A Relationship Restored Trends in U.S.-China Educational Exchanges, 1978-1984 (1986) / Chapter Skim
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5 Exchange on Campus
5 Exchange on Campus
Pages 102-180
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From page 102... ...
Financial and social questions also were of concern. Would PRC students and scholars be able to adapt to the social milieu of the 102
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From page 103... ...
have become by far the biggest institutional financial supporters of PRC students and scholars in the United States, as seen in Chapter 3 (Table 316~. In the wake of normalization, institutions of higher education signed many interinstitutional agreements with Chinese counterparts.
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From page 104... ...
Since officially sponsored PRC students and scholars are likely to play significant roles in development upon their return to China, it will be important to observe how their attendance at a comparatively small
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From page 105... ...
Equally important is the question of how this generation of American-trained Chinese will interact with their peers trained solely in the PRC and with the previous generation trained in the Soviet Union. Funding PRC Students and Scholars on the American Campus The Adequacy of Stipends American university officials estimate that PRC stipends for officially sponsored students and scholars are about $460 per month, with some variation for local cost of living.3 There is ample evidence that many administrators and faculty at American universities and colleges believe that these stipends are inadequate, particularly in high-cost urban locales.
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From page 106... ...
The definitive way to prevent such situations is for all American colleges and universities to require all foreign students and scholars to show proof of adequate medical coverage. Higher stipends and health insurance could improve the well-being of PRC students and scholars in many ways.
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From page 107... ...
The Issue of Financial Remissions to China Some Americans have been concerned that many officially sponsored PRC students and scholars are remitting the portion of their fellowships in excess of the official Chinese government stipend level to their home work unit. Two separate interviews with officials of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS)
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From page 108... ...
American universities and faculty are discouraged by such practices from providing partial grants to officially sponsored PRC students and scholars, believing that most of the increment over the official Chinese government stipend level goes to the home unit. Nonetheless, in the end, what PRC students and scholars do with their money is their own business, as is the case with all students.
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From page 109... ...
Some Americans believe that these policies are undesirable because they encourage PRC students and scholars to become inordinately preoccupiec] with funding, discourage them from taking noncredit English language courses, and are insufficiently sensitive to the vagaries of funding in graduate departments.
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From page 110... ...
Overall, however, the American academic community believes that the presence of PRC students and scholars in the natural sciences on campus has enriched academic life in the United States.
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From page 111... ...
universities have regular exchange programs with their Chinese counterparts to carry out joint research projects." The 81 American universities reported 214 agreements—an average of 2.6 agreements each (see Tables A-29 and A-30. CSCPRC's survey also showed that 123 Chinese institutions were reported to have at least one agreement with an American counterpart (see Table A-31.
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From page 112... ...
Although only one of the seven American universities visited in the course of this study cited faculty members of Chinese origin as the initial impetus for developing exchanges with China, four of the seven identified Chinese-American faculty as a very prominent factor in implementing the relationships, because they serve as bilingual, cross-cultural communicators, have extensive networks of personal ties in China, and retain a great sense of obligation to Chinese culture and society. The personal and professional interests of Chinese studies faculty have been equally critical at these seven institutions.
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From page 113... ...
A second impediment to the development of interinstitutional agreements has been the linking of generally comprehensive American universities with less comprehensive Chinese institutions. Almost all American universities have departments of political science, anthropology, and sociology, as well as numerous departments in the natural sciences but this is not so in the PRC.
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From page 114... ...
The third problem affecting interinstitutional agreements involves the needs of American scholars who want to conduct research in China. A Chinese institution involved in such agreements generally finds that its American partner wants to send social scientists and humanists to do research, not to enroll in classes.
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From page 115... ...
Finally, by raising money locally, these agreements can broaden the financial base of academic exchanges with China beyond resources provided by national-level organizations. As shown in the discussion above, interinstitutional agreements are an important channel by which American students and faculty can go to China for a broad range of purposes and gain access to many geographic areas.
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From page 116... ...
Although there can be no assurance of how increased stipends will, in fact, be spent, adequate stipends make it possible for PRC students and scholars to improve their physical situation and educational experience. All American colleges and universities should require proof of adequate medical coverage for all foreign students and scholars.
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From page 117... ...
To more fully realize the potential of these relationships, increased financial support for Americans to go abroad is required, cooperation among American universities to utilize available "slots" is desirable, and more Chinese responsiveness and commitment are necessary to meet the research needs of American scholars. The pluralistic character of the Sino-American academic relationship is one of its greatest strengths.
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From page 118... ...
25-26, report, "Interestingly enough, the quest for high quality students in the sciences is not a motivation for the establishment of formal exchange programs. American universities have been able to attract high quality students in the sciences without the institution of special programs....
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From page 119... ...
The program under way in China almost certainly is the largest effort ever launched to teach the citizens of one country a foreign language. A recent Chinese publication estimated that approximately 50 million Chinese were learning English in mid-1985.~ As part of this English language training The authors of this report would like to thank William M
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From page 120... ...
Although this is only one of many deficiencies in America's foreign language programs, problems are particularly severe for Chinese and other less commonly taught languages. The study Beyond Growth: The Next Stage in Language and Area Studies summarized Americans' overal1 competence in foreign languages: High-level competency in the less commonly taught languages is difficult to achieve and maintain, and the number of Americans who have done so is too small.
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From page 121... ...
The first, most basic problem is that comparatively few Americans are enrolled in Chinese language classes, although the number has grown recently. According to the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, Inc.
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From page 122... ...
Richard Brod, director of foreign language programs at the MLA, has said, in line with the prevailing conventional wisdom, "Unlike the Western languages, without the base of precollegiate Chinese, it's not easy to gain functional proficiency at the college level."8 In addition, Professor Perry Link of the University of California at Los Angeles recently stated, "Those who study English and French can discuss Shakespeare or Proust and have intelligent literary discussion even as college freshmen.... But with the Chinese language, college students can just barely read simple stories.
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From page 123... ...
Chinese language study needs sustained and targeted financing for necessarily long periods, and both graduate students and faculty need professional incentives that will encourage them to make the longterm investment required to master, maintain, and enhance language skills throughout their careers. One particularly innovative and encouraging program that takes these interlocking problems into account is the "China Initiative" of the Geraldine R
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From page 124... ...
Their very profusion and short track records compound the difficulties inherent in judging the quality of language instruction anywhere. In preparing this study, the authors identified 16 American institutions that sponsor language programs in China (see Appendix ]
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From page 125... ...
Consequently, American students and program evaluators may react to differences in teaching style as much as to the material being taught. The Chinese, apparently, are alert to this situation; in June 1983 they established "The Association of Teaching Chinese Language to Foreigners." In 1985 the "First International Symposium on Teaching Chinese As a Foreign Language" was convened in Beijing; 260 Chinese and foreign scholars attended.
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From page 126... ...
The other respondent felt that materials were better in China, stating, "Although one can find many things to criticize about the mainland teaching materials, they do have the definite advantage that they represent current language. For some reason materials produced abroad generally lag behind current usage by 10 or 20 years." In sum, this limited information points up the need to know much more about the range and quality of language training alternatives in China.
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From page 127... ...
In those cases the language study site must be selected according to students' needs. ASSESSMENT OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE PREPARATION OF PRC STUDENTS AND SCHOLARS WHO COME TO THE UNITED STATES Systematic information on the English language proficiency of Chinese students and visiting scholars who actually come to the United States is not available.
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From page 128... ...
Of those who said that they did-have a specific course, more than 60 percent described a program that was actually general ESL for foreign students. Only a few universities appeared to offer PRC students anything other than general ESL usually tutoring or intensive English courses.
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From page 129... ...
The reasons for the generally poor Chinese language performance of American students are numerous; remedies will be slow in coming and expensive to carry out. Nonetheless, the United States as a nation must place importance on foreign language acquisition in general and on Chinese language acquisition in particular.
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From page 130... ...
It is recommended that the Chinese government place more emphasis on language training in the United States for their students and scholars, relax the "one-year rule" that discourages English language study in the United States, and encourage students and scholars to live in Englishspeaking environments rather than exclusively with other speakers of Chinese. Raising official stipends would at least make this possible.
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From page 131... ...
18. An earlier survey found that "fifty-nine percent of the 125 institutions responding to this question said that most PRC students required additional English language training....
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Chinese studies (the study of China's past, sociology and anthropology, political science, literature, and economics)
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From page 133... ...
In the postnormalization period of late 1978 and 1979, the Chinese opened the doors comparatively wide to American social science field research, only to restrict that access very substantially in 1981. Since 1982, the Chinese authorities have again, gradually, permitted American scholars greater access to archives, interview opportunities, and limited field research for scholars in both the natural and social sciences.
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From page 134... ...
American scholars are greatly interested in archaeological opportunities in China, where there is significant potential for important discoveries. In November 1982 the possibility that these scholars might participate in Chinese excavations became formalized, when "Chinese law was changed to allow foreign scholars, with the permission of relevant authorities, to engage in archaeological field work."4 Since then a few individuals have worked on excavations, but exchanges and collaborative research in archaeology have not been numerous.
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From page 135... ...
The following summer, a contingent of Americans went to China and visited more than 16 Pleistocene locations in northeast China, most of which proved not to be "of primary importance for this study." In 1982 there was hope that additional Chinese sites in the northeast and west could help provide answers to the origins of New World culture. For the strategic Neolithic and Bronze Age periods when the true character of Chinese culture was established, American researchers have greatly benefited from the opportunity to visit research institutes,
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From page 136... ...
And much has been gained from the opportunity to meet with Chinese archaeologists at various international conferences held in China, the United States, and elsewhere.9 Attention should also be called to the considerable cultural impact of the major archaeological exhibitions from China that toured the United States in 1975-1976 and 1980-1981. There is, of course, still considerable room for improvement: many Chinese conferences are still off limits to foreigners, Americans are not able to study archaeological collections in a systematic way and only infrequently participate in digs, and the Chinese government does not give high priority to the training of its archaeologists in the United States.
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From page 137... ...
But overall, many American scholars have been continually frustrated by problems of access to archives, museums, research institutes, and libraries. Historians and other scholars frequently complain about the seemingly random imposition of the neibu (or internal)
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From page 138... ...
Wherever possible, the distinctive characteristics of each field are underscored. Prior to normalization, American scholars interested in Chinese society had little choice but to rely on information gathered in interviews with refugees and emigres who had settled in Hong Kong.
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From page 139... ...
This situation, therefore, favors senior American scholars who now are reestablishing ties. Younger American scholars without these personal ties may encounter substantial difficulty eliciting Chinese cooperation to conduct fieldwork in areas where the host institution is unfamiliar with the concepts and aims of the social sciences.
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From page 140... ...
;23 the social roles and cultural status of Chinese women;24 and family structure.25 Finally, China's release of its 1982 census data has provided both Chinese and foreign scholars with a very detailed look at patterns of family structure, birth, literacy, residence, and so forth. These data, together with other research, have helped to shift social scientists' perceptions of China.
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From page 141... ...
In addition, some American political scientists are debating whether they should devote their attention to securing access for American scholars of Chinese politics or to helping revive the PRC's political science community and assisting in its methodological and organiza
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From page 142... ...
American political scientists are dealing with their Chinese counterparts much more frequently as a result of the development of the CASS Institute on World Economics and Politics and the Institute of American Studies, the modest development of political science in China's universities, the return to China of Chinese graduate students trained abroad in political science and international relations, and the increasing interaction between foreign scholars and various international relations and policy advisory institutes. For their part, the Chinese have become increasingly attentive to interest-group politics in the United States, the process by which American foreign policy is made, and the problems of the strategic arms race.
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From page 143... ...
. Recently launched efforts to train Chinese students and senior scholars in international relations and political science in the United States and in China (efforts such as those of the Ford Founciation, Stanford University's U.S.-China Relations Program, and the joint Johns Hopkins University-Nanjing University Center for Chinese and American Studies)
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From page 144... ...
Political constraints are being loosened, but no one is certain how long this will continue or whether the changes will endure. In the field of traditional Chinese literature, the resumption of SinoAmerican educational exchanges has been less in evidence, but equally exciting for American scholars.
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From page 145... ...
Now, although the economist must still spend considerable time perusing Chinese publications, information about China's economy is much more readily available. The increased volume of Chinese publications available in the West and the resumption of scholarly exchanges have both contributed to this change.
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From page 146... ...
The possibility of traveling to China has sparked the interest of general economists who do not normally study China and of some graduate students who have entered the field because of interesting dissertation possibilities. Increased productivity and shorter lead times in research are probably due to the greater accessibility of published materials rather than to scholarly exchange.
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From page 147... ...
Nonetheless, much of our increased understanding of China has resulted from the increased detail and availability of Chinese publications and the presence of Chinese students and scholars on American campuses. Finally, the benefits to the American scholarly community of exchanges would increase dramatically with better access to archives, museums, and research institutes, and more opportunities for survey and field research.
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From page 148... ...
In China, however, with a few notable exceptions, there is no interdisciplinary study of the United States. Although there is interest in American studies in a growing number of Chinese universities, the approach is not well developed, mainly because there is a severe shortage of primary research materials and instructors with training in the West and no interdisciplinary tradition in universities and institutes.
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From page 149... ...
Documentary collections are scarce and fragmentary. Since this situation is not likely to improve dramatically any time soon, it remains essential for Chinese universities to send their graduate students in American studies to the United States for advanced degrees.
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From page 150... ...
Its principal mandate has been to help develop scholarly knowledge of the United States and to strengthen the institutional basis for this scholarship in China. American Fulbright professors teach in Chinese universities and Chinese students and senior scholars come to the United States under Fulbright auspices for periods of several months to several years.
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From page 151... ...
Following the death of Mao Zeclong, China's scientific leadership joined other Chinese scholars in expressing alarm at the damage wrought by the Cultural Revolution to the physics research apparatus. Those leaders made plans to catch up in physics.
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From page 152... ...
China's scientific leaders hoped that by training potential scientific leaders at major American laboratories where they would work on research problems at the frontiers of knowledge, the PRC would get a group of physicists who could help move Chinese science forward. The American laboratories that sponsored the physicists would benefit from the work of these highly selected and motivated scholars, who would, after a period of adjustment, make the same contribution as a senior research associate during the two years of work.
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From page 153... ...
About 50 American universities participate, and as of January 1985 about 340 Chinese CUSPEA students were enrolled in graduate physics programs in the United States. The CUSPEA program is a private collegial arrangement.
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From page 154... ...
Although the Chinese have reaped major benefits in these exchanges in physics, the United States also has achieved significant gains. For American universities, "300 excellent Chinese graduate students in physics provide a significant fraction of the total graduate student body at a time when the enrollment of American students in these programs has not recovered from the serious declines of the 1970's."4~ And for the larger American academic and governmental communities, SinoAmerican academic exchanges in physics have contributed to greater understanding of the Chinese bureaucracies and the financial constraints under which they operate.42 Cancer (Epidemiology)
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From page 155... ...
While Chinese scientists and researchers receive advanced training and access to up-to-date instrumentation, American laboratories and universities can acquire valuable scientific specimens of cancers that are rare in the United States. Americans frequently initiate the exchanges, believing that the substantial expenditures made by American universities and funding agencies are more than compensated for by opportunities to obtain biopsies and conduct first-hand observations.
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From page 156... ...
By providing access to the patients, specimens, and data available in China and advancing the training of Chinese scientists in the West, exchanges in the field of cancer research between the United States and China have the potential to contribute substantially to the welfare of humanity. As this collaborative relationship unfolds, it must do so with the highest standards of protection for human subjects.
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From page 157... ...
The Cultural Revolution's emphasis on mass mobilization and criticism of "bourgeois experts" paradoxically created an atmosphere conducive to an emphasis on earthquake prediction, especially using predictive methods in which mass mobilization played an important role. On February 4, 1975, a damaging earthquake occurred near Haichen~ Livening Province.
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From page 158... ...
In the basic tectonic aspects of earthquake occurrence, the advanced state of plate tectonic analysis in the United States required much debate and analysis when applied to Asia.s3 Predictive models of earthquakes contrasted sharply with the largely empirical correlations previously relied upon in China. The exchange programs also have played a role, although perhaps not a decisive one, in a change in emphasis of the PRC seismology program that goes beyond the diversification of research efforts.
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From page 159... ...
Seismologists from both nations have been frustrated at their counterparts' lack of language skill and consequent inability to study primary source material or to present complex scientific arguments. Progress has also been slowed by the dearth of computers in China and Chinese undergraduates' lack of exposure to computer facilities.54 The quality of education in China also has been variable, and Chinese universities have had rigid academic structures.
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From page 160... ...
The program would also profit from greater involvement of international organizations, such as the International Association for Seismology and Physics of the Earth's Interior, and special Regional Assemblies; workshops at these assemblies would help to consolidate the results of the exchange program. Enhanced facilities for broad seismological research in selected Chinese universities would also strengthen exchanges in this field.
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From page 161... ...
Mutual interest has promoted agricultural exchange. Even before the end of the Cultural Revolution decade, the scientific communities in both nations felt they would benefit from sharing knowledge and genetic resources and exchanging scholars and students.
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From page 162... ...
. Beginning in 1980, many American land grant universities and related institutions established formal exchange agreements and also started sending instructors to sister agricultural research and teaching institutions in China (see Tables A-29 through A-31.
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From page 163... ...
The Chinese also have an interest in agricultural economics, marketing economics, cell physiology, plant tissue culture, haploid culture, somatic cell fusion, integrated pest management, and biological control methods for crop and livestock pests. In the area of agricultural growth, Chinese plant scientists are eagerly seeking new fertilizer and irrigation technologies and information, developed in the United States, on the use of exotic plant growth regulators to enhance crop yields and to improve crop quality.
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From page 164... ...
Most agricultural science exchanges with China have been carried out by publicly supported research and educational institutions. But in the United States, the private sector, which does approximately twothirds of the agricultural research and development, offers an area of great potential for future collaboration.
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From page 165... ...
2. In the field of Chinese studies in the United States, it is becoming essential for American students and scholars to spend significant periods in China conducting archival and field research.
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5. American scholars have had a variety of experiences in China, and the quality of those experiences does not necessarily reflect central Chinese government policy in all respects.
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From page 167... ...
This raises the question of whether and to what degree the interests of the United States run counter to the hopes of the PRC in sending its students abroad in the sciences namely, that they will return to assist China in its modernization drive. As of 1985, it seems most likely that a large percentage of PRC officially sponsored students will return home, but the lure of the scientific infrastructure and economic level in the Unitecl States will be strong.
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From page 168... ...
Nee conducted household surveys in four production teams; interviewed peasants, cadres and technical personnel; and had free access to all brigade and team statistical records on population trends and economic performance." In Lucie Cheng, "Chinese American Collaboration with Chinese Scholars on Social Science Research: The UCLA-Zhongshan Joint Research Project on Chinese Emigration," CEN, Vol.
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From page 169... ...
Lampton: Policy Implementation in Post-Mao China (to be published by the University of California Press in 1987~. The papers for this volume were prepared for the workshop on "Policy Implementation in Post-Mao China," cosponsored by the Joint Committee on Chinese Studies of the American Council of Learned Societies and the Social Science Research Council, and the Mershon Center of the Ohio State University; Columbus, Ohio, June 20-24, 1983.
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From page 170... ...
55. Compare these figures to those in 1973, when 35 percent of all engineering doctorates earned in the United States were earned by foreign citizens; 21 percent in mathematics, and 37 percent in agricultural sciences.
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From page 171... ...
INSTITUTIONAL CHANGES One principal consequence of Sino-American academic exchanges has been to provide China's elite with alternative institutional models as it strives to modernize the country. Since the mid-nineteenth century, China's leaders and intellectuals have frequently looked abroad for models that could promote internal order, economic growth, and national security.
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From page 172... ...
The Chinese government wants to protect its investment in this training by avoiding socially disruptive consequences that occur if returnees are not successfully reintegrated into their work units and Chinese society. Some PRC students and scholars abroad are uncertain what their role will be on returning to China.
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From page 173... ...
In his speech, Zhang Jingfu took particular pains to note that "students studying abroad at their own expense must be treated equally and given the necessary assistance as are those studying abroad at the state's expense."5 The variations in the experiences of exchange participants upon returning depend upon their previous status and their circumstances in China. Those sent abroad by the Chinese government are dispatched by a particular "unit" or organization.
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From page 174... ...
After their return from abroad, their professional directions can be adjusted slightly in light of China's specific realities and conditions, merging each person's aspirations and characteristics and rationally arranging his or her work.8 The present heavy emphasis on applied research could create some friction with returned students and scholars whose work in the United States was more "basic" in character. How well China succeeds in reintegrating students and scholars who return from abroad will greatly affect the rate at which PRC students and scholars return to China in the future.
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From page 175... ...
Nonetheless, PRC students and scholars in the United States demonstrate a great sense of obligation to their homeland, which will almost certainly keep their return rate higher than has been the case for many other student groups from developing countries in the United States. I~CHNOLOGY MANSE: ISSUES FOR THE FUTURE Though the 1982 National Research Council study entitled Scientific Communication and National Security was principally concerned with the Soviet Union, its recommendations are a fitting starting point for U.S.
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From page 176... ...
Given the importance of foreign graduate students in basic science research at universities, any restraints placed on the access of foreign nationals to technical information and nonclassifiecl research equipmentis will greatly slow important research progress on American campuses. American universities have given Chinese students and scholars the same reception accorded all other foreign students and overall have been very open in their dealings.
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From page 177... ...
It now is time to think about longer-term, group, and collaborative research to supplement— not replace the individual research and study in the PRC that remains critically important. As increasing numbers of PRC students and scholars return from study and research in the West, they do so with personal ties, improved foreign language command, greater commonality of intellectual frameworks, and more compatible research objectives that will make longterm collaborative research feasible.
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From page 178... ...
And, in the case of johns Hopkins University and its joint project with Nanjing University, an American university has made a long-term commitment to institutional development in the PRC. In essence, academic exchanges now are beginning to address issues of structural reform in China, and American academics and industrial scientists are, for better or worse, becoming involved in Chinese institutional change.
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From page 179... ...
30, 1984. It should be noted that some PRC students and scholars in the United States view these centers with apprehension, fearing that they also are intended to control returned students rather than facilitate their work.
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