Having been in China for exactly 4 weeks now, I would say that the most rewarding parts of being here have been the conversations I have had with people — students, fellow faculty, staff members and random strangers. There seems to be so much to learn and talk about.

I just finished dining out with two of my students, Yifan and Shiyi. Sometimes the Chinese choose English nicknames. Yifan just goes by “Yifan”, but Shiyi goes by “LittleBear”. Hmmm, I thought when she told me this… I must have misheard her, but no, that is her nickname because that’s the directly translation of her name from the Chinese. I tried to picture myself calling on her in class by her nickname, but my imagination just doesn’t extend that far!

The conversation was far-ranging and we covered many topics. Here’s a list of things that we talked about and the gist of each topic.

• The stress of the college application process in China. For the Chinese, getting into college is based exclusively on one’s performance on a single two-day entrance exam. That’s it. No essays, no activity lists, no teacher recommendations. Just a single test. And your chance of getting into a university and which ones is not entirely based on your performance. Your chances also depend on where you live, not just on how you did on the exam. Some provinces get more slots than others. Apparently it’s a lot easier to get into a top university as a Beijing resident than it is as a resident of other provinces. [OK, so I am going to go super-cynical here and guess that this is because Beijing is the political center for the Chinese national government and the politicians here get to set the rules. They want their kids to have a better chance of getting in, so the standards are lower for people who live here. It’s sort of like Stateside where lobbyists and moneyed interests get more say in the functioning of our government and legislation than a regular person does.]
• The stress of the college application process in the United States. I told them how our system works, which can also be very stressful, but in a different way than a 2-day entrance exam.
• Things they need to know for their entrance exam. They have to know 80 poems, many of which are in ancient Chinese with more complicated characters, old-fashioned grammar and archaic words. They have to be able to fill-in-the-blank for missing parts. They have to know oodles of math, even if they want to be English majors or psychology majors. And they have to know a whole bunch of other stuff that I don’t remember. They viewed the entire process of high school and prep for the exam as very sad. And saddening to be a part of.
• Tutoring from a young age. As soon as their schooldays end, they all go for private tutoring. You aren’t required to have tutoring, but if you don’t, you’ll fall behind all your classmates.
• Boarding school. LittleBear went to boarding school as a 6 year old. Why? Because her parents were very busy. She lived at school during the week and went home on the weekends. It can’t be that uncommon because I know of another student who had the same experience. I kind of wanted to cry when I heard this.
• School hours School can start as early as 7:30 am, and if a teacher wants to start earlier they can tell you to be there at 6:50 am.
• School rules in China Oh, there are so many of these. Girls’ hair must be kept shoulder length. School uniforms are required for everyone with the only leeway being socks and shoes, so they individualized their outfits with loud socks and funky shoes. No nail polish is allowed. Or make-up either. No pierced ears. No dating is allowed in high school. Or, if they do date, it has to be a secret. They asked me, did my kids date in high school and did they tell me? Hmmm, that was a good question. Two of my kids dated a little and two of them didn’t date at all. One of them dated secretly and the other openly. I told them that my kids are pretty open with me about who they are dating as young adults. They were impressed that they are open about it. Apparently they don’t mention this to their parents.
• School rules in the US I told them that there aren’t too many dress code rules at my kids’ public school. Tank tops are ok, but no spaghetti straps. Skirts need to extend to their fingertips when their hands are by their sides. (Is this still a rule at ICSD?) And no butt cheeks showing from beneath one’s shorts. Who knows what the cleavage rules might be. As for dating, it’s fine. I said the dating rules are set by parents, not by the school. They found this to be very interesting.
• After-effects of school rules in China They said that the universities don’t have dress code rules like the high schools. So they say that one particularly good thing to look forward to after taking the big college entrance exam, is that the high school dress code and behavioral rules no longer apply. So they say that lots of teenagers go a little crazy. They get their ears pierced and they dye their hair crazy colors and the nail salons are all packed with customers. I said that Chinese students seem to dye their hair at higher rates than the American students, and they told me that it’s just because they didn’t have the freedom to do it in high school, so it’s their little rebellion now that they can. I told them that the one thing that’s the same between the US and China is that nearly all the middle-aged and older women dye their hair. Nearly everyone. I marvel at it in the States, and I marvel at it in China. I’ve got my own personal experiment in reverse-rebellion going strong. 😉
• Social life and activities at Cornell They actually asked me: What is a college party like? Hoo boy. What a bummer of a topic. I had to explain the Greek system. And the drinking. They found this mystifying. They told me, we don’t do much drinking here. And we don’t have parties like that. I told them: Yeah, I know. The Chinese system is better. You aren’t really missing anything.
• Rainbow decorations at the mall Our restaurant was located on the 6th floor of a mall. As we were riding up the escalators, I noticed some artistic, geometric rainbow design decorations. I asked them, “Are those there for Pride month?” They looked at me blankly, “June is Pride Month”? I said, “You know, gay pride.” Still no recognition. “Ok, ‘gay’ means women who like women, and men who like men.” Now they get it. They shake their heads: “Um no. Those rainbows are definitely not for gay pride. They are just decorations that happen to be rainbows.”
• My favorite foods in China I told them I really like Chinese food, and it is quite a bit spicier than American food. We had five dishes for dinner. The first one they described as not spicy. It was actually medium-spicy. The second dish they said was a little spicy. It was incredibly over-the-top spicy — one of the spiciest dishes I have ever had. I asked them: You say this is only “a little spicy?!” Yup. I shook my head. Wow. They would find American food so incredibly bland and boring.

• T-shirt choices We had an interesting discussion of the t-shirts that the Chinese wear — more than half the t-shirts have English words on them. I asked LittleBear, what’s your shirt say? She told me — I don’t know what it says. I just like the cute puppies on the front!
• Clothing styles in the US versus China I told them that the Chinese dress more modestly than the Americans. And they cover up much more in the summer to protect themselves from the sun. The Chinese students, particularly the women, try to stay as untanned and white as possible. They also wear more clothes, even when it is quite hot. Last Friday, on the day of my students’ Intro Stats exam, it reached 95 degrees. They took their exam in a room that was 80 degrees or more, and many of them purposely had on long sleeves, pants and jackets, so they wouldn’t “get cold”. At the start of the exam, one young woman pulled on elbow-length gloves and told me this was because, “I don’t want to catch a chill.” 😲

My dinner lasted more than 2 hours, and it was one of the best conversations I have had with my students so far. There is so much that I want to know about their daily lives and views about things. And they seem to be equally interested in me. It makes for some lively and insightful conversations.

I have three (!) more meals with students on my schedule this week. Stay tuned for tomorrow’s report. Sichuan cuisine (the spiciest kind in China) is on the schedule! Eep.

The weather here is going to heat up. Here’s the forecast…

The term is flying by. I have just five lectures left, with the last day being June 20th and then the final exam on June 21.

I hope to tell you about my classroom teaching and students soon. I had a moment in the classroom on Friday that was … epic. Truly epic. You do not want to miss that story.

Signing off now… Best wishes to all of you!