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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academy of Sciences. 1994. China Bound, Revised: A Guide to Academic Life and Work in the PRC. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/2111.
×

CHINA BOUND

A Guide to Academic Life and Work in the PRC

Revised

Anne F. Thurston with

Karen Turner-Gottschang and

Linda A. Reed for the

Committee on Scholarly Communication with China

American Council of Learned Societies

National Academy of Sciences

Social Science Research Council

NATIONAL ACADEMY PRESS
Washington, D.C.
1994

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academy of Sciences. 1994. China Bound, Revised: A Guide to Academic Life and Work in the PRC. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/2111.
×

NATIONAL ACADEMY PRESS
2101 Constitution Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20418

NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this publication was sponsored by the Committee on Scholarly Communication with China (formerly the Committee on Scholarly Communication with the People's Republic of China). It is a revised edition of China Bound: A Guide to Academic Life and Work in the PRC, published in 1987.

The Committee on Scholarly Communication with China (CSCC) is jointly sponsored by the American Council of Learned Societies, the National Academy of Sciences, and the Social Science Research Council.

Since the normalization of diplomatic relations between the United States and China in 1979, the CSCC has developed programs with the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and the State Education Commission, in addition to those with the China Association for Science and Technology, with whom the CSCC began exchanges in 1972. Current activities include a program for American graduate students and postdoctoral scholars to carry out long-term study or research in affiliation with Chinese universities and research institutes; a fellowship program for Chinese scholars to conduct research in the United States; and field development and training programs in archaeology, economics, international relations, law, library science, and sociology.

This publication was supported by grants from the National Science Foundation and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

The accuracy of the information presented and the views expressed in this publication are the responsibility of the authors and not the sponsoring organizations.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Thurston, Anne F.

China bound : a guide to academic life and work in the PRC / revised by Anne F. Thurston; with Karen Turner-Gottschang and Linda A. Reed.

p. cm.

"For the Committee on Scholarly Communication with China."

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 0-309-04932-6

1. Foreign study—China. 2. American students—China. 3. Teachers, Foreign—China. 4. China—Description and travel.

I. Turner-Gottschang, Karen. II. Reed, Linda A. III. Committee on Scholarly Communication with the People's Republic of China (U.S.) IV. Title.

LB2376.3.C6T48 1994

370.19'6—dc20———94-736

CIP

Copyright 1994 by the National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.

Printed in the United States of America

The calligraphy appearing in the text was kindly prepared by Fu Shen, Curator of Chinese Art, Freer Gallery of Art of the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. The cover photograph is by Bernard Van Leer.

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academy of Sciences. 1994. China Bound, Revised: A Guide to Academic Life and Work in the PRC. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/2111.
×

CHINA BOUND

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academy of Sciences. 1994. China Bound, Revised: A Guide to Academic Life and Work in the PRC. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/2111.
×
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academy of Sciences. 1994. China Bound, Revised: A Guide to Academic Life and Work in the PRC. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/2111.
×

Acknowledgments

The author wishes to thank the following individuals for reading and commenting on this manuscript:

Mark Bender, Ohio State University

Mary Bullock, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars

Joan Carey, Committee on Scholarly Communication with China

Keith Clemenger, Committee on Scholarly Communication with China

Richard Connor, Texas A&M University

Deborah Davis, Yale University

James Feinerman, Committee on Scholarly Communication with China

Robert Geyer, Committee on Scholarly Communication with China

James Hargett, State University of New York at Albany

Alice Hogan, National Science Foundation

Mary Beth Kennedy, ICF Incorporated

Scott Kennedy, The Brookings Institution

Megan Klose, Committee on Scholarly Communication with China

Beryl Leach, The World Bank

John Olsen, University of Arizona

Leo Orleans, Library of Congress

Tony Reese, Yale-China Association

Scott Rozelle, Stanford University

David Shambaugh, University of London

Audrey Spiro, independent scholar

Karen Turner-Gottschang, Holy Cross College

Cameron Wake, University of New Hampshire

Andrew Walder, Harvard University

Haynie Wheeler, Yale-China Association

Meng Yang, Embassy of the People's Republic of China, Washington, D.C.

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academy of Sciences. 1994. China Bound, Revised: A Guide to Academic Life and Work in the PRC. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/2111.
×

The author also wishes to thank Mary Ernst of the Council on International Exchange of Scholars and William Shine at the United States Information Agency for providing information and reports from Fulbright lecturers.

This publication was supported with funding from the U.S. National Science Foundation and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academy of Sciences. 1994. China Bound, Revised: A Guide to Academic Life and Work in the PRC. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/2111.
×

Preface

China Bound is a guidebook for American students, teachers, and researchers who plan to live and work in China. Its purpose is to help make the experience there as rich and rewarding as possible.

The book introduces some of the available research and teaching opportunities and study programs. It explains the structure of China's academic institutions and relates the experiences of other Americans who have worked within them. It discusses the range of opportunities and suggests relevant strategies for archival and field research and collaborative projects in scientific laboratories. It provides advice ranging from preparation for departure to daily life in China—from bringing and setting up a computer to handling a medical emergency and how to stay healthy and fit. China Bound will be most useful to those who are going for the first time, but "old China hands" should find much of practical value as well.

Americans' fascination with China is as old as the United States, and the "opening up" that began in 1979 has provided hundreds of thousands of Americans with the opportunity to experience China firsthand. Thousands of U.S. scholars, students, and teachers have resided in China, and their opportunity to learn about China from the inside has been unique. As many have returned to relate those experiences or publish their research results, our understanding of China has increased.

Harold Isaacs, writing between 1949 and 1979, when only a handful of Americans were able to visit, noted a curious ambivalence in the American fascination with China—admiration coupled with fear, the China of Marco Polo contradicted by the China of Genghis Khan, the world's oldest civilization ruled by emperors with a capacity for cru-

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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academy of Sciences. 1994. China Bound, Revised: A Guide to Academic Life and Work in the PRC. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/2111.
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elty. "In the long history of our associations with China, these two sets of images rise and fall, move in and out of the center of people's minds over time, never wholly displacing each other, always coexisting, each ready to emerge at the fresh call of circumstance," he wrote.

The cycle of ambivalence that Isaacs describes has already been repeated in the years since the economic reforms of the 1980s encouraged more outsiders to live and work in China. The thrill of being able to live and work in China again was followed by horror over the Tiananmen Square tragedy of June 1989; the attraction we have for the Chinese people has been coupled with frustration over the Chinese bureaucracy; our excitement at the speed of China's economic development has been accompanied by distress over growing corruption; our hope for China's modernization has carried with it a deep concern that too much of the past is being destroyed.

Isaacs also discovered that those who liked China most were those who knew it best. And what Americans liked best, in addition to China's rich history and culture, were the Chinese people. This is true today as well. After a brief hiatus in the wake of Tiananmen, American researchers, students, and teachers have returned to China to live, work, and learn. Americans going today, like those who have gone before, are likely to find their work—whether teaching, studying, or conducting research—to be deeply satisfying—indeed, among the richest and most rewarding of their lives. Many will have made lifelong Chinese friends—colleagues and research collaborators, fellow students, fellow teachers, or students taught, or the person met by chance encounter on a train. They will have been witnesses to a remarkable period in China's own history.

China Bound was first published in 1981 shortly after academic exchanges were renewed; it was rewritten in 1987 by Linda Reed and Karen Turner-Gottschang. But China continues to change and, by 1992, many people who knew how valuable earlier editions of China Bound had been concluded that the time had come for another update. Kathlin Smith at the Committee on Scholarly Communication with China has guided the endeavor from its inception—securing funding, providing background materials, and supervising the preparation of the manuscript with unfailing good humor and efficiency. She has been assisted by three hardworking interns: Dan Ewing, from the Johns Hopkins University; S. Quinn Hanzel, from Georgetown University; and Richard Michael Victorio, also from Georgetown University. The book could not have been done without their contributions and assistance. My thanks to them all.

This newly revised edition reflects not only changes in China but also the increasingly diverse experiences of American students, teachers, and researchers who have lived there. Both the preface and the

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academy of Sciences. 1994. China Bound, Revised: A Guide to Academic Life and Work in the PRC. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/2111.
×

section on research are completely new. In making these revisions, I have spoken to dozens of Americans who have lived in China as researchers, students, and teachers, and I have read numerous reports that researchers have written for the Committee on Scholarly Communication with China (CSCC) as well as reports from many professors in the Fulbright program. The CSCC's China Exchange News has provided a wealth of information. In December 1992, I visited China and met with researchers, teachers, and students. I also have conducted research in China and lived for five years in Beijing. And I drew on many personal accounts in making these revisions. Although most people are not thanked by name, I would like to express my appreciation to everyone with whom I have spoken and whose accounts I have read, while noting, with apologies, that there is little way to do them justice here. Each individual's experience in China is unique, and the picture that emerges is one of great diversity. This guidebook attempts to reflect that diversity. At the same time, it also attempts to distill from many different experiences a core of advice for anyone planning to study, teach, or conduct research in China. The people consulted for this revision shared their experiences with the hope that others could benefit from them.

ANNE F. THURSTON

November 1993

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academy of Sciences. 1994. China Bound, Revised: A Guide to Academic Life and Work in the PRC. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/2111.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academy of Sciences. 1994. China Bound, Revised: A Guide to Academic Life and Work in the PRC. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/2111.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academy of Sciences. 1994. China Bound, Revised: A Guide to Academic Life and Work in the PRC. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/2111.
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 7.

 

Services Available

 

138

   

 The U.S. Embassy and Consulates

 

138

   

 Postal Services

 

140

   

 Currency and Banking

 

142

   

 Electronic Mail, Fax, and Telex Facilities

 

143

   

 The Telephone

 

144

   

 Medical Care

 

145

   

 Urban Transportation

 

147

   

 Recreation and Entertainment

 

148

   

 Internal Travel

 

149

 8.

 

Leaving China

 

153

 

 

Glossary of Chinese Terms

 

155

 

 

Appendixes

 
   

A. Funding for Graduate and Postdoctoral Research in China

 

159

   

B. Language Study Programs in the People's Republic of China

 

173

   

C. Colleges and Universities Accepting Direct Application from Foreign Students

 

177

   

D. General Guidelines for Direct Application to a Chinese College or University as a Self-Sponsored Student and Excerpts from "Regulations Concerning the Admission of Foreign Students in Chinese Schools (1986)"

 

184

   

E. Visa Application for Foreigners Wishing to Study in China

 

194

   

F. The People's Republic of China Visa Application Form

 

195

   

G. Physical Examination Record for Foreigners

 

196

   

H. Organizations Sponsoring English Teachers in China

 

198

   

I. Application for Teaching Positions in China

 

201

   

J. Sample Contract for Teachers

 

205

   

K. American Express Emergency Check Cashing Locations

 

211

   

L. Approximate Costs of Hotel Rooms, Food, Internal Travel, Services, Clothing, and Medical Care, Fall 1993

 

214

   

M. Selected Reading List and References

 

220

   

N. Trial Procedures for Foreign Organizations and Individuals to Use Chinese Archives

 

225

   

O. Packing it in: Preparing for Fieldwork in the PRC

 

227

   

P. Student Advisory Resource Centers and General Reference Holdings

 

233

   

Q. Protocol Between the Government of the United States of America and the Government of the People's Republic of China for Cooperation in Educational Exchanges

 

239

 

 

Index

 

243

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academy of Sciences. 1994. China Bound, Revised: A Guide to Academic Life and Work in the PRC. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/2111.
×

CHINA BOUND

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Being prepared in China, says one researcher, can mean "the difference between a headache and a productive day." Acclaimed by readers, this friendly and practical volume—now updated with important new information—offers all the details academic visitors need to make long-term stays in China productive, comfortable, and fun.

Academic opportunities have been revived in the years since the Tiananmen Square event, and the book opens with an overview of what we have learned from our academic exchanges with China, the opportunities now available, and resources for more information.

To help visitors prepare for daily life, the book covers everything from how to obtain the correct travel documents to what kinds of snack foods are available in China, from securing accommodations to having the proper gift for your Chinese dinner host.

Frank discussions on the research and academic environments in China will help students, investigators, and teachers from their initial assignment to a danwei, or work unit, to leaving the country with research materials intact. The book offers practical guidelines on working with Chinese academic institutions and research assistants, arranging work-related travel, managing working relationships, resolving language issues, and—perhaps most important—understanding Chinese attitudes and customs toward study, research, and work life.

New material in this edition includes an expanded section on science and social science field work, with a discussion of computers: which ones work best in China, how to arrange to bring your computer in, where to find parts and supplies, how to obtain repairs, and more. Living costs, health issues, and addresses and fax numbers for important services are updated. Guidance is offered on currency, transportation, communications, bringing children into China, and other issues.

Based on the first-hand reports of hundreds of academic visitors to China and original research by the authors, this book will be useful to anyone planning to live and work in China: students, researchers, and teachers and their visiting family members, as well as business professionals.

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