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| Jaymar Bonet |
By Jaymar Bonet, Class of 2014
With the Junior class having an upcoming trip to China, we have had seminars to learn about this country we will be entering. We are feeling numerous emotions right now. One thing that has been mentioned is that while in China, we will be treated very well. As foreigners, the Chinese want us to see their country in the best light possible and to enjoy ourselves. Things we do will be accepted even if not agreed with. We can "get away" with saying or doing things that, if the Chinese did them, they would be punished in some way for. Now, I am not saying that we are going over to China doing reckless things, I am saying that it is very strict over there. All of this made me think back to when Harry Wu came to the University of Louisville. He shared his story with us about how he was 20 years old and incarcerated. He was in a laogai. "Lao" means forced to labor and "gai" means brainwashing; "Laogai" means you do not leave until you are brainwashed. We can go have other views and they will accept it because we are foreigners, but Harry Wu was not as fortunate in his time. He was in prison and had to eat frogs, rats and snakes. Struggle meetings were when the police criticized the people who couldn't meet their quotas working in the prisons and they would tie them up and let them be eaten by moquitos and you would be scarred for life. His dad died, his brother was killed and his mother committed suicide. This showed that China needed reform and when thinking about it, there has been change since his time but I cannot wait to go there and see things with my own eyes. I want to see how the people are and I am curious to ask how they feel about their government; past, present and future.
Jaymar Bonet, of Hardin County, Ky., is a junior McConnell Scholar at the University of Louisville. She is studying Spanish and political science.