The Harm of Studying Abroad

It seems a bit strange to view the physical 'traveling abroad' as harmful, when he's so obviously 'traveling abroad' in thought throughout the piece - Heidegger, after all, was not Chinese.

It also seems that a lot of what caused the century of humiliation for China was this inward-looking tendency in Chinese culture, a tendency that left them ignorant of western ideas and technology until it was essentially too late. It also seems that a lot of the reinvigoration of China is due to a spirit of openness towards the rest of the world, with western ideas (most obviously marxism) being the driver of a phenomenal amount of change.

Not being Chinese, it makes me a bit sad to see China drift the kind of insular, chauvinistic direction it has been going in the last few years. Chinese culture is amazing, but it's at its very best when it's vigorously confronting the outside world.

I call it the language comfort pit. Because it's comfortable to not learn the language properly and hang out with people from the home country, you just make a small home country in the new country.

It happens whenever you have that community available. If it's just yourself, then you are forced to adjust. I saw it happening with my family members too. The ones that went to the large immigrant community led to them not knowing English well, while the more isolated ones integrated properly. One even first went to somewhere with no community, and when they moved to somewhere with community they said that their English used to be better back there! I also saw how they became a burden on their children as they were not able to function properly in a country where they couldn't speak the language properly, closing off opportunity to themselves.

On the other side with Chinese students who come over to a western country, I found it frustrating that they were pretty shy & insular when speaking english while they were gregarious and cracking jokes in chinese amongst each other. I tried to connect, but I think they feel too embarrassed to try to speak english, so they don't practice enough outside the minimum and never reach competency and then stick with their chinese friendship group. And they don't seem that interested most of the time :(

You also see it happening with western expats in asian countries too.

So my suggestion to anyone moving to another country and planning to stay there for years, avoid the home group and force yourself to speak with mistakes. Otherwise you hurt and isolate yourself instead and write sour grapes essays like this one.

Emotional vulnerability is easier with strangers you will never meet again.

What parent talks about is acceptance and being member of in-group. That is much much different. It is also much different to really click and be really in-group with people from another culture, because you can't rely on assumptions you grew with.

I feel like a lot of people commenting here don't understand that in order to get a high rank title in China, he had to go and study in the West, against his will.

So naturally, he resisted and resented this fate, not unlike many of my friends resented having to finish University and pass classes they had no interest in.

The points he makes, I did not find to be insightful or interesting. They're down to earth, simple, human observations, not unlike the stories I hear from someone who goes on vacation. At least this guy didn't spend most of his time talking about food :)

> China is a great place to be if you've got the right connections

This might be true for the majority of China, but for big cities like Shanghai, Beijing and Shenzhen, no, connections mean far less even comparing to western world.

> but no so great if you're gay, muslim, tibetan, or like to have opinions.

Do you get this from reading western media or did you actually go there and talk to those actual human beings? I can't speak for everywhere, but being an ethnic minority comes with tons of perks in China. For ethnic minorities, one child policy never applied to them, the kids get extra points during high school/university entrance exams, my Mongolian roommate even got extra financial support due to his ethnicity. People would fabricate document to gain minority status because that gives their kids an edge in almost everywhere. Growing up, as a Han Chinese, I always feel this is unfair and absurd.

As for religions, again I can't speak for Xinjiang itself, but from my experience in east coast, no one cares what religion you believe in. It's only an issue when you try to challenge the government with it. You can find mosque and churches in most cities.

And gay? Believe or not, I know it sounds absurd, but being gay is sort of a hip thing among the youngsters. The will obviously face repulsions from older generations, but this rings true all around the world. Bottom line is, the general public does not actively persecute the LGBT group, nor do they care.

The only thing that would bring you trouble is having an opinion against the government. I am not saying this is not a big issue, but stop pretending that the country is constantly oppressing everyone.