Jan 18, 2011

Who is Visiting the USA?

Tuesday, January 18, 2011
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I just read a BBC News article about Hu Jintao's visit to the United States which is described by some as being "[t]he most important top-level United States-China encounter since Deng Xiaoping's historic trip more than 30 years ago."

One of the many things I've learned from living in China is that Chinese people generally know much more about the United States than Americans know about China. For example, all Chinese college students know that the president of the United States is named Obama (some know considerably more than this and are also eager to know what I think about him). 

In contrast, an extremely low percentage of American students know who the president of China is. When I asked in several classes I taught at Belmont University, I don't recollect that even one knew, even after I repeatedly stressed the word "who"in an attempt to give them the answer. To try to inject a little humor, I even played this video which students generally seemed to find funny even though they were too young to realize it was based on the old Who's on First comedy routine by Abbott & Costello which makes it even funnier.


Another thing I've learned while teaching in China is that Chinese college students, have many misconceptions about America. Despite living in a relatively censorship free nation with easy access to information, Americans probably have at least as many misconceptions about China. As China's increasing economic growth continues, its relationship with the U.S. will also become increasingly important and the two biggest economic powers will be increasingly dependent on each other in many ways. One thing Americans could probably do to help improve this relationship is to take at least a little interest in China. If the average American knew as much about China as the average Chinese does about America, that would be a good start.

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