tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10698887.post512286270567774694..comments2023-10-22T18:25:39.688+08:00Comments on The View from Taiwan: Confucius Institutes: Beware =UPDATED=Michael Turtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17974403961870976346noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10698887.post-42174423657048098022014-04-10T10:49:26.644+08:002014-04-10T10:49:26.644+08:00It would be helpful if those European academics yo...It would be helpful if those European academics you mentioned would write about this somewhere. Heck, they're already banned, so why not? I have just written to my alma mater, Penn State, urging them to end their relationship with CI. Sadly, few academics outside of Canada are willing to say something (http://www.caut.ca/news/2013/12/17/universities-and-colleges-urged-to-end-ties-with-confucius-institutes).<br /><br />Cheers,<br /><br />Greg<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10698887.post-15934380887402936292012-03-06T08:47:42.864+08:002012-03-06T08:47:42.864+08:00From - MichaelF. in Cupertino CA.
After a recent e...From - MichaelF. in Cupertino CA.<br />After a recent experience in a Mandarin 1 class at De Anza College I know there are instructors that bring and use propaganda in their language classes. This is NOT a Tinfoil situation. I personally know 4 Mandarin instructors from three colleges in the San Francisco area. Two are Weishenren, one Hakka/Aboriginee and one immigrated to the US 30 years ago from Hainan province. One instructor (I'll let you guess which one)on the first day of class made a point out of discussing how Taiwan and China are the same and distributed a map of East Asia of which the disputed islands both to the north and south of Taiwan were included as part of China. This is but a small sample of her topics on the first day of class. She also in several class meetings pointed out how the students in the class who's parents are from Taiwan pronounce many words (such as 是)wrong. During one class setting she spent 20 minutes berating a 17 y/o High School AP student who said that he was Taiwanese. In front of all the students she questioned him twice as to whether he was Chinese and she pointedly asked him who told him to say he was Taiwanese. (He was humiliated) She told the class that there are people who want Taiwan independence, described them as criminal and stated that all Chinese need to be as one to repair all the fighting of the past. Mind you this was in a Mandarin 1 class full of 18 and 19 year old kids who don't know the different between Tasmania, Thailand or Taiwan.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10698887.post-85758977240114062322011-02-23T08:15:34.351+08:002011-02-23T08:15:34.351+08:00Yes, the Confucius Institute is PRC propaganda, bu...Yes, the Confucius Institute is PRC propaganda, but Taiwan is trying to get in on the game too. This year, Taiwan's OCAC will open two "Taiwan Academies" in Houston and L.A. to promote traditional Chinese characters and Taiwanese language, culture, and traditions. Of course, there are over 600 CIs and there will only be 2 TAs but this has to do with Taiwan being hopelessly outgunned financially by the PRC, not for lack of Taiwanese desire to spread pro-Taiwan propaganda.SoCalExpatnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10698887.post-18052672650933527772011-02-20T18:08:43.026+08:002011-02-20T18:08:43.026+08:00My experience is definitely that the people who ar...My experience is definitely that the people who are studying are brainwashed in some form. Having a simple discussion on anything remotely close to Chinese politics is hard. Oh yeah, that's just the way you become growing up in China. Regardless, having studied at Stockholm University, I must say that this is scary stuff.Ednoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10698887.post-77661181567150015902011-02-19T23:39:54.581+08:002011-02-19T23:39:54.581+08:00Micheal, not you but the article you quoted, the p...Micheal, not you but the article you quoted, the part about pro-China demonstrators wearing confucius center T-shirts, etc.<br /><br />I read some scholarship on the centers, but am hardly an expert on them. However, it seems like different fractions in the CCP and academia are hardly unified in their opinions about them and their importance for the PRC.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10698887.post-39967224070332240032011-02-19T23:01:55.494+08:002011-02-19T23:01:55.494+08:00BUT, the idea that they somehow brainwashed people...<b>BUT, the idea that they somehow brainwashed people into mindless pro-China protesters is just idiotic. Tinfoil hats at eleven!</b><br /><br />No one said that. I have no idea how you got that out of what I wrote. <br /><br /><b>About the information gathering thing, I am sure China had and still has much better means/informants/organizations for that purpose.</b><br /><br />Yes, it has many different intelligence gathering operations. <br /><br />Recognizing the addition role of the Confucius Institutes is not "demonizing" China. <br /><br />This article from the Chron of Higher Ed is online:<br /><br />http://warpweftandway.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/at-u-s-colleges-chinese-financed-centers-prompt-worries-about-academic-freedom-faculty-the-chronicle-of-higher-education.pdfMichael Turtonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17974403961870976346noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10698887.post-32273182944453019902011-02-19T22:38:30.556+08:002011-02-19T22:38:30.556+08:00which EU university kicked out a Confucian institu...which EU university kicked out a Confucian institute? Seems like it's slander.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10698887.post-34893570874213180652011-02-19T22:31:29.534+08:002011-02-19T22:31:29.534+08:00The whole thing is ludicrous!
Confucius centers a...The whole thing is ludicrous!<br /><br />Confucius centers are of course "propaganda" in the more neutral meaning of the word, trying to project a positive image of the PRC abroad. BUT, the idea that they somehow brainwashed people into mindless pro-China protesters is just idiotic. Tinfoil hats at eleven!<br /><br />About the information gathering thing, I am sure China had and still has much better means/informants/organizations for that purpose.<br /><br />I said it once and I say it again. The PRC is not the devil, demonizing it won't help Taiwan's cause, which I believe is just.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10698887.post-70459473003076686852011-02-19T14:21:36.944+08:002011-02-19T14:21:36.944+08:001. the article posted by Nathan Novak reminds me o...1. the article posted by Nathan Novak reminds me of what is happening in Europe with the Muslim communities. many of those immigrants come from their own strictly religious countries and use the possibilities given by the Western societies to criticize them, impose their own views, do not integrate, etc. <br />They are allowed to build mosques, be vocal about their religious views - something,that Westerners could never do in many those countries.<br />a friend of mine, who is very familiar with those issues claims, that the final goal of the leaders of those communities is to slowly influence the local politics, when possible take over the power and establish Muslim states in Europe.<br /><br />2. i found your comment from the discussion with the European scholars highly interesting, scary thing ...richardnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10698887.post-35331687933447311732011-02-19T13:26:45.488+08:002011-02-19T13:26:45.488+08:00Michael,
This topic is of particular interest rec...Michael,<br /><br />This topic is of particular interest recently due to concerns in the United States discussed recently; see http://www.spacewar.com/reports/US_committee_Counter_China_information_drive_999.html.<br /><br />I didn't catch if you mentioned that the Confucius Institutes are supervised by the PRC's ecuation ministry.Nathan W. Novak (李漢聲)https://www.blogger.com/profile/09142094539803664003noreply@blogger.com