Chinese Paranoia

Why China is so afraid of Chinese students in the United States

By John Pomfret 

Video of Yang Shuping's commencement speech at the University of Maryland, May 21, sparked criticism in China, prompting Shuping to issue an apology. (University of Maryland)
In 1944, amidst a crackdown on liberal dissent at home, the government of China launched a program to ensure the ideological purity of Chinese students studying in the United States. 

The government ordered that all students planning to go to the United States be first checked for political reliability and authorized Chinese officials in the United States to monitor the students and report back to China on their thoughts.
In the spring of 1944, American reporters got wind of the story, and the outcry was swift. 

The New York Times editorialized that the program appeared “totalitarian.” 

When a Chinese government spokesman defended the program, he only made matters worse. 

The Chinese government was not indoctrinating its people, he claimed — it was just teaching them table manners. 

The U.S. press howled in disbelief.
Here we are 73 years later, and it seems that not much has changed. 

Recent events involving Chinese students in the United States highlight that American ideas remain a source of anxiety to authorities in China. 

While China has obviously changed governments since World War II, free speech in the United States continues to be viewed with alarm by those in charge back home.

On Sunday, one Chinese student, Yang Shuping, spoke at the graduation ceremonies at the University of Maryland. 

A double major in psychology and theater with a minor in German, Yang did publicly what many Chinese students I’ve met in the United States have done privately: She praised America’s clean air and America’s freedoms. 

The United States may not be as exciting as China, but what it lacks in buzz in makes up for in liberty.
“The moment I inhaled and exhaled outside the airport, I felt free,” Yang told the crowd, which interrupted her speech with applause. 

“I have learned the right to freely express oneself is sacred in America,” she continued. 

“I could challenge a statement made by instructors. I could even rate my professors online.” 

For her, seeing a play on campus about the 1992 riots in Los Angeles was a turning point. 

In it, she recalled, the actors spoke openly about racism, sexism and political issues. 

“I was shocked. I never thought such topics could be discussed openly,” she said.
Yang’s observations touched off a firestorm in China and even in the United States. 

More than 50 million people viewed her speech online. 

Chinese students associated with the government-backed Chinese Student and Scholar Association accused her of not loving China. 

More significantly, the People’s Daily, the mouthpiece of the Communist Party, called her speech “biased” and quoted one observer as telling Yang: “What you gave is not free speech, but rumor-mongering and currying favor.”
Yang’s speech follows other attempts by Chinese-government backed organizations to push an agenda among Chinese students in the United States. 

In March, the Chinese Student and Scholar Association also criticized the University of California at San Diego’s decision to invite the Dalai Lama, the exiled leader of Tibet, to speak at its commencement ceremony, threatening “tough measures to resolutely resist the school’s unreasonable behavior.”
The fact that the apex of China’s media — or other Chinese-government organizations – should concern themselves with the opinions of one of the 350,000 Chinese students studying in the United States or the invitation list for commencement speakers at a California university speaks to a deep-seated fear in China of American ideas. 

While there’s a lot of talk these days about China’s irresistible rise and the United States’ unstoppable fall, China’s government remains paranoid about the pull of American ideology on its people. 

Indeed, the past few years in China have seen an intensification of a crackdown on this ideology. Spooked in part by the “color revolutions” in the Middle East, the government is seeking to repress “Western thought” on college campuses and purge “Western thought” from college textbooks. 

“Historical nihilism,” code for anything critical of the Chinese Communist Party, has been banned, as has any praise of constitutional democracy or an independent judiciary. 

Chinese organizations that receive foreign funding, particularly nongovernmental ones, face increasing scrutiny as well.
To me, the interesting part of this story is how much it resonates in history, even farther back than World War II. 

China’s first diplomatic mission to the West set sail in 1872 and involved an educational mission to send boys to Hartford, Conn., to study military science, after which the graduates were expected to return home to help China fight against the depredations of imperialists from Europe and Japan. 

The problem, however, was that the boys soon became Americanized, shedding their Confucian robes for jackets and ties and cutting off their pigtails so that they could play baseball. 

Some even found Christianity. 

China’s mandarins accused the boys of becoming “foreign ghosts” and shut the mission down. 

In 1881, the New York Times bemoaned the end of the mission and predicted that “China cannot borrow our learning, our science, and our material forms of industry without importing with them the virus of political rebellion.” 

More than a century later, China is still trying to prove that it can.

Chinese student abused for praising 'fresh air of free speech' in US

Nationalists in China seize on remarks by Yang Shuping, accusing her of ‘demonising’ it in backlash fuelled by state-run media
By Tom Phillips in Beijing

Yang Shuping was speaking at her graduation from Maryland University. She moved to the US from China five years ago. 

A Chinese student has faced abuse from nationalists in China after she used her graduation address at a US university to celebrate “the fresh air of free speech”.
Yang Shuping, a psychology and theatre graduate from Yunnan province, came to study at the University of Maryland five years ago, as a dramatic clampdown on civil society and academia began back home under Xi Jinping.
During the speech at her graduation ceremony on Sunday, Yang recalled her delight at the US’s cleaner skies, saying “every breath was a delight”, and having the freedom to speak out.
“I have learned [that] the right to freely express oneself is sacred in America … I could even rate my professors online,” she said. 

“My voice matters. Your voice matters. Our voices matter.”
In her eight-minute address, Yang said she had been inspired to see her American classmates vote and take part in political protests. 

Another inspiration was a performance of an Anna Deavere Smith play about the 1992 LA riots, in which racism, sexism and politics took centre stage.

“I was shocked, I never thought such topics could be discussed openly … I have always had a burning desire to tell these kinds of stories, but I was convinced that only authorities owned the narrative, only authorities could define the truth,” she said.
“Freedom is oxygen. Freedom is passion. Freedom is love. As the French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre once said: ‘Freedom is a choice’.”
In one-party China, where there has been an intensifying offensive against free speech since Xi took power, the comments proved extremely contentious.
After a video of her speech was posted online by a Communist party newspaper on Monday and went viral, the backlash began.
Some attacked Yang, who is from Kunming, one of China’s least polluted cities, for depicting it as smog choked, even though her comments on China’s air quality appeared to be largely a political metaphor, not a reference to the environment.
In a social media post, Kunming’s government defended its “fresh and sweet” air and said the city was spring-like throughout the year.
Others accused Yang of denigrating China in online posts. 

“She has demonised China with the nonsense she has talked,” one person wrote.
Another said: “She has an incredible ability to lick feet. Don’t worry about coming back to China. Our motherland doesn’t need a bitch like this.”
A third called on internet users to dig up dirt on her family through a type of online campaign known in China as a “human flesh hunt”.
“Studying in the US costs a lot of money, so where is it coming from? She must come from a rich family. What on earth does her family do?” they asked.
State-run newspapers fanned the flames of the controversy. 

The party-controlled, nationalist Global Times quoted an anonymous student as saying that publicly talking about free speech was “immature and mean”. 

The student accused Yang of spreading “radical opinions”.
The People’s Daily, another Communist party-run newspaper, accused Yang of “bolstering negative Chinese stereotypes”.
A second student, who also declined to give their real name, was quoted as saying: “What you gave is not free speech, but rumour mongering and favour currying … Your freedom cannot stand, either factually or morally.”
The University of Maryland stood by Yang, describing her as a “top student”.
“The university proudly supports Shuping’s right to share her views and her unique perspectives, and we commend her on lending her voice on this joyous occasion,” it said.

A Chinese student’s commencement speech praising “fresh air” and democracy is riling China’s internet

Yang Shuping's time at the University of Maryland allowed her to enjoy the “fresh air of free speech.”

By Josh Horwitz

Yang Shuping's breath of fresh air. 

Every year in May a handful of commencement speeches will go viral, usually for the speaker’s sense of humor or ability to inspire.

But one graduation speech from this year is going viral in China for a different reason – it’s politically incorrect.
On May 21, Shuping Yang, a graduating senior at the University of Maryland, appeared at her school’s commencement ceremony to give an address. 

In her speech, Yang said that she once had five face masks in China due to the air pollution. 

Upon coming to the United States, she experienced “fresh air.”
People often ask me: Why did you come to the University of Maryland? 

I always answer: Fresh air. 

Five years ago, as I step off the plane from China, and left the terminal at Dallas Airport. 

I was ready to put on one of my five face masks, but when I took my first breaths of American air. 

I put my mask away. 

The air was so sweet and fresh, and utterly luxurious. 

I was surprised by this. 

I grew up in a city in China, where I had to wear a face mask every time I went outside, otherwise, I might get sick. 

However, the moment I inhaled and exhaled outside the airport, I felt free.
Yang went on to discuss how her time at the University of Maryland allowed her to enjoy the “fresh air of free speech.” 

A double-major in theater and psychology, she cited her attendance of a school production of the Anna Deveare-Smith play Twilight, which centers around the race riots in Los Angeles in 1992, as a formative experience.
“I have always had a burning desire to tell these kinds of stories, but I was convinced that only authorities on the narrative, only authorities could define the truth. However, the opportunity to immerse myself in the diverse community at the University of Maryland exposed me to various, many different perspectives on truth,” she said. 

“Democracy and freedom are the fresh air that is worth fighting for,” she added, as her speech came to a close.
Yang’s speech circulated quickly on China’s social media outlets. 

The hashtag “Exchange student says the air in the US is sweet” trended throughout the day on May 22, with many posts linking to a critical piece (link in Chinese, registration required) published by Collegedaily.cn, a Chinese-language blog serving overseas Chinese students. 

Most of the commenters lambasted Yang for her dour portrayal of China, particularly in a public forum overseas.

“The air in our country is bad, [but] this is not the problem. She is flattering Americans by saying our country is flawed. We are Chinese, between one another we can discuss what is wrong with our country, but we still love our homeland,” wrote one commenter.

Yang has since deleted her Facebook profile, along with her personal website. 

She did not respond to Quartz’s inquiries about her speech and its reception. 

The University of Maryland released the following statement:
The University believes that to be an informed global citizen it is critical to hear different viewpoints, to embrace diversity, and demonstrate tolerance when faced with views with which we may disagree. Listening to and respectfully engaging with those whom we disagree are essential skills, both within university walls and beyond.
The University proudly supports Shuping’s right to share her views and her unique perspectives and we commend her on lending her voice on this joyous occasion.
In response to Yang’s remarks, a group of Chinese students at the University of Maryland published a video describing themselves and their hometowns in China, titled “#Proud of China UMD.”
Quartz emailed the University of Maryland branch of the pro-China Chinese Students and Scholars Association (CSSA), a multi-chapter university organization for overseas Chinese students, but did not receive a reply.
American universities have welcomed a flood of students from China in recent years. 

Data from the Institute of International Education show 304,000 Chinese students attended university in the US during the 2014-2015 academic year, marking a five-fold increase from a decade prior.
Yang’s speech marks the most recent incident where Chinese students are caught in political crosshairs at overseas universities.
In February, a vandalism incident at Columbia University prompted Chinese students to make a video explaining the meaning of their Chinese names. 

Around the same time, Chinese students and alumni from the University of California, San Diego expressed disapproval of the school’s invitation of the Dalai Lama to speak at commencement. Meanwhile, at Durham University in the UK, the Chinese embassy reportedly called the school’s debate society asking it to reconsider hosting an event with Anastasia Lin, a Canadian-Chinese beauty queen and human rights activist.