An American Awakens to China

by John Maher

Like millions of Americans, my experience of the Chinese people consisted of dining in America's Chinese restaurants, taking clothes to Chinese laundries, and reading about the threat that China was said to pose to the western world. Then, in 1986, at the age of 58, I seized a chance to teach economics to graduate students at Yellow River University (YRU) in Zhengzhou.

I was a bit afraid. I had been told that China was backward, overcrowded, and highly suspicious of Americans. Had not China and America fought a bitter war in Korea, and didn't I serve aboard a destroyer in the U.S. Navy (not in combat, however) during that war? Wasn't Communist China opposed to most of the values of the West? Was I to be free to teach economics the same way I did in America and with no interference from authorities? Would the students and faculty at YRU accept me and my wife who would also teach?

Our first experience in February 1986 was not auspicious. While our little apartment was fine, it was heated briefly and only once a week. I heard that one of the professors had her toes frostbitten when teaching in the classroom. Both my wife and I developed respiratory infections, which had nothing to do with our being abroad yet exacerbated our initial discomfort.

However, the 37 students in my class were the friendliest and most intelligent group I had ever taught. Because of the relatively scarce opportunities for graduate study, these students had been carefully and competitively selected to attend the University. I also found that the students accorded me considerable respect because of my graying hair and professorial status. This is in marked contrast to the processes of selecting students in the United States, where a huge fraction of high school graduates attend college and where the culture glorifies youth, not age.

Except for one student whose mother had served in the Chinese army during the Korean War and who had been crippled as a result of a bombing attack, there was no hostility whatever among the students. Indeed, all of my initial fears proved to be unfounded.

I selected the course textbook and a book about China's economic development published by the World Bank. There was never any question raised by the Chinese staff about what or how I taught.

It is impossible for me to convey the enormous impression that this experience has made in my life. For one thing–-and I hate to admit this--when I returned to America I taught for just one year and then resigned from my university. I resigned because I was so disappointed with both the students and with my own performance. My disappointment was also caused by my poor decision to teach large classes with little interaction with students, unlike the intimate association I had enjoyed in China.

Another extraordinary impact of teaching in China was the continuing contact I have with my former students. It is now 15 years since I first taught in China and I am in almost daily contact with many of my former students. And, consistent with China's outstanding achievements in economic development, these students have been unusually successful. They have furthered their education and a few hold doctor degrees from such universities as Harvard, Pittsburgh, Bristol in England, and the University of Connecticut. Today they hold responsible positions in China and in several other countries. They were genial hosts when last year I returned twice to lecture and teach in Nanjing and Beijing and to travel to Shanghai, Shenzhen, Haikou and other cities.

As I reflect on the wonders of China's economic development, I have only two fears. First is the fear that the importation of millions of automobiles will greatly increase pollution of the air, choke the highways, disperse the population and squander the earnings from international trade. Anyone familiar with the damage done in America by the widespread private ownership of automobiles would never wish this tragedy on another country. It seems to me that China's reliance on public transportation, including airplanes, buses, trains, sanlunches (three-wheeled vehicles, sometimes powered by a gasoline engine) and great fleets of taxis, makes any substantial increase in automobiles unnecessary and undesirable.

A second fear is that the spread of fast food stores will ultimately lead to the same injury endured in America, namely the increase in obesity arising from the fat, salt, and sugar contained in fast food. In the U.S., 30% of young people are dangerously overweight and adults are similarly afflicted. There is no doubt that diabetes, heart disease, and other ailments are caused by improper diet.

Avoiding these calamities may be difficult when China fully implements the agreements of the World Trade Organization, which is designed to stimulate free trade and the movement of capital. But it would seem that every nation is entitled to protect its people from these ills.

The continuing fear in the U.S. concerning Chinese military intentions is, in my opinion, without foundation. Those who know a little of the recent history and military postures of our countries should try to explain matters to people on both sides. At present, I have in mind particularly the White Paper published last November by the Chinese Department of Defense. From other, independent sources, I have checked much of the data in this document and find it to be a genuine contribution toward better understanding even though, of course, it is written from the perspective of authorities in Beijing.  Particularly significant are figures comparing defense expenditures in China with those in the West, along with comparisons regarding the stationing of troops, ships, planes and missiles in foreign bases.

Now, at age 74 and semi-retired, an important part of my time is spent trying to help my American friends to better understand this gigantic, diverse, miraculously developing country. Everyone knows that the peace of the world depends upon good relations between China and America, the two remaining superpowers. While there will be misgivings on the part of each of our peoples about the form of government characteristic of the other side, we share common aspirations.