Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

The Harm of Studying Abroad

readingthechinadream.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

61–70 of 121 posts

Re: The Harm of Studying Abroad

#61

Post by 082349872349872 »

earthboundkid wrote: post #46

This essay is in a totally different genre than an HN blog post, so all of the comments here are totally wide of the mark. It's like asking why Thoreau didn't just get a telegraph line back to Boston. We don't use this genre in the US, which reinforces the point he's making. The Analects quote at the beginning is also crucial. All educated Chinese know that quote and ~0% of Americans do: we have radically different c…

Is the second (not directly quoted) part of the Analects reference important to understanding the essay?

Re: The Harm of Studying Abroad

#63

Post by kevin_thibedeau »

Dahoon wrote: post #60
kevin_thibedeau wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could just be a resume building puff piece to help him rise in the party machinery.

Chinese person saying something you don't believe yourself? Must be a brainwashed party drone! Sigh, the racism is running wild on HN too. It really is becoming the new Reddit.

You seem to have glossed over all the self-satisfied puffery about lazy Westerners. Throw in a quote from the Classics, doubleplusgood. What do you think is the career trajectory for a lawyer in China?

Re: The Harm of Studying Abroad

#64

Post by president »

Dahoon wrote: post #60
kevin_thibedeau wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could just be a resume building puff piece to help him rise in the party machinery.

Chinese person saying something you don't believe yourself? Must be a brainwashed party drone! Sigh, the racism is running wild on HN too. It really is becoming the new Reddit.

Since when is making a plausible quip "racism"? It is common knowledge that public statements made by Chinese citizens are scrutinized by the government and are effectively "filtered". People like you have completely diluted the meaning of the word.

Re: The Harm of Studying Abroad

#66

Post by atdt »

I must be tone-deaf, because I picked up none of the sinister overtones that other commenters on this thread are detecting. The text I read was amusing and delightful, and I associate it with a genre of writing that takes a bit of common wisdom (studying abroad is good for you) and inverts it. It reminded me of Erasmus's In Praise of Folly. I am sadly ignorant of Chinese literature, but I think the theme is universal. Looking at the world when you are standing on your head is simultaneously amusing and insightful.

Re: The Harm of Studying Abroad

#68

Post by [deleted] »

akfanta wrote: post #59
blaser-waffle wrote: post #2

> The text translated here, written in 2008, has nothing to do with Zhang’s academic work, but instead reflects changing attitudes among younger Chinese intellectuals concerning the value of Western ideas and the experience of studying abroad. > Zhang is surely right that doing an advanced degree in a foreign language is a challenge involving at times a loss of autonomy and a loss of status. More interesting is the o…

> 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…

[deleted]

Re: The Harm of Studying Abroad

#69

Post by f00zz »

This was a fun read. I totally feel what the guy is saying about thinking in a different language, my brain turns to mush when I'm trying to communicate in English. And I have it easy; compared to Chinese, all European languages are basically the same.

Re: The Harm of Studying Abroad

#70

Post by buzzkillington »

wonnage wrote: post #38
kevin_thibedeau wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could just be a resume building puff piece to help him rise in the party machinery.

This is an exasperating bit of casual racism I see all the time. A Chinese person has said something you disagree with, they must have no personal agency, they must be trying to curry favor with the government! the CPC is not Santa Claus, ffs

Are you suggesting that the CPC is ingrained in the DNA of all Chinese? I fail to see how criticizing a political system is racist otherwise.
Post reply on HN