Questions of a Generation

Last night I had my best class so far. It was held at the Beijing YMCA metro office. There were 11 people attending ranging from a senior in high school to a man who is fluent in reading and writing English and who translates books and texts from Chinese into English. Other students included several college students, a tour guide, a YMCA staff person and a couple of men who work in Beijing. Some of these people are self taught in English and others have had at least 6 years of English in high school and university. One is majoring in English. When I asked why she said it's because it is "easy." Overall, their main goal is to practice speaking English and increasing vocabulary. After introductions around the table, one of the students brought up the question of the Cultural Revolution. Wow! I'm no expert but thankfully I had recently read "Wild Swans" which gave me a thorough overview of the cultural revolution from one family's perspective. Guess what? I seem to be one of the most knowledgeble people about the cultural revolution in the group. By the way, "Wild Swans" is not published in China.

Most of the students are young, ranging in age from 17 to 25. A few are older than that. Philip told us he went to school during the cultural revolution (1966 - 1976) beginning from age 6 to age 16. Another young woman who raised questions about the event said that her parents won't talk about it and so she is curious as to what happened then.

The discussion shifted to the "Long March" which happened in 1936. The CCTV has been running specials on the "Long March" because this is its 70th anniversary. One of the students, Robert, said that it aroused in him very deep feelings of patriotism because of what the people had suffered on the Long March and because they served as an example for him (as heros of their nation). All I can say is that I saw parallels with this and our own feeling of patriotism regarding the American Revolution. The spin the news media in China seems to be putting on the Long March is that now they can build on it for the "Long March" into the economic future of China.

This is such a revelation for me as I try to overcome my negative feelings against communism in China in particular. I remember as a young child and a Catholic school student in the 1950s, the nuns talking about the persecution of the religious in communist China. Well, who knew anything about politics then? And what do I know now? All I know is the people I meet are wonderful, open and honest and looking forward to having a good future in China and in the world. Most of the students I meet are arranging to spend at least one year if not more studying in an English speaking country. Some are going to England, some to Australia and at least one mentioned she wants to go to Germany.

By the way, Germany seems to be building big partnerships in China. One of my Chinese friends told me that they can accept Germany because they admit to their past atrocities during World War II but they can't accept Japan because they don't admit to their atrocities toward the Chinese people. Interesting perspective. Of course, all of the television programs I see focus on economics and Germany is a major economic partner with China. One of the advantages to being here and having these discussions is that it opens my mind to these other viewpoints, viewpoints that we don't necessarily get exposed to in the U. S.