[Editor's note: thanks to our busy travel schedule, all these blog posts are now pretty belated and out of order! Never fear, though, we are having a rich and fascinating traipse through China in the meantime, and here is a retrospective post by Dakota McCoy on our visit to Shanghai Jiao Tong University last week.]
Today, we were warmly welcomed at Shanghai Jiao Tong University by a group of enthusiastic students with whom we paired up for the day. The highlights of the trip to China for me have been the wonderful moments of conversation that reveal great cultural differences – and similarities!
EXCERPTS:
Ela, Rhodes Scholar from Germany (2013) had been wondering about changes in young adult career ambitions due to the One Child Policy and its aftermath. (An article we’d read hinted at that sort of cultural change). The following exchange took place:
Ela: "As an only child, do you feel a lot of pressure? Does it change your outlook?"
SJTU student: "You mean, when I'm taking care of my parents as they get older?"
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Over lunch, I brought up the topics of Darwinism/evolution and climate change in the United States. After a few minutes of explanation to drive home the point that these issues are – truly!!-- politically polarizing, I was met with incredulous stares and a not-insignificant amount of giggling.
Finally, one girl ventured to say: “Maybe these politicians should remember their junior high school science classes?”
(As Madeleine, Rhodes scholar from Canada (2013) noted, “maybe they were remembering their junior high science classes!”)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
After lunch, we – the Rhodes scholars and our assigned SJTU buddies-- walked along a path framed by blooming magnolia trees, shootin’ the breeze about everything ranging from love to government censorship. My favorite quote came from one girl who summed up a common attitude towards the government (at least among SJTU students):
“If the government says ‘One!’, sometimes we hear ‘Minus one!’”
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
In the afternoon, we had the peculiar – yet marvelous -- experience of attending an exposition of traditional Irish drama in the lovely Shanghai Grand Theater. In the company of the Irish Consul General to Shanghai, we watched:
(i) an unremarkable scene (about whether or not some women would go to a dance) from a play written by a lesser-known Irish playwright whose name I’ve forgotten*
And
(ii) the most emotionally wrenching and captivating scene from Pygmalion (the inspiration for the much-loved, familiar classic My Fair Lady), written by Nobel Laureate George Bernard Shaw.
The contrast was… striking.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Our first day with the students, we came together for a conference of sorts. The MC was a lovely student with the voice of a radio announcer from 1920s America, and he kept us right on schedule with a variety of entertaining metaphors (“rev your engines!” vroom vroom vroooooom). He was, without a doubt, the most entertaining conference MC I have ever seen.
After Rachel Kolb, Charles Masaki, and Adam Mastroianni spoke to the SJTU students about their experiences at Oxford, we moved to small themed discussion groups (with two or three Rhodes scholars and 8 or so SJTU students per group) that revealed very interesting cultural differences – e.g., risk-taking propensity -- in considerations about business, entrepreneurship, the environment, and more.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
I left SJTU with a deeper understanding of the beliefs, practices, and personalities of students at China’s top universities. I left with a belly full of delicious dumplings that we made together, with laughter and storytelling. I left with a notebook filled with quotes, sketches, and memories.
But most importantly, I left with a new friend: my buddy, Sara (first year student at SJTU). The night that we parted ways, we exchanged WeChat contact information (you haven’t heard of WeChat? Do yourself a favor and download it ASAP.), then stood on the banks of a huge body of water overlooking the futuristic, geometric Shanghai skyline. The haze of pollution made everything feel ethereal.
After about five minutes of standing in comfortable silence, looking out at the triumphant spectacle of human achievement spanning the entire horizon, Sara said, “it is so broad! It is just so broad. It makes me feel broad.”
Thanks to Sara and her friends at SJTU, I know my perspective has broadened, too.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
* I am being unfair to the poor chap, who is a quite well-known playwright named Brian Friel. A quick Google—aided, of course, by my ever-trusty VPN, who never fails to charge through Chinese firewalls—immediately revealed his name.
- Dakota McCoy
(Pennsylvania and St. Hilda's 2013)
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