Teaching Notes: "Lamb" and "Silent One" - How to imagine "Chinese students" in the new Cold War era?

Over the past few years, I have heard colleagues publicly complain about the collective term "Chinese international students" in the workplace. This year is the first time. Complaints included lying, academic integrity, and most importantly, a heightened sensitivity to political issues. This week's class discusses information security and social credit systems. A colleague said that a Chinese student was arguing loudly with another classmate in his classroom, and he didn’t know what to do; on the other hand, two classmates echoed, “It’s always extravagant to have a political discussion in a classroom with Chinese students. difficult".

Behind this complaint lies a subtle change - an update of the discussion framework is taking place. Over the past few years, the mainstream framework in the media and academic circles for discussing Chinese students is ethnicity and multiculturalism, that is, Chinese students are regarded as a type of ethnic minorities in a multicultural society, and their specificity in social interaction is considered. Although research and discussion on "Little Pink" appeared after 2010, it did not enter the mainstream field of vision after all. However, from last year to this year, the Hong Kong protests and the "offline pink" who frequently appeared in the trade war really made Western society begin to re-examine the group of "Chinese students". Chinese students began to be recognized as a single, singular being. On the one hand, in the general perception, "Chinese students" are no longer a group of so-called ethnic minorities, and they are also different from Asians who are "model minorities" in the eyes of the Anglo community, but have begun to be regarded as a kind of public potential threats in space. On the other hand, due to the rising nationalist sentiment in China and the microgressions of Western society in classrooms and public discussions, the "dissidents" among Chinese students are often in a state of "difficulties both at home and abroad" - this group of people, who do not know what to do with Juejian is represented by "pink".

As a person who came to Australia as an international student, seeing such changes always makes me feel complicated.

As a student, although I have experienced more than one attack from the "Little Pink" classmates, most of the classmates, students, and political views that I have come into contact with are far more than "anti-communist" and "not anti-communist"— Before going abroad, students who have had a relatively in-depth observation of Chinese society and have a clear sense of reflection on the regime come from families who have benefited a lot from China's current system. Therefore, the maintenance of the system is always rational. The students before thinking about it are actually a minority in proportion.

More individuals, in fact, hide in the broad spectral region between these two endpoints.

What does the middle spectrum look like? Understanding this question requires us to first understand a landscape of Chinese political space: according to Hanna Jalan's division method, "politics" and "society" are two different concepts. In Chinese public spaces, discussions of political issues are often separated from discussions of social issues. Along with it, many young students may not have a clear critical attitude towards the regime, but have a simple enthusiasm for public affairs.

Although we all expect that participants can enter specific issues from the reflection system, the reality will not always go according to our expectations. Mature people need to accept the constraints of reality and think about what they can create based on that.

My thinking and persistence are not to give up telling the facts, but to provide nutrients for students' thinking. As Rowena He said when discussing her June 4 class: "As long as human nature is not lost, it is difficult not to be moved if one understands the details of history." In my class this semester, such moments also flashed from time to time, the anger expressed by girls who were usually silent when they talked about women's rights in China; when the social credit system documentary was broadcast, Chinese students felt astonished to be deceived—— He is not critical because no one has told them about the existence of this system before, and he does not know that lawyers who have reported on human rights issues will be banned from their homes because of this system... Over time, these people who care about women's rights, even Students whose families are in danger cannot guarantee that they will not go back to the depths of the problem with a down-top path and propose solutions to specific problems in Chinese society. And depending on the exposure, perceptions of politics even change noticeably every one or two semesters. Part of the educator's task is to treat students as individuals, helping them find missing pieces of the knowledge map.

Taking a step back, I also don't want to lash out at "Little Pink" like many "anti-communist" intellectuals (although, I understand their anger). As someone who has experienced Chinese education, it is not difficult for me to sympathize with the poor "Little Pinks"; not only they are poor, but everyone who grew up under the Chinese regime is pitiful -- we have never had the opportunity to develop an education that nurtures critical thinking since childhood. Growing up in an environment, most of the received knowledge is woven into a distorted structure. The sincere communication and critical thinking that should be present in education have all but disappeared in the liberal arts education in our home country. Instead, history, society, and politics are reduced to rigid, packaged "knowledge points." Memorizing false memories and remembering officially designated versions of memories has become the task of classroom teaching. In order to cooperate with school education to prevent their children from "getting into trouble", many parents silently kept their personal memories of the Cultural Revolution and 1989 as a secret forever. Think about it, how sad it is that children living under one roof don't even have the opportunity to hear the historical truth about their country and their own family from their parents. A person without history, like a tumbleweed between heaven and earth, can only move at will with the trend of the times. It seems to be free, but it is actually a real curse... Growing up in such an environment, and having to "Exodus" in a closed media environment, the difficulty can be imagined. To paraphrase a friend who has taught at a domestic university for many years: "To be taught badly, you need wisdom, diligence, and additional protection from God."

It is easy for educators and children raised in democracies to criticize totalitarianism, but to understand "how people grow up in totalitarianism" is very difficult. If you don't really understand this education system, it's hard to imagine that the kind of education that they seem to have at your fingertips will actually be a price for Chinese children's lives. If educators who understand these things carefully, I am afraid they will have more compassion; even students who seem to be "pink" may only be at a stage that they have to go through in their lives. Whether they will be aware of their own subjects in the future and whether they will be aware of their existence in history also depends on the information provided to them by overseas educators.

Yet for universities in today's neo-liberal system, education is a business, not a public good for the future of the world. In colleges, long conversations between students may still be visible, but only a minority of teachers are willing (or able) to put their publications first, put those numbers aside, and spend time talking to students, even asking about their past education What was the experience like. Many educators have a flat understanding of China, and it is even harder to expect them to restore "Chinese students" to a complex and three-dimensional space.

However, when we look back on our educational journey, we will all be grateful to the good teachers who are responsible and compassionate in our learning experience; no matter where we receive education, we have all gone through a stage of ignorance and ignorance of historical wounds. For intellectuals from China, this kind of confusion may be a deaf ear to 89, the Cultural Revolution and the system behind it; for some scholars in Australia and the United States, it is difficult to guarantee that they have not posted the national flag on their faces and celebrated the Invansion Day in their youth. ..... The question of the title - "How to imagine Chinese students", from this point of view, has become an interrogation of the responsibility of educators. Most men and women are mediocre, and the students always give us a sincere look. Do we still have a responsibility in educating our students? Do you still remember when you were a student?

In the current polarized political environment, young people have become the hope of the future world. The university either continues to operate itself as an enterprise and only pays attention to the material contributions of Chinese students; or it needs to seriously understand the group of Chinese students and increase the diversity of their thinking and life. It is not just about business models, but also about business models. Almost concerned about the shape of the future world. It is not difficult to add a general education course on democratic classics in the first year and preparatory course to protect the outspoken people from totalitarian countries. As an individual, with prudence and empathy, being an ordinary person worthy of respect is an important lesson for me to be reminded often - my youth was influenced by such a teacher, and I know this kind of The meaning of sincere education. Preserving this idea is related to my life story, so it is more important than power, speculation, and cooperation with Chinese companies.

The spring rain and the night do not disperse, and the mountains are also cloudy in the dream.

The reality of the moment is not always a Taoyuan. But remembering the teacher you respect in your heart will always give you more motivation.