“Welcoming”, “Diverse”, “Voluminous”… are the words for China.

On September 1st, a group of 12 American talented high school students were invited to a CCTV program. At the end of the program they were invited to briefly express their impressions on the country after the 15-day visit to China.

All the students are U.S. President Award winners (the program did not tell us exactly which award that is, and it is mostly likely to be the U.S President’s Award for Educational Excellence).

It is inspiring to see how these young American students view the differences in a almost entirely different culture, particularly at the time only just after the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics which has in fact ‘triggered’ a discussion of intercultural mutual learning in the country. It is also interesting to notice the differences between students from two educational system at the time when there is discussions over the strength and weakness of the both educational systems.

Here is the full list of terms we got from the program given by students to describe China:

“Welcoming”, “Diverse”, “Voluminous”, “Intellectually stimulating”, “Many many stories”, “Spirited”, “Crowded”, “Honest”, “Cyclical”, “Inspiring”, and “Amazing opportunities”.

And here is the online version of the program: China in Your Own Words: U.S. President Award Winners.

“China in Your Own Words” is in fact a CCTV program, which, by their own words, invites people “to tell in your own words, in your own way, the China that you know or experienced, regardless of your age, nationalities, or any other background”. And through this report we know that the visit was sponsored by Wall Street English, the biggest foreign English training company in China specialized in business English programs.

Picture source: “China in Your Own Words“, CCTV

I heard this through a program on Phoenix TV today at about 18:50 Beijing time that Thomas L. Friedman, the author of The World is Flat, made some interesting remarks when he was watching the Opening Ceremony of Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics. According to the program, the winner of three times of Pulitzer Prize said: look at the strength of this country, and, we shall send our children to learn Chinese. I am not sure if the remarks were true, (I went to the website of the TV to try to find the online version of the program but did not find it), but the remarks remind me of his famous book. Just as what the article on Japan Times Online put down:

There’s probably a lot of truth to Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Thomas L. Friedman’s groundbreaking book “The World Is Flat,” an in-depth look at how technology and globalism have revolutionized education, employment, communication and the livelihood of billions. Not surprisingly, China is featured prominently in this thought-provoking book.

China, more than any other nation, will feel the effects (good and bad) of these changes for decades to come.

The Olympics is the biggest example of Friedman’s treatise to date, the true launching point of China’s arrival as a global force. And it has provided endless hours of contemplation for sociologists, political pundits and average citizens in all corners of the Earth.

In regard to the Games, it is true when some people say it is a defining moment in China’s modern history. In terms of intercultural learning, 2008 Beijing Olympics is in fact a valuable chance for China, particularly for Beijing and other co-host cities, to interact with other cultures in a massive and joyful way, and it is also a great chance for the country as a whole to display its own cultural uniqueness to the world.

如火如荼2008北京奥运会接近尾声！“中国加油”已是奥运语言，“加油”也成了国际词汇。金牌第一之外，奥运还将给我们带来什么？无疑，奥运实际上是一次中国与世界近距离接触的机会，是一次文化的碰撞与融合。正是：此刻你不用“走向世界”，世界已经来到你的面前；也是：中国培育“全球公民”意识的契机。全球公民的概念再次引人注目：

“全球公民”的概念是由美国社会学家罗伯特·默顿提出的。20世纪40年代末，他对纽约附近新泽西州的一些社会名流进行了调查和访谈，发现这些颇有影响的人物大体可以分为两类：“本土人”（localites）和“全球公民”（cosmopolites）。前者为当地社区内成员所熟知，具有相当强烈的“本土认同”，他们当中的大多数没有出国的经历，主要阅读的是当地出版的报纸。相比之下，后者受教育的程度更高，外出旅行的次数更多，在国外生活的时间更长，他们接触的是《纽约时报》、《时代》周刊这样更具有“全球视野”的媒体。20世纪80年代以降，经济和文化全球化的潮流使得“全球公民”的数量大大增加。媒体的全球化使得每个人足不出户，便可知晓世界风云。因此，“全球意识”（cosmopoliteness）成为每个现代人身上不可或缺的一种素质。全球文化和本土文化之间的冲突、融汇与调和成为人们日常生活体验中重要的组成部分。

也正如以上一篇中谈到的，这是一次“中国与世界文明对话的契机”。

图：8月14日，意大利选手安德烈亚·明古齐获得古典式摔跤84公斤级金牌后情不自禁亲吻礼仪小姐。