【市场观察12.25】中国在和美国打“智力战”

lilyma06

The closing of Chinese minds                              
Commentary: China runs ‘intellectual trade’ deficit with the U.S.                                                                            http://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-closing-of-chinese-minds-2011-12-25?link=MW_latest_news

By Nailene Chou Wiest                                                        

                           

BEIJING ( Caixin Online) — In 1979, a group of Chinese editors was about to visit the United States. Asked what they would like to see, one solemnly replied: “We want to know how the party secretary of New York controls The New York Times.”                                                         

                           

An American diplomat explained that there were two major political parties in the U.S., but The New York Times belonged to neither and the newspaper had no relations with the government. The listeners were perplexed and incredulous.                                                         

                                    
                  
                           

Fast forward some 30 years, and the state-run Xinhua News Agency is flashing its logo on a giant billboard in Times Square. The swagger and deep pockets that enable official media to take on such visibility belie a serious lack of understanding of what makes the Americans tick.                                                         

                           

The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences inaugurated the Institute of American Studies in 1981. In the interests of modernization, China was eager to learn from the U.S. and the Americans reciprocated by providing generous funding and resources to facilitate the discovery. In the 1990s, however, the progress stalled and the interest has narrowed to Sino-American diplomatic relations; experts from both sides are concerned with the stagnation, if not backsliding, of American Studies in China.                                                         

                           

In a recent online interview marking the 30th anniversary of the Institute of American Studies, Wang Jisi, who served as the director from 1992 to 2005, lamented that emphasis on policy issues is coming at the expense of gaining a comprehensive understanding of America. He blames the uneven quality of research output on the resources constraints.                                                         

                           

The institute was chronically short of funds, relying primarily on grants from the government and outside sources, such as the Ford Foundation, a private U.S. organization. The penury once even prompted a staff member to suggest operating a taxi company to generate revenue.                                                         

                           

American Studies also had to compete for funding with many late-comers, such as Middle Eastern, Latin American and African studies, not to mention research into energy, international systems and so on.                                                         

                           

With the rise of China as a power to be reckoned with, Americans are more inclined to know more about China than to sponsor China’s study of America. Dr. Wang, now dean of the School of International Studies at Peking University, notes that when the Chinese people are invited to America, it is so Americans can learn about China, not for the visitors to gain a deeper understanding of America.                                                         

                           

In my field, many journalists and journalism professors have been invited to visit the U.S. They have enhanced American scholars’ understanding of the changing Chinese media landscape, but their own comprehension of the American media remains at the textbook level.                                                         

                           

While the legend of Walter Cronkite as the iconic TV anchor lives on, few have heard of Bill O’Reilly or have an inkling that the conservative made a highly successful industry out of talk radio and the Fox News Channel. Still bashing corporate greed for killing the American news media, they seem oblivious to the assault on media profits by technological changes that have made some quality media outfits more like millstones around the necks of their owners than cash cows. Relying on a few translated volumes of media studies, or, worse, polemics in the Chinese press, they are out of touch with the American reality.                                                         

                           

Terry Lautz, a former program director for Asia at the Henry Luce Foundation, wrote last year in the Chronicle of Higher Education that China has a deficit in the “intellectual trade” with the United States. In short, Chinese people know less about the United States than Americans know about China.                                                         

                           

If political communication through the media is vital to understanding the American democratic process, China can only blame itself for the deficit.                                                         

                           

There is a widely held conceit in China that the Chinese have America all figured out. Certain self-satisfied people cite statistics that since 2009, China has surpassed India in sending students to American universities, and the number reached a whopping 157,558 in the 2010/2011 academic year.                                                         

                           

For some, American interests and values are known and accessible through popular culture. What better way to understand American culture than by watching “Desperate Housewives”?                                                         

                           

In fact, the more the Chinese think they know about America, the greater their incapacity to change their prejudices. Conspiracy theories, such as the notion the CIA maintains an office in every CNN bureau, abound. In that vein, the New York Party Secretary gaffe has legs.                                                         

                           

Mr. Lautz believes that it is in America’s interest for China to have a “clear, objective and nuanced understanding” of the U.S. The benefit is mutual. Now, that money is no object for China, it should redress the intellectual imbalance by supporting the training of a generation of young scholars studying American economy, society, history and culture.                                                         

                           

On a more basic level, language and writing skills should be strengthened and young minds should be set free to break new ground and think independently. The payoff would be handsome for both countries.                                                        

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