Exchange in China: The Honest Edition

Disclaimer: I don't usually put disclaimers on my posts but I feel like this post addresses issues of high cultural sensitivity so I will do so just in case I actually end up offending anyone. My views can be uninformed and ignorant and for that I have only one person to blame. My dad. 

No really, conversations with Mr. L at the dinner table usually end up with me fighting the urge to stab the racism out of him with my chopsticks. 

Anyway - on to the actual post:

Exchange in China: The Honest Edition  

This is a good photo. So clearly I didn't take it.
(Source)

It's a conversation I've had a million times and it usually goes something like this:

Version 1

Them: So what are you studying?

Me: It's a combined degree - Public Relations and International Studies.

Them: Oh cool! So does that mean you go on exchange?

Me: Yeah, I'll be studying overseas in 2016.

Them: Which country?

Me: I'm learning mandarin at the moment so I'll be going to China. 

Them: Wow! You'll have so much fun over there. It's going to be an amazing experience. 

Me: Yeah, I can't wait. 

Them: Yeah, China.....that's- that's so cool. 

Me: Yeah. 

Them: .... 

Me: .... 

Version 2

Them: So what are you studying?
Me: I do a combined degree - Public Relations and International Studies.
Them: Oh cool! So does that mean you go on exchange?
Me: Yeah, I'll be studying overseas in 2016.
Them: Which country?
Me: I'm learning mandarin at the moment so I'll be going to China.
Them: ...
Me:....
Them:...um, but aren't you Chinese?
Me: Yep.
Them:.....then why the fuck are you going to China?

At least with the second version they don't beat around the bush, am I right?

Ever since I've been at university, I've had this conversation (or at least some sort of variation of it) and it's become a personal amusement of mine to hear what people have to say after the "I'm going on exchange to China" bit. The polite ones like to focus on the experience, saying things like, "You're going to learn so much over there" or "You'll meet so many different people" whilst the straightforward people kind of just blurt out "Why China(??)".

And it's a fair enough question - don't get me wrong. I'm not trying to call people out for being rude or whatever because - to be a hundred per cent honest with you - in the past, I probably would've asked the exact same thing. Exchange, by it's very definition, is about trying out something new. It's about swapping cultures, lives and experiences. The idea of a Chinese person, who's grown up surrounded by elements of Chinese culture, going to live in China for the "experience" is kind of redundant.

If I was to unpack it even further and delve into the political subtext of it all, I might go so far as to say that in Australia, China doesn't have the best of reputations. It's sad, it's extremely narrow-minded of us and unfortunately, it's all too prevalent. Australian discourse of China falls into two main camps:

1. The discourse of growth and economic expansion
2. The discourse of human rights abuses and pollution

Australian media. My future career.

When people think of exchange or In-Country Study, they tend to think of gallivanting across Europe, backpacking through South America or crazy, wild US college dormitory parties (I blame you Hollywood). I guess people just don't know what to think when it comes to living at and attending a Chinese university.  And that's why we struggle so much in the conversation (or resort to inane remarks like "omg think of all the dim-sims you're going to eat!").

I would be lying if I said it didn't used to make me feel a little bit frustrated. And unfortunately, part of that frustration also came from my own personal prejudices. But it has been three years since I started having these conversations and reflecting on why our perceptions of the world's most populous country are shaped in this way. And to me, exchange has become something of an opportunity - to see for myself what China is really like - so that I can come back a more informed and open-minded person.

Plus, me going on exchange to China is not at all redundant. Like many first generation Asian-Australians, my ties to my country of origin are tenuous and shallow at best (sad but so true). I do celebrate Chinese New Year but at the moment, it's got very little to do with honoring deities and ancestors and lot to do with collecting red envelopes. My entire life has been a journey of failing spectacularly at being Chinese - just ask my mum. I mean, I chose to study Communications for god's sake!