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| Paige Brewer |
McConnell Scholars travel to China because Senator McConnell believes it is important for young Political Science scholars to understand the complex relationship between the United States and China. I agree with him. Even Dr. Hua has acknowledged that more comprehensive learning extends beyond the classroom. At the end of each class he encourages Chinese and American students to converse openly, not just about politics, but about our everyday lives as college students. What many of us have learned is that we have more in common with the Chinese than we originally thought.
I believe it is human to divide people and things into categories. Creating stereotypes helps us break down, analyze and better understand the world. Without them we'd probably be more confused, less curious and less eager to learn. Part of pursuing an education, however, is also challenging those stereotypes and searching for a common thread in humanity.
From my observations in China thus far, both our culture and theirs maintain the conflict between equality and freedom. This tension is a topic we discuss frequently in the McConnell Center and Political Science classes at U of L. All humans have a desire for freedom--to determine their paths in life, to improve themselves, to not be a slave to anyone else. This is evident to me in Chinese culture in their desire for increased economic growth, and among the students in our class, whose educational ambition matches our own. The freedom of mobility--economic, social, professional, personal--is pervasive.
Along with that, though, exists the desire for equality. I believe the Chinese and Americans have different interpretations of this, but still have the same underlying principles. American society is more individualistic than Chinese society. We are heterogenous, and since our founding we've struggled for a society that accommodates many races, cultures and classes--a problem that seems to become more and more complex. Treating people equally is essential to maintain peace in such a system.
To me, China feels like one big family composed of over a billion people. The culture is more collectivistic and the people are more connected to each other than in the US. Families play a greater role. Politics are more focused on domestic issues. If you're foreign, they stare at you. When I look at a street in America and see throngs of people of all colors and walks of life, I feel we're doing it right; but when I see a foreign face on the streets of Shanghai or on a billboard for a Western company, something feels out of place. This greater sense of shared culture and civilization is the Chinese version of equality.
In America, we look out for each other because our complicated, mixed-up melting pot society needs some cohesion to function. In China, they look out for each other because of long shared history, tradition and civilization. So perhaps it is human to want to both look out for yourself and look out for others. I didn't expect to make that connection here in China, and I am interested to see if and how the freedom versus equality tension exists in other cultures.
Paige Brewer, of Wlider, Ky., is a junior McConnell Scholar at the University of Louisville. She is studying political science.