From ‘Mandarin on your terms’, to ‘Mandarin on our terms’, Jonathon Zimmerman pens this CS Monitor article.
‘Mandarin on our terms’
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{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
Perhaps a little reactionary. If China were to start the Mussolini style brainwash in earnest, I might get a little concerned. Otherwise, I think that generally left the Chinese foreign policy with the Cultural Revolution and the previous edition of the Practical Chinese Reader.
Ken
I do think it is something to be concerned about. Countries always do things in terms of what is best for their own national interest. And why not? So is China supporting this to improve the perception of itself in the world ? Of course. It is not necessarily a bad thing and all countries attempt to do this in one way or another. My country America does everything for altruistic reasons? I don’t think so.
I see this first hand here in Taiwan. Others may not be aware but China in many ways is trying to love Taiwan to death. Special passport lines to make it easier for Taiwanese to enter China than other foreigners for instance. When I entered Macao there was one line for foreigners and 8 for Taiwanese. So I used my resident card and entered in the Taiwanese only line. Five minute wait compared to two hours for a co-worker. ( We went and had lunch and came back and he was still in line)
Also ,I beleive this is correct but Taiwanese can go to college free in China. The big issue is the degree is not recognized back in Taiwan.
So of course China has many reasons to promote its language, culture….. in the USA and other countries. It is only natural
Mike in Jubei
Very interesting. I am currently taking extension courses at the local university here in Central Mexico and my native Chinese teacher who is newly arrived from BLCU in Beijing has made it very clear to us that Tibet and Taiwan are part of the Peoples’ Republic of China and that any comments to the effect that they are not are entirely unwelcome. The fact that China is “a-religious” and has a one child per couple policy was also stressed as well as “a bullet to the back of the head” behind the police station for obvious criminals is not considered cruel and unusual punnishment. “Wo ting de qingchu qing de hen hao” or should I say “zhe li mingbai!” and please give this old newbie a pardon if my Chinese isn’t perfect
This could very well be the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever read. I took a semester of Chinese in Hangzhou and have been living in China for about a year and a half now and I can say I don’t know one Mao song, I don’t recite propaganda slogans, and being here hasn’t radically changed my views on so-called “hot-topics” in china (i.e. those loved in the west: Tiananmen, Tibet, Taiwan,etc.).
Also I have to say “I’m guilty.” As an English teacher here I haven’t focused on just the faults and mistakes my country has made (or is making). I think China’s main objective in spreading knowledge about its language and culture is pure and simple. If more people know Chinese than China can play a more important role in the global market. Therefore the economy can grow even more.
I think I’m going to send this guy an e-mail.
Well, it depends.
Do the English language books produced in the USA discuss that country’s own terrorism, human rights abuses, and so on? I don’t think so. And you expect another country in the same situation to be any different? I wouldn’t expect an introductory German textbook to contain references to Hitler, or a French text to talk about Greenpeace, and I can’t imagine any Australian book for an overseas school audience mentioning the recent genocide against 400 nations of Australians.
We do know that’s how it works with language books, we’re not silly, and we don’t care much.
I think life’s too short to worry about closed-minded neanderthals like this author. Ignorance is universal – to get lathered up by his words and try to get him to change is about as useful as playing a zither to a cow.
The Christian Science Monitor is a publication run and published by conservative Christians. They’ve allready got a bee in their bonnet about China.
Ma Ding … don’t let the “Christian” in the title fool you. The CS Monitor has quite a credible reputation, is highly regarded by journalists and you’d be hard-pressed to find a consistent ideological bias in their paper (and I say this as someone who is decidedly NOT a conservative Christian). They are justifiably proud of their ability to separate the church from the paper. If some issue really goes against their religiosity — they simply avoid it entirely. It’s won 7 Pulitzers … give’em their due.
That said … this was an opinion piece. Read some of Zimmerman’s other stuff; he may have academic creds, but he’s pretty facile as easily dismissed as an intellectual featherweight.