Prospective Lu Sheng: I am a student, not a political card | Lu Sheng was suspended from studying in Taiwan

Author | Zygmunt

Editor | Shi Haiqing

In the past few months, many Lu Shengs who plan to study in Taiwan have been paying attention to the admissions information of universities in Taiwan, waiting for the relevant applications to reopen when the COVID-19 epidemic eases. Unexpectedly, in the early morning of April 9, the official website of the Ministry of Education issued a document, announcing:

Taking into account the current situation of COVID-19 prevention and control and the situation of cross-strait relations, it has been decided to suspend the 2020 graduates from all over the mainland at all levels of education going to Taiwan for further studies.

Neither the 187-word article published by the Ministry of Education nor the Xinhua News Agency's interview with the person in charge of the Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan Affairs Office of the Ministry of Education has stated whether "Lu Sheng's study in Taiwan" will resume next year, and what arrangements the Ministry of Education will make in this regard . Many people worry that this will be the same as the suspension of free travel to Taiwan from the mainland, and it will be an indefinite suspension . "Lu Sheng is about to become history", someone has already expressed such emotion.

The groups most affected by this move should be a group of "quasi-terrestrial". Many of them have already chosen a Taiwanese school they like, and they have spent a lot of time and energy preparing for this, and have taken studying in Taiwan as their life plan. Now the application deadlines for studying in Hong Kong, Macau and overseas have been closed one after another, and the domestic postgraduate entrance examination has long since ended. This sudden information undoubtedly threw them out of the established life plan.

In 2011, the Taiwan government allowed Lu Sheng to study at his own expense in Taiwan. Two years later, the number of open provinces increased from six to eight. According to public data, in 2019, 4,939 students applied to study in Taiwan. In the past three years, the total number of applications has been more than 3,600.

Chen Xin is one of the students who plan to apply to study in Taiwan this year. After graduating with an undergraduate degree in 2017, she had already planned her study plan, but now everything has been disrupted. The day after the Ministry of Education announced the relevant measures, Chen Xin issued an information disclosure application to the Ministry of Education, requesting to disclose the basis for the "suspend", relevant normative documents and issue numbers, explaining the reopening time, and the contextual relevance of the Ministry of Education's notice.

In the application letter, Chen Xin mentioned that hundreds of people were affected by this measure. We contacted Chen Xin, asked her about the situation, and learned about the stories of quasi-Lusheng and Lusheng minority groups, as well as their expectations.

Quasi-terrestrial choices and worries

Q: Can you tell us about your current situation? For example, what stage of study are you in?

A: I graduated with an undergraduate degree in 2017 and have been working for a while. I learned about the enrollment situation in Taiwan at the end of December 2019. A friend who studied in Taiwan recommended some departments. I was very interested at that time and hoped to continue. For further study, there is no language barrier and the cost is low, so I plan to apply for it. In the past few months, applications have not been open due to the epidemic, but we have also been looking at the admissions brochures of various schools and preparing research materials. Then yesterday I suddenly heard the news that Lu Sheng's enrollment was suspended.

Q: Why did you want to study in Taiwan? Cross-strait relations are now more tense than ever, and most of the public opinion is focused on the reasons for wanting to study in Taiwan.

A: In addition to the language and cost of answering the above questions, the department I personally miss is related to the field of social sciences (gender studies). The research level of this type of major in the mainland is not as good as that in Taiwan, and the department is not enough. comprehensive. Therefore, from these points of view, it is a more favorable environment to study in Taiwan. Although the governments on both sides of the strait will shout at each other, this big international background is only a phenomenon we have seen on the surface. Specifically, what kind of people we meet in our life, and how your classmates and teachers interact with you are very different. Different from person to person, specific and subtle things. To be honest, I don't worry about getting along with me. I have also met some Taiwanese friends before, and I think they are all very nice.

Q: How do you understand this policy? What are you most worried about right now?

A: I think it is very similar to the previous policy of suspending free exercise. The way it came out was sudden, there was no formal red-head stall, there was no press conference or news interviews. Furthermore, they may not be able to recover for a while (Lu Sheng went to Taiwan and traveled freely). And the most worrying thing is that there will be no more terrestrial students in the future, and the exchange of education between the two sides of the strait will be completely terminated. As well as his next plan, he had already planned for at least the next one or two years, but suddenly he couldn't do it. So should I look for a new job? I keep thinking about these questions.

Q: Can you talk about what preparations you have made?

A: It is mainly to prepare application materials, such as autobiography, research plan, etc. I have written several copies.

Q: As far as you know, are there many people affected by this document? Are there any exchanges between you?

A: It should be quite a lot. Just looking at the number of Lu Sheng's enrollment each year in the first two years, it looks like there are one or two thousand people. This year, I have also added some groups that are going to apply to go to Taiwan, and there are thousands of people in them. So we discuss these things in groups, privately (me) not.

Q: When this file came out, was there a big reaction in the group?

A: Everyone's reactions are varied. Generally speaking, they are shocked and disappointed. The overall feeling is very low, and there are all kinds of miscellaneous discussions. Others will feel very "confessed". The relationship between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait is like this, coupled with the epidemic, Lu Sheng's ending is also very helpless .

Practice as an individual actor

Q: What is the significance of information disclosure to you or to other students going to Taiwan?

A: At the beginning, I thought of this channel because it is a legal and compliant way to communicate with the government. Our country has a "Regulations on the Disclosure of Government Information", just follow it. No one will say that you are creating chaos or doing things, it is a relatively risk-free move. For me, immediately asking about information disclosure is something I can think of at the moment; for the Ministry of Education, I hope this is also a form of supervision and accountability, and I want to know the consideration of a policy formulation. What is it? For other Lusheng, I actually did not expect how satisfying the results of this information disclosure would be , but I think this behavior is an action, focusing on a policy that seems to be abrupt and head-sapping, Monitor the government and express reasonable demands.

Q: According to the "Regulations on the Disclosure of Government Information", the Ministry of Education needs to respond to your questions within 15 working days. If your questions are not fully answered in the response, what will be done in the future?

A: Administrative reconsideration (laughs), if the response is really messy, reconsideration or prosecution is the only legal way . But taking the next legal procedure is one thing, and on the other hand, I hope that more people in the society will pay attention to this matter, not just Lu Sheng. If everyone pays more attention and is more active, then this matter should be taken seriously.

Q: Assuming that the response is complete, and the results cannot be changed, do you have Plan B for the near future?

A: Actually, I haven't started to think about life Plan B. I just think...I will continue to work, so I can't continue to study for the time being. But I also didn't plan to study in other countries, because the preparation cost is very high.

Q: Do you have any plans for this period of waiting?

A: Do you mean the fifteen working days to wait for a reply? I still hope that more people can pay attention, and more Lu Sheng can communicate and stay connected.

Q: In addition to this information disclosure requirement, do you expect the education departments on both sides of the Taiwan Strait to have more specific plans and support for the terrestrial groups who are about to go to Taiwan?

A: I think the governments on both sides of the strait have always regarded Lu Sheng as a political card. When the relationship between the two sides of the strait is good, more places are opened, and Lu Sheng is treated better. When the relationship breaks down, the number of places is reduced and the treatment is particularly poor. For example Restrictions on returning to Taiwan during the epidemic, etc. My general expectation is that in the future, both sides of the Taiwan Strait can treat Lu Sheng as a group of students to study, rather than playing around as a political card .

Follow up:

On April 11, Qian Yongxiang and He Xinjie, editor-in-chief of Duan Media, also talked about Lu Sheng's policy of suspending recruitment in an online salon, "I think Lu Sheng is a healthy force in mainland China, and these young people are willing to come to Taiwan. , although not everyone agrees with the actual situation of Taiwanese society, but at least one can see a different society. After seeing it, you can make a judgment. You can see some shortcomings in the society and do not want to be copied, and you may see some advantages. It is a great opportunity for Lu Sheng to come to Taiwan to communicate and have a dialogue with us! So I think it is very important for the two sides to increase mutual understanding and channels of goodwill.”

Teacher Qian Yongxiang said, "It is a great loss to stop Lu Sheng from coming to Taiwan. This is even more regrettable than the suspension of cross-strait economic and trade exchanges!"

Compared with other social issues, the stories and voices that have occurred on these "political cards" this year have far lacked the attention of the society on both sides of the strait. The Taiwan Ministry of Education blocked Lu Sheng from coming to Taiwan on the grounds of preventing and controlling the epidemic, and the mainland Ministry of Education banned Lu Sheng from going to Taiwan on the grounds of preventing and controlling the epidemic. When can we land safely: When no one cares about the environment, you and I are all overgrown with weeds.

Note: Chen Xin is a pseudonym

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