long and complicated procedure and relatively few are likely to be ultimately convicted of any crimes (unless they're also prosecuted in their countries of residence).

Nov 29, 2011

Homeland Away From Home

Tuesday, November 29, 2011
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I read a China Daily article recently called A Homeland Away From Home which is about Shirley Wood, an 86 year old American woman has lived in China for 65 years. Wood married a Chinese man and moved from Arkansas to China when she was 20 years old (although I imagine Arkansas to China is quite a culture shock at any age). Wood lives in the city of Kaifeng 开封in Henan Province (abd near Zhengzhou 郑州 where I lived last year).
Wood's story is quite unique in several ways. First of all, she moved to China when there were almost no foreigners living in China. Accordingly, she was one of the few foreigners to be present in China in 1949, the founding of the People's Republic of China. Finally, due to the lack of foreign companions until relatively recently in China, she had to become assimilated and live as a Chinese person. Nowadays, there are more foreigners living in China, but they almost always tend to live somewhat isolated (not necessarily physically) from their Chinese neighbors (due largely to language differences and the resulting inability to communicate well). This may be slowly starting to change, but Mrs. Wood has obviously been a China pioneer, well ahead of the times.

Nov 27, 2011

China's Two-Child Policy?

Sunday, November 27, 2011
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Last year I lived in the city of Zhengzhou (郑州) in Henan Province (河南省), the most populous province in China with a total of over 100 million people. Recently, Henan enacted a law that modifies China's one-child policy to allow couples to have a second child if the husband and wife are both from one-child families. A number of other provinces in China had previously done this and it seems that the cumulative effect may be that China now has more of a two-child than a one-child policy.

Kindergarten kids that might not be from one-child families since the photo was taken in a rural area
China's one-child policy (计划生育政策;  jìhuà shēngyù zhèngcè) was instituted in 1979 as a response to the huge population growth the country experienced from the 19th to mid-20th century which creates tremendous economic, social and environmental challenges. While the one-child policy has slowed population growth, its also created other problems such as a shortage of females (since Chinese traditionally value sons much more than daughters), increase in abortion, and increasing pressure on younger generations to support the increasingly large elderly portion of China's population. 
An old poster promoting the one-child policy
Most people in the West tend to believe that the one-child policy is a rule that's strictly enforced. However, there are significant exceptions to the rule as well as ways of getting around it. First of all, the policy provides quite a few important exemptions, including couples living in rural areas (still the majority of China's population), ethnic minorities, and parents without any siblings. Additionally, some parts of China such as Hong Kong and Macau (which are mostly self-governed) are not subject to the policy at all. Finally, some provincial governments in mainland China (such as Henan mentioned above and quite a few others) have adopted less restrictive regulations. In fact, its estimated that only about 36% of China's population is subject to the one-child policy.
Even out of those people subject to the policy, some choose to have more than one child since the penalty for violating the policy is simply paying a fine. The amount of the fine is dependent on family income and generally increases for each additional child, but isn't hugely expensive for a second child. When I've asked students in my classes here in Xiamen if they have any siblings, I've been surprised at the number who say they do. so many people choose to pay. Usually, this means their parents chose to pay to have a second child.
Its estimated that the one-child policy has resulted in at least 250 million fewer births until 2000 and possibly nearer to 400 million by 2011. Anyone who's spent any time living in or visiting China knows how incredibly overcrowded things are in many ways. While the one-child policy is certainly controversial and some people consider it to be an infringement on peoples' human rights, controlling population growth is clearly an extremely important concern which China (and its 1.35 billion current population) can't afford to ignore.

Nov 23, 2011

Its All Greek to Me in China

Wednesday, November 23, 2011
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A few evenings ago I biked into downtown Jimei with another American professor to pick up some groceries. We decided to find a restaurant to have dinnner first and my friend wanted to try a small place purporting to be a Greek restaurant. At the least the sign had the word "Greek" prominently displayed as shown in the picure below. I was sceptical since there probably aren't any Greeks around here and local Chinese wouldn't be likely to know much about Greek food. Nevertheless, the place looked clean and decent so I was willing to give it a try.

Greek restaurant that serves only Chinese food
Of course, the menu was all in Chinese and there were no pictures of the dishes (as some restaruants here have) so we had to order based on my limited Chinese reading skills - I can read enough to determine what kind of food it is - meat (肉), fish (鱼), soup (汤), noodles (面), etc., but not too much more than that. Menus can be especially difficult because Chinese names for dishes can sometimes be very creative rather than descriptive of what the food actually is.

After talking with the waitress, who spoke no English, but did give me a simple explanation of the types of food they had, I became certain there was nothing remotely Greek on the menu of this allegedly Greek restaurant. As with many things in China, what you see is not always what you get and often has nothing whatsoever to do with what you get. Nevertheless, we ordered some Chinese food which, although not the slightest bit Greek, was pretty tasty.

Authentic Greek food in China


Nov 20, 2011

Obama Meets Wen

Sunday, November 20, 2011
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This past weekend at the East Asia Summit in Bali, U.S. President Barack Obama met briefly with China's Premiere Wen Jiabao (温家宝). Although the meeting was brief and somewhat informal, the main concern expressed by Obama was his belief that China should adjust the value of its currency. As the 2012 presidential election in America approaches and the U.S. economy continues to stagnate, Obama has been taking a slightly more critical role of China.

Obama and Wen Jiabao look friendly while meeting in Bali
Many Americans belive that China is partly responsible for some of America's economic woes, especially increasing unemployment. This obviously puts pressure on Obama, who is running for reelection, to take a tough stance against anything that appears to be a threat to American jobs.

China, however, contends that America's economic problems are not its fault and that adjusting the value of the yuan would not have a significant affect in solving those problems. Last week, at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit held in Hawaii, Obama angered many Chinese when he met with Chinese President Hu Jintao and made critical remarks about China's economic policy. Not surprisingly, President Hu replied that even a big rise in the yuan would not help the U.S. and that the U.S. should stop blaming China for its trade deficit and increased unemployment.

While the Chinese yuan is probably artificially undervalued to some extent, it is naive to think that this is a major reason for America's economic problems. While its easier to blame a foreign country such as China for its ailing economy, I think much more of the blame lies at home which many Americans are still unwilling to admit. 

Nov 19, 2011

NBA Players Migrate to China

Saturday, November 19, 2011
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Although the NBA is locked-out for the time being, Chinese basketball is in full swing and looking to take advantage of the NBA's woes. Basketball (篮球; lán qiú) is hugely popular in China as any tourists will quickly realize. Every schoolyard and park with a basketball court is usually full of Chinese boys, all wanting to be the next Yao Ming or Kobe Bryant. 
 College students hooping it up at Xiamen University of Technology
The Chinese Basketball Association (中国男子篮球职业联赛; Zhōngguó Nánzǐ Lánqiú Zhíyè Liánsài), usually known simply as the CBA is China's equivalent of America's NBA. Since the CBA's beginnings in 1995, the league has been dominated by two teams - initially the Bayi Rockets (from the city of in Ningbo near Shanghai), but in recent years the Guangdong Southern Tigers (winner of the last 4 championships). The nearest team to my home of Xiamen is the Fujian Sturgeons, located in Jinjiang, Fujian. Sturgeons would certainly be an odd choice of name for an American basketball team, but fish are quite popular in Fujian.
Kobe Bryant is probably the most popular NBA star among Chinese youth (even more than national hero Yao Ming), but some less famous NBA players are becoming more visible in China by actually playing in the CBA. Several former NBA players have joined CBA teams, most notably former New York Knicks guard and NBA All-Star Stephon Marbury. Marbury (known to his Chinese fans as Ma Bu Li) just started playing for Beijing's CBA team this year. 
Stephon Marbury with Chinese teammates
With the 2011 NBA lockout, a few other NBA players have also come to China such as Kenyon Martin (formerly of the NBA's New Jersey Nets and Denver Nuggets), J.R. Smith (Denver Nuggets), Gerald Green (Houston Rockets and 2007 NBA Slam Dunk Contest winner) and Yi Jianlian, who previously migrated to the U.S. to play for the Washington Wizards, but has now come home to play for the Guangdong Tigers. 

Despite getting the Chinese royal treatment, including his own personal cook and 2 translators, J.R. Smith is having problems adapting to some aspects of Chinese culture such as Internet censorship when he couldn't access his Twitter account or Youtube. After finding a way around the Great Firewall, Smith wrote China a message via Twitter (although I'm not sure how he expects China to see it): 
"Dear China, the fact that u won't let me work my Skype on my desktop or twitter is really pissing me off."
Poor J.R needs to toughen up - I didn't get a cook, translators or the cute greeting girls when I came to China.
After spending a year in a more remote part of China, Stephon Marbury seems to be adapting pretty well in his new home of Beijing. The former NBA badboy is apparently smart enough to realize driving in Beijing is an act of insanity (and/or extreme ego) and has chosen to give the Chinese subway a chance instead. Fortunately, his first subway experience was on a "light day" when it wasn't to crowded (by Chinese standards, that is).

Its unlikely that the CBA will become popular outside of China to any great extent in the near future, but the mixing in of a few NBA players is helping make it even more popular here in China. And NBA players will certainly add a bit of flash and individuality to Chinese basketball's much more team-oriented basketball culture.

Nov 18, 2011

Chinese Immigration Good for U.S.?

Friday, November 18, 2011
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According to a recent Economist article, "more Chinese people live outside mainland China than French people live in France, with some to be found in almost every country." The article also includes this map showing the top 20 destinations around the world for Chinese as well as Indian migrants.

Chinese emigrants dominate most of Asia and there are significant Chinese migrant minorities in several Western countries including the United States. According to 2009 census information, there were almost 4 million people of Chinese descent in America. While many countries including the United States fear immigration (especially ironic in a nation founded by immigrants), this Economist article says that rich countries (with an influx of immigration) are likely to benefit while poorer countries are likely to suffer from large-scale emigration. I think this makes sense since, from my observation in China and the United States, the majority of Chinese immigrants to the U.S. tend to be the best China has to offer in terms of education, ambition and work ethic. For example, college students I've known in China that pursue graduate study in the U.S. tend to be in the top 5% of all Chinese college students. Maybe the U.S. shouldn't be quite so hostile to immigration after all.

Nov 15, 2011

China's Bad Romance With Lady Gaga

Tuesday, November 15, 2011
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Although China remained almost totally isolated from most Western influences from the founding of the PRC in 1949 until the early 1980s, this has changed dramatically over the past few decades, especially in terms of Western pop culture. To Westerners' ears, Chinese music tastes can seem extremely strange, but Western pop music has become increasingly prevalent throughout China's big cities and even in some of the remote countryside areas. So it shouldn't be too surprising that the Chinese, like people all over the world, have gone goo goo for Lady Gaga. Young Chinese have also somehow picked up the exclamation Oh My Lady Gaga!, used in place of Oh My God!  to indicate surprise.

Its not really too hard to understand the fascination of young Chinese with Lady Gaga. First of all, her music is simple dance-oriented pop and pop dominates Chinese musical tastes. Her lyrics are also simple (and understanding them is often irrelevant). However, more than anything else, its the Gaga image that appeals most to young Chinese fans. You don't really need to understand the lyrics to her songs to appreciate her image. When I've asked Chinese college students why they like Lady Gaga, some common answers are that she is "different," "original," and even "courageous" (in China, where uniformity is indoctrinated and individuality generally discouraged, it takes courage to act different). The fact that she dresses outrageously and acts strangely somehow seems to inspire Chinese to emulate this kind of individuality even though most won't do so to any serious extent.


What's a little harder to understand is what older Chinese people would find appealing about Lady Gaga. But the video below is proof that there are no limits to the power of Gaga. The video is from a popular TV show in Hunan Satellite TV which is broadcast to an audience of over 100 million. I can't help but be strangely fascinated by this video - it seems completely ridiculous in a way, with Chinese senior citizens belting out Lady Gaga's Bad Romance in Chinese, accompanied by attractive, young female Chinese musicians.
OK, maybe it is Gaga's lyric genius that has drawn in the Chinese masses. Who can dispute the universal appeal of Rah, Rah, ah, ah, ah, Roma, roma, ma, Gaga, ohh, la, la? This is poetry that transcends all language barriers.


As unusual as the video above is, I personally prefer this video of Bad Romance with Lady Gaga's music sequenced to old video footage of China's Red Army.

What a strange long march its been from Chairman Mao's Long March to Chinese senior citizens marching to the beat of Lady Gaga.

Nov 13, 2011

Chinese Music: Dao Lang

Sunday, November 13, 2011
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Among other things, I've decided to blog about some of the Chinese music that I've discovered that I find appealing, interesting or amusing. So, first up, is an eclectic Chinese singer musician that mixes Chinese folk rock with additional influences such as Uyghur music and Sichuan opera.

Dāo Láng (刀郎) is a Chinese singer who became popular after the release of his 2003 album The First Snows of 2002 (年的第一場雪). The album became a surprise blockbuster, reportedly selling 2.7 million copies, an exceptionally high sales figure in a country where far more pirated than legal copies are sold and considering that his previous album sold only about 2000 copies. First Snows also had almost no planned marketing or promotion to generate sales. Instead, it was played initially in record stores (which still existed in 2003) largely through the efforts of a Chinese record  producer, Song Ke. From record/video stores, the CD spead to clothing stores, beauty salons, etc. throughout China.


Dao Lang is originally from Sichuan Province, but moved to Xinjiang in 1995, where he became influenced by local music styles in this largely Muslim region of China. He spent several years touring the bar circuit in Western China including Tibet and as a result his music, although folk rock-based, is also strongly influenced by the local Western Chinese musical styles he's encountered, especially music of the Uyghur ethnic minority. Dao Lang has stated:
"Many people say my voice is unique. The fact is that I have combined the bold and rough Uygur music with the high pitch of Sichuan opera. The result is I have created something different."


Like most musicians, Dao Lang wasn't an overnight success. He has stated in interviews that in the early years of his music career, like most Chinese musicians, found it virtually impossible to make a living and sometimes earned only 20 RMB (about U.S. $3.00) a night.


Since achieving commercial success, Dao Lang has remained a bit elusive, preferring to live a relatively private life out of the limelight. For the past several years, he has been quiet, not releasing new music or touring much. However, earlier this year, Dao Lang started touring again in major Chinese cities, beginning in Beijing in May.

Dao Lang has received some criticism in China for being a Han Chinese (China's majority ethnicity) stereotyping ethnic minorities such as the Uyghurs. Personally, I often tend to like musicians who mix different styles of music in some original way and Dao Lang has successfully done that. To my knowledge, Dao Lang hasn't pretended to be a member any Chinese ethnic minorities . Instead, he's simply incorporated elements from several of these minorities music into his own. By doing so, he's probably brought Uyghur music to the attention of a much greater audience than it would have otherwise had.

Coffee Time in China

Sunday, November 13, 2011
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I'm currently living in the city of Xiamen 厦门, but spent the previous academic year teaching at a university in Zhengzhou 郑州 in Henan Province in central China. I just came across this photo taken at a coffee shop appropriately named Coffee Time in Zhengzhou that I used to go to ocassionally. I met a friend there who loved the artistic coffee design so much she almost couldn't bear to drink it. 


Of course, coffee drinking is a relatively recent pasttime in China which has traditionally been (and largely remains) a tea drinking nation. However, coffee is definitely experiencing an upsurge, mostly among young, affluent Chinese. Nowadays, every major Chinese city hosts at least one Starbucks (big cities will have several) as well as several local coffee shops.
Starbucks recently opened its 500th store in China and there's probably still plenty of room for expansion in the future. While relatively few Chinese have become coffee afficionados, many like the various coffee-based drinks that shops like Starbucks offer. More importantly, they enjoy the upscale atmosphere (Starbucks drinks sell for about the equivalent price as they do in the U.S. which is outrageously expensive for most Chinese). While I personally would like Starbucks and other foreign luxury brands to offer their goods at slightly cheaper prices to be affordable to more Chinese (not to mention myself), this might actually hurt their business in China since the affluent seem to want to pay high Western prices as a status symbol of their newfound wealth.

I also enjoy the coffee shop atmosphere, but unfortunately there are no coffee shops close to where I live although there are several in Xiamen (including one which bills itself as China's biggest Starbucks). I guess I'll just have to wait and in the meantime, do as the vast majority of Chinese do - drink tea. 

Nov 8, 2011

My Neighbors

Tuesday, November 08, 2011
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The campus of the university I'm teaching at (Xiamen University of Technology) is located in an area that, while not too far from Xiamen Island, is a bit isolated. In fact, until they built the campus, the area consisted mostly of small farms. The area is rapidly changing with construction projects taking place constantly. In a year or two, things might look completely different here, but in the meantime, a few small,neighborhood farms remain, some right next to my modern high-rise apartment complex.

One day last week while walking to my apartment from the university, I ran into a few of my neighbors. They were having their lunch along the sidewalk. Nothing too odd about that you might think, except that these neighbors are of the bovine rather than human variety.


Two of my neighbors enjoying a roadside snack
Since I happened to have a small camera with me, I stopped to take a few photos. Of course, I politely asked permission first in both English and Chinese and they didn't seem to object in any language. Of course, its also possible they just didn't understand my poor Chinese pronunciation.

Chinese cow checking out the strange foreign neighbor

These cows seem like a friendly bunch. They get along well with others and don't seem to have any prejudices against other species. If only we human beings could get along so peacefully.

These cows and birds seem to be great friends - one bird often rides on a cow's back
As neighbors go, these aren't so bad - they're very quiet unlike some of my other non-human neighbors that often wake me up very early in the morning. Occassionally while walking past them, I want to yell at them and tell them how inconsiderate they are, but they seem to speak a dialect of Chinese that I can't understand at all. So I keep quiet, knowing that their punishment is likely coming and my revenge may be finding them on the menu at the little restaurant down the street.

This week's inconsiderate neighbor. Next week's dinner?


  • Author: David Moser

Nov 7, 2011

Gray Whale Caught near Fujian

Monday, November 07, 2011
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Much of Fujian province is situated along China's southeast coast, including my current home city of Xiamen. Due to its location, many Chinese men and women earn a living by fishing. This past Saturday, while I was attending the Xiamen Boat Show, a fisherman in another part of Fujian province (Baiqing village in Pingtan) scored a really big catch. While out in the South China Sea, the fisherman netted a very large fish which turned out to be a gray whale. The whale turned out to be 13.9 metres (about 45 feet) long. Liu claimed that when he realized it might be a whale, he tried to release it, but it was already dead.


Sadly, gray whales are a protected species with an estimated population of about 20,000 left wordwide. They were hunted almost to extinction during the late 1800s and early 1900s. After being declared a protected species in 1947, their numbers grew substantially so they're no longer at imminent risk of extinction. According to this story, gray whales are not common in the waters near Fujian. However, catching them is still illegal in China and whether Mr. Liu's catch was accidental or not, it means there's one less big fish crusing Fujian's nearby waters.

Xiamen Boat Exhibition

Monday, November 07, 2011
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This past Saturday, I went to the Xiamen Boat Show which is basically an opportunity for companies that make yachts and sailboats to show them off to potential buyers and even enthusiasts who aren't really in the market to purchase. I fall much more into the latter of these categories, but I still enjoyed walking around and getting a look at the many boats available to those in a higher income class. One of the largest yatchs that I got a tour of was made by an American company (but built in nearby Tiawan). It was a beautiful, luxury yacht that sells for a mere U.S. $4.7 million. If that seems a bit high, they also have a cheaper model in the $2-3 million range which didn't look bad either.

The show took place around the Xiamen Marina so I took the opportunity to take some photos of the boats as well as the surrounding view from the marina.

Click here to view these pictures larger

Nov 6, 2011

Texas in Xiamen

Sunday, November 06, 2011
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Last night after going to a boat exhibition in Xiamen (I'll post some photos of the nice yachts I saw later), I visited the JJ Bar and Grill, JJ Bar and Grill is located in the popular Haiwan Park area which, in addition to a park with a nice view of the sea, has a variety of restaurants, bars and nightclubs. In the early evening, you almost feel like you're actually in Texas with the bar's decor, and the menu featuring mostly Western style food with an emphasis on Texas BBQ. I didn't really try the food (other than a small sampling of appetizers), but since I was in the bar area, I could see a lot of it coming out of the kitchen to the restaurant area and it looked quite good.


At night, the place livens up largely due to the band made up of Filipino musicians and singers as well as one Chinese singer. Some of the Texas atmosphere gets lost at this point since the band plays a variety of music, but mostly rock and dance-oriented songs rather than the country music played on the sound system in the earlier hours. The band plays mostly English-language songs (from AC-DC to Lady Gaga and much more), but the female Chinese singer adds some Chinese pop songs to their repertoire as well. They are quite good and keep the mix of Western expat and Chinese customers well entertained.

Texas-style decor on a wall at JJ Bar & Grill
One very unique element of JJ Bar and Grill for China is their mechanical bull, which daring (and/or drunk) customers can try. Last night, the only people adventurous to try the bull were a group of young Chinese men maybe trying to impress the young ladies they were with. Some of them did reasonably well, staying on the bull at least long enough to provide some entertainment for the audience of customers. A friendly Aussie I met did his best to persuade me to give it a try, but I wasn't quite daring or drunk enough.
Road sign for inebriated expats at JJ Bar & Grill


Nov 4, 2011

The China Conundrum

Friday, November 04, 2011
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A November 3, 2011 New York Times article, The China Conundrum, discusses the growing trend of Chinese students attending American universities and some of the problems that have resulted. Having spent a bit over a year teaching at universities in China, I have no doubt that this trend will continue and that it will also continue to pose some serious challenges for both the Chinese students studying in America and American universities recruiting them. According to the article, "the number of Chinese undergraduates in the United States has tripled in just three years, to 40,000, making them the largest group of foreign students at American colleges."

I think there are two main reasons Chinese students are so eager to attend American universities. First, there seems to be a consensus among Chinese that the American higher education system is superior to China's and the best (or close to the best) in the world. Having taught at two universities in America for about 13 years before coming to China, I would have to agree that American universities, generally provide a considerably better education than Chinese universities. Of course, I'm sure there are exceptions to this general rule and there are some excellent universities in China as well as some less than excellent ones in the U.S. 

The second main reason so many Chinese students want to study at American universities is economic-oriented and is simply the result of numbers (which has a serious affect on almost everything in China). With its huge population and growing numbers of young people wanting to attend universities, the supply of students exceeds the opportunities and competition is stiff even for those who score reasonably well on the notoriously difficult gaokao 高考 (China's higher education entrance examination).

The article also mentions that the main reason American universities are becoming increasingly eager to attract and recruit Chinese students is also economic - universities want more students which equals more tuition dollars and there is a growing population of Chinese middle and upper class families that can now afford to pay for their children to receive an American university education. Having worked at an American university where the almighty dollar takes precedence over all other considerations, I don't find this hard to believe. Of course, there's nothing inherently wrong with making money (as long as educational quality isn't sacrificed in the process) and some universities are also trying to increase diversity among their students and promote international exchange, both of which are worthy goals.

The NY Times article mostly discusses some of the problems resulting from the increasing influx of Chinese students into American universities. The biggest obstacles for Chinese students are language and cultural differences. Although English language study is mandatory in China and Chinese students will have had about 6 years of English study before attending college, proficiency in English for most (especially speaking ability) is relatively poor. I've been teaching Chinese university students for over a year now and while some are able to speak and communicate in English quite well, a much larger percentage have very limited speaking ability (probably mostly due to limited experience or practice speaking as well as extreme hesitancy or shyness in speaking when they do have the opportunity). So far, the vast majority of Chinese students attending universities in the U.S. tend to be the very best China has to offer. For example, I've had the pleasure of knowing two Chinese students in recent years that are currently pursuing graduate degrees at American universities. Both are very intelligent, highly motivated and hard working individuals with well above average English proficiency. I have no doubt that these students and others like them, despite the inevitable challenges to living and studying in a foreign nation and culture, will be successful. However, if American universities merely want to admit more Chinese students to increase enrollment (and the money such enrollment brings with it), the quality of students they accept may decline.

Overall, I'm in favor of increasing opportunities for Chinese students (and other non-American students) to study at American universities and I hope this trend continues. But I can't help worry that American universities might simply follow the 1 billion market mentality focusing solely on the huge potential numbers (in terms of people and money) that China tends to induce in Western business minds. While higher education is certainly a big business and that isn't likely to change, its regrettable when the business motivation overwhelmingly outweighs the educational motivation. I've witnessed this trend both in China and in America and I hope it can somehow be reversed in the future. If not, I think the quality of education will inevitably decrease and everyone loses in the long run.

Nov 3, 2011

Xiamen: An Introduction

Thursday, November 03, 2011
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For the past 3 months I've been living in the city of Xiamen 厦门 (teaching at a university in nearby Jimei 集美, but I'll be more specific about that in a future post). As China goes, Xiamen is one of the nicest cities to live in since its right on the coast and much less polluted than most of China's major cities. Its also a very conveniently located city, not too far from Hong Kong 香港 and Shenzhen 深圳 to the south or Hangzhou 杭州 and Shanghai 上海 to the north.


A view of the Xiamen skyline shot from a ferry to nearby Gulangyu Island


Xiamen, formerly known as Amoy, is located in Fujian province on the southeast coast of China. One thing Xiamen is noted for is being the closest PRC neighbor of Taiwan, which Chinese people adamantly insist is a province of China (although Taiwanese people tend to adamently disagree). Fortunately, relations between Taiwan and mainland China have been pretty good in recent years and Xiamen has certainly benefited from Taiwanese business and trade while Taiwan has benefited from a nearby entry point to the lucrative mainland market.


I've circled Xiamen in red on the map


Xiamen has an interesting history, much of which relates to China's contact with the outside (barbarian) world. As a coastal city, Xiamen has long been a trade center and was made one of the five treaty ports after the first Opium War in 1842. While forced to open to foreign trade in the mid 19th century, Xiamen was voluntarily designated as one of the first Special Economic Zones in the 1980s and again opened to foreign investment and trade. Since then, Xiamen has grown dramatically, but has managed to maintain a relatively clean environment and not to become too overpopulated (at least compared to other Chinese cities). I'll post more about Xiamen in the future as I live here a bit longer and learn more about my new Chinese home.




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