Complications

As things get tighter in China, obtaining a Chinese visa is harder.  In the past, you needed a copy of your passport, an extra passport photo, a four page form which gives your address, occupation, level of education, the names of  relatives, a letter of invitation, and a consulate fee of about 200 bucks.  Now, however, you also need a detailed itinerary, describing your projected movements in China, along with addresses, emails and phone numbers of those who will know where you are. The inviting institution must validate this document with an ostentatious looking stamp.

The university had already bought our air tickets when we learned this. After reassuring my Dean and Chair that I had it under control, I held my breath and contacted the primary place we will visit, Shandong Institute of Commerce and Technology,  Fortunately, they knew how to do up this paperwork, and we've been told the visas will arrive shortly.

Note: The images in this blogpost are examples, only.  Didn't want to expose our actual documents.

Marketing

It isn’t enough to arrange a study abroad.  Students have to know something’s happening or they do not sign up. I’m fine with addressing classes, but publicity also involves the posting of flyers and yard signs; the construction Facebook pages and online websites. An academic is trained for none of this.  Fortunately, my graduate assistant, John Mooneyham (pictured below), is over thirty years younger than I, and very computer literate. He also worked extensively as an English teacher and program administrator in Asia before returning to ETSU for a graduate degree.

I could not get the posters and websites to look so professional without him:
http://www.etsu.edu/honors/international/documents/china_document_cuai5199_4220.pdf

http://www.etsu.edu/coe/china/default.aspx

  

    

Busy, busy...

Arranging an overseas teaching trip of the kind I usually do is extremely complex.  But when you’re preparing to take half a dozen students from East Tennessee to teach English with you, the number of hurdles goes up geometrically.

A project like this involves an agreement between ETSU and an international partner in China.  Faculty members can explore such exchanges, but we do not sign documents committing our institutions to a formal relationship.  So for the summer program to happen, I must return to China over spring break along with Dr. Lewis our Dean, and Dr. Hogan, Chair of Curriculum and Instruction (pictures below) and meet with the Chinese partners.  We’re busy with mapping itineraries and obtaining visas for the spring trip, which will occur in March.

   

                                                         Dr. Angela Lewis, Dean Clemmer College of Education

                                                            Dr. Norma Hogan, Chair Dept. of Curriculum and Instruction

Applying for China visas isn't an easy process, but I've been through it before and can help Drs. Hogan and Lewis.  Today as I worked on the multiple forms, I realized my visa will not expire 'til April 2015, so I  won't need a new one 'til summer. 

When stars align

I train education students to teach English, and for years, I've been hoping to take some students to China so they could practice their skills overseas.  University study abroad programs involve permission from lots of different departments.  Most of the time, we write them up and then they go nowhere. No one blocks them exactly-- it's just that lots of work is involved and  people have to give a project priority for it to fly. I retire in July of 2015, I figured the project would never happen under my leadership.

 When I came back from China at the end of last summer, I suggested the possibility of an English teaching experience in China to my Dean and Department chair once more.  I was stunned by their enthusiasm.  It looks like it's going to happen. http://www.etsu.edu/coe/china/default.aspxThe stars are in alignment, I guess.  Check our website.

Will I return?

Already, my friends are asking if I’ll be returning next year.  I say I will if invited.  And then I ask myself why anyone would spend a vacation in a military dictatorship.  This place gets very spooky at times, yet part of my life is here.

But I’ve made lifelong friends, and I want to see them again. Truth to tell, I feel a bit guilty about going back to America. So many people I care for are here and cannot escape.  I am even acquiring the language, at long last. 

None of the staff in my guest house speak English, and using Chinese has been a matter of necessity. Now, I am understood when I ask for soap and towels in the guest house.  I can ask for soup, vegetables, and rice at the dining hall. This morning, I succeeded in buying wrapping paper from a shop on campus.

The words now come automatically. I don’t have to wrack my brain.  The Chinese lessons and practice with Rosetta Stone are finally kicking in.

I feel I belong here.  Of course, I’ll be back.

Changes

In 2010 and 2011, English festivals were held on this campus.  Students created exhibits and skits in English after extensive research on the Internet. To me, the young people seemed different than those I had taught in 2006, more able to explore new ideas, more willing to question their teachers. Remembering the massacre on Tiananmen Square, I wondered if China was ready for them.

 China was indeed ready, but not in the way one would hope for.  Information control, i.e., censorship, is much stronger now.  Gone are the days when Facebook was visible, and one surfed the Internet more or less freely on Google as long as one avoided search terms like “China, June 1989.” Now, one must search using Yahoo, and 80 per cent of the websites are now blocked. Officials claim this is due to “technical problems,” and many Chinese whom I talk to believe this.  There are greater restrictions on religious freedom. Soldiers patrol the Beijing Airport wielding machine guns.

The recent waves of Uighur terrorism provide the government with a ready excuse for the crackdown, but the actual reasons are more insidious.  Much of the Chinese population has become well educated and cognizant of world issues.  There is less tolerance for authoritarian rule. Not all regions and ethnic minorities participate in the current prosperity. This government remains very strong and is determined to stay in power.

I tell myself I’m helping by teaching students to reason and analyze propaganda. A Chinese colleague, a veteran of the Cultural Revolution thinks is like tilting at wind mills. “Bringing this government down will take more than critical thought,” he said. I believe in the power of ideas, and I hope he is wrong. But this man knows China far better than I.

Limited Liberty

This morning, I attended the English speaking service at the Weihai Church. The government has always preferred that only foreigners attend this service—they’ve want Chinese attending a separate service if they go to church at all.  Communist Party members may not attend worship of any kind.

 In the past though, lots of Chinese came to the English language service, and nobody seemed to care. Now, it seems clear that the government does, though I still saw some Chinese at the service.

For some reason, the government does not want foreigners and Chinese to worship together. I am told that in Beijing and Shanghai, one must show a passport to be admitted to English religious services, and that Chinese are turned away.