Inside China's Diplomacy School

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PUBLISHERS / LITERARY AGENTS

Among the noteworthy elements of this story:

• I may be the only "foreign expert" in China ever to have invoked the standard foreign expert contract clause offering government arbitration on request. My story reports the response of government officials in detail.

• Also newsworthy is that a teacher at China's DIPLOMACY school would receive a death threat from students, and that the sole reassurance offered by university administrators would be to advise him he'd be safe as long as he followed the threat writer's demands.

• This work also presents a uniquely detailed and close-up view of today's university students in China.

I invite you to contact me at uw@urielw.com.

About the Author

Prior to living in China, Wittenberg, 47, worked as a computer software consultant in major corporations including J.P. Morgan, National Grocers and National Broadcasting Corporation. He has a Bachelor's degree in computer science from University of Toronto, and a Master's in public policy from Carnegie-Mellon University.

American Teacher at Diplomacy School Attacks Story

Teachers Discuss the Story

First Two Chapters

Introduction

Note: The letters refer to the China Foreign Affairs University by its name at the time the letters were written -- "Foreign Affairs College," or "FAC."

1. Darker, Deeper: Uriel in China 2002

My first China story (http://urielw.com/china), two years ago, could be viewed as a bit of a roller coaster ride. There were some thrills and chills. A bad guy was featured in the form of a petulant young woman, not yet out of her teens, guilty mainly of immaturity. University administrators would occasionally appear whose expedients might excite demurrals from idealists. There were vomiting episodes here and there.

This year, folks, we enter a different realm. We have left the amusement park altogether, and it would not be amiss for you to buckle your seatbelts. My new China story is truly a journey into the heart of darkness, with treachery and malfeasance writhing under every rock and behind every construction crane.

My story has SEX -- or at least, definite intimations thereof. It has violence and murder -- or at any rate, indubitable threats to commit same. It has hypocrisy, cursing, rebellion, dementia, mass hysteria, and sly manipulators pulling strings behind the scenes. You will also witness flagrant breaches of contract. And just yesterday (the story is ongoing), we had petty theft by a devious sycophant.

It is possible that there has also been a virtually omnipotent force rumbling through subterranean passages of this tale, although your narrator's limited perspective precludes a rendering of this subplot. Our setting is a university with unique significance for the nation, and the Communist government may not be indifferent to these proceedings.

For comic contrast you'll also be given a peek at the gibbering functionaries of the Canadian Embassy.

This is not fiction, and I will put you on notice right now that several loose ends will remain unresolved at our conclusion. There are mysteries here I've been unable to penetrate, despite determined efforts. But it might be unwise to sniff at my inquisitorial skills if you have not operated in this culture.

The backdrop for all this action is again CHINA -- whose rise, the Dec. 2 New York Times reminds us, may be "the most important long-term trend in the world."

One other thing remains unchanged: the author, yours truly, who has preserved his partiality for the simple truth, and his contempt for saccharine illusions.

2. The Cloudless Sky

I contracted last May, while still teaching at Tsinghua University, to teach at Beijing's Foreign Affairs College (FAC) for the 2002-3 academic year. FAC is a small but unique university in China, described by its website (http://www.fac.edu.cn/eindex/overview.htm) thus:

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The Foreign Affairs College (FAC), affiliated to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China, is an institution of higher learning aimed at preparing high calibre personnel for foreign service, international studies, and other careers related to international business and law....

The College was founded in September 1955 at the initiative of the late Premier Zhou Enlai. Since then, the government leaders have accorded great care to the development of the College. Marshal Chen Yi, then Vice Premier and Foreign Minister, was concurrently President of the College between 1961 and 1969. Premier Zhou Enlai and Vice Premier Chen Yi made a number of inspections of the College in the fifties and sixties. In 1995, on the occasion of its 40th anniversary, President Jiang Zemin, Premier Li Lanqing and other state leaders wrote congratulatory inscriptions for the College....

Over the past four decades, the Foreign Affairs College has followed the code of conduct for foreign service personnel, formulated by Premier Zhou Enlai, as its guidelines in education, which reads: "Unswerving loyalty, mastery of policy, professional competency and observance of discipline." The College aims at providing the students with an all-round education which will upgrade their ethical and intellectual qualities as well as physical conditions. The College lays emphasis on integrating theory with practice, and nurturing among the students a style of study based upon seeking truth from facts. The pedagogical objective is to enable the students to develop a comprehensive intellectual capacity, including foreign language proficiency, professional knowledge , and analytical and research abilities. Ethically, the students are encouraged to cultivate their outlook on the world, life, and values; to understand the nature of socialism, foster patriotism, esprit de corps, and a sense of discipline.

In recent years, the Foreign Affairs College has made earnest efforts to implement President Jiang Zemin's instructions embodied in his congratulatory remarks written for the 40th anniversary of the College, gearing its operations to "serve the needs of the nation and open itself to worthy talents." It has also followed the guidelines put forth by Vice Premier and Foreign Minister Qian Qichen, to orient its teaching to the needs of the outside world, the future and the society....

With China's opening to the outside world and deepening reform, the Foreign Affairs College has established contacts with institutions of higher learning of many countries, including the United Kingdom, the United States, France, Russia, The Ukraine, Canada, Australia, Japan, The Republic of Korea, Oman and Mongolia. Exchange programmes between the FAC and foreign institutions take a variety of forms. In addition, the College has an international speakers programme which attracts many well-known scholars, world-renowned statesmen, ambassadors, and other senior diplomats....

Over the past 40 years, the Foreign Affairs College has turned out more than 10,000 graduates, of whom more than 120 have served in the capacity of ambassadors and several hundreds counsellors in Chinese embassies abroad or directors of government departments or agencies; more than a dozen have been charged with ministerial responsibilities; and over 200 are professors or scholars with senior professional titles.

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We were comfortably housed, my FAC colleagues and I, in what would be a "luxury condo" in Toronto. My circumstances in my successive China jobs were continuing to improve: I'd started two years earlier in the seedy "Shooting Hotel," remote from everything in Beijing other than the scenic mountain attractions known as Fragrant Hills and Badachu. I'd advanced the following year to ample though dilapidated quarters in the midst of the Tsinghua campus's lovely parks and lakes. At FAC I was now housed in a modern one-bedroom suite on the 7'th floor of a newly built building with an elevator.

Tsinghua had been in the Haidian district, an area in the northwest of Beijing which is home to many universities. Beijing University, China's other premier university, was a 5-minute bike ride from where I was living, and many other universities were also nearby. This advantage of Tsinghua was countered, in my new home at FAC, by FAC's proximity to the city centre. I could bike to Tiananmen Square and other attractions in the core of the city in 30 minutes. And although the tiny campus was not itself particularly appealing, I could occasionally visit the pleasant Yuyuantan Park to the west or Houhai Lake (tangentially connected to later troubles) to the east.

I had seven 90-minute classes weekly:

- FAC's third-year undergraduate law students (divided into 2 classes);

- FAC's second-year diplomacy students (divided into 2 classes). These students already have a 4-year bachelor's degree and are completing a second bachelor's degree which is of 2-years' duration.

- FAC's first-year, part-time, continuing education students (divided into 2 classes). These students have completed a 2- or 3-year diploma and are beginning a 3-year, part-time supplementary program leading to a Bachelor's degree in English.

- FAC's first-year, full-time continuing education students. These students have completed a 2- or 3-year diploma and are beginning a 2-year, full-time supplementary program leading to a Bachelor's degree in English.

The first-year, full-time continuing ed class was the only large class, with about 45 students. The other classes had only 15 to 20 students each. As in my two previous China teaching jobs, I based my teaching on reading materials I'd select -- typically New York Times articles, sometimes classic literature, occasionally other things.

My students' eyes were opened to important American public issues and controversies they'd had no idea about. And we didn't just gloss over them. We'd examine details of the conflicting positions of various parties -- their interests and motives, the logic of their arguments. There were universal lessons being learnt about both public affairs and logical reasoning.

I don't think it'd be a bad idea if there were more of this type of thing in the normal undergraduate diet, not just in China but everywhere. There might be more hope for the world if its citizenry were more enlightened about these things. But this kind of subject matter does not actually fit directly into any academic discipline. It's not "serious" enough -- there's no priesthood, no technical argot, no barriers to entry to stop any wise guy from threatening the established hierarchy.

Still, it's possible for a teacher to circumvent academic propriety and pursue useful and instructive stuff like this. He/she simply has to go to China (as a Westerner) and get a job teaching courses with innocuous-sounding titles like "Topical English."

I tended to choose readings in which the meaning was (1) not self-evident, yet (2) unmistakable once explained. The students' initial interpretations were almost invariably wrong. This brought them an additional insight which I think should be widely conveyed to students everywhere: how fallible they are; how prone to misconception; and the importance of reflection, if the objective is truth.

I don't think I flatter myself unduly in thinking my classes were exceptionally stimulating for my students. I received a fair amount of positive feedback, often mentioning my "strictness" and their "nervousness" in my classes. It seemed that my penchant for demanding full attention during the 90 minutes we spent together weekly, combined with my expectation that they actually engage their brains rather than merely regurgitating what I told them, was something quite extraordinary in their experience. These are excerpts from (unsolicited) emails sent by various students:

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I think you
are very kind, intelligent and smart.although
sometimes we felt nervous in your class.we do learn a
lot in your class by working hard.

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Your questions are effictive and active!they make us thinking all the time in your class.we run our head for your questions.so every time some students say,i feel nervious in the class.that is good .those quastions take our attentions to your class.

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Maybe some of
us feel nervous in your class.... I think it is very
chanllenging for us, and we have to be always alert, and smart in your class, but I think that is OK, and we could learn a lot in your class.

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you are quite an interesting teacher,although you are very strict with us.In class,you make us answer the questions with such a high accuracy.Sometimes I think I'm not having a discussion class but a calculating course.Anyway,I will try to be a more logical student at the end of this semester. I think you are a responsible teacher.If there is anything I can help,just let me know.My cell phone is ....

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I think I can learn a lot of interesting things in your class. Your lesson is very good and your explain to the article is logical. I enjoy it very much.

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I personally regard you as the brain among the teachers. frankly say, I learn a lot from you-the way of thinking, the way to argue and the way to fight back... I enjoy u class.

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To be frank,you're a
really persuasive teacher.I like to argue with you in class,because every time
I can learn a lot.It's my luck to have a unique teacher as Uriel^.^

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Recounting this later to some FAC colleagues, we reflected on how, in the grossly polluted culture of the U.S, this would never happen in a million years. They joked that I'd probably be arrested just for approaching the girls. They were Americans, Mormons, conservatives, they probably voted Republican -- in other words, we had totally different values -- but on this, an obvious contrast between China and the U.S., we could agree.

Life was good here. The work was stimulating and enjoyable; my students knew they were getting something unique and were appreciative; I'd discovered some really good local restaurants. Everything was generally quite pleasant.

How could I foresee the crash landing? The peremptory eviction from my comfortable quarters (not to mention the brief but obligatory exit from the country)? The downturned heads, the frowns, the carping and the sneers? And most of all, the absurd breadth of the opposition?