A group of students from China was out there this week showing the greatness of 5,000 years...
A recent incident in which a Chinese exchange student made a rude gesture at a speaker who addressed the Chinese students at National Chenchi University’s (NCCU) student orientation as “overseas students from China (中國的留學生)” has prompted heated discussion online and among university staff and students.Let me emphasize that such open display of pompous arrogant imperialism is non-existent in my experience. I've taught many Chinese exchange students and they have uniformly been model students. I always look forward to having them in my classes.
Along with several other Chinese exchange students, the student in question reportedly complained to the university after the moderator at last month’s student orientation greeted them by saying: “We welcome the overseas students from China to Taiwan.”
The Chinese students said it was “inappropriate” to address them that way at a public event, demanding to know why they were not addressed as either “students from the mainland (陸生)” or “friends from the interior (內地來的朋友).”
They also demanded an apology from the Taiwanese students who attended the orientation.
All those nice students count for nothing against such displays, however, since negative events have outsized effects. This tendency to trash Taiwan was the reason I and others were so supportive of the opening to Chinese tourists -- we knew exactly how they would behave and what kind of impression they would make on the locals.
_______________________
[Taiwan] Don't miss the comments below! And check out my blog and its sidebars for events, links to previous posts and picture posts, and scores of links to other Taiwan blogs and forums!
So did the administration give in? I hope not.
ReplyDeleteI'd be tempted to tell them "You're in Taiwan now, forget what your overlords have told you. We do not accept the Communist Party line and do not consider ourselves a part of the PRC or even really a part of China. While you are here you will respect that. If you do not, you can go back to China."
Irritating to see another student acting as a bully on behalf of Beijing abroad - the other one being the dimwit who attacked Cliff Buddle during a lecture on media law and ethics at HKU for using English rather than Mandarin in class.
ReplyDeleteCould the (in)famous Confucian Institute have anything to do with these acts of aggression from Chinese students?
Speaking of your last paragraph:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.setnews.net/News.aspx?PageGroupID=4&NewsID=42902&PageType=3
Donovan