Imagine

Imagine that I say, I speak Chinese and therefore, I understand China. Nonsense, you’d say. Even if you know how to connect characters and follow four tones of Mandarin, and even if your count is above 4,000 of thinly brushed calligraphic masterpieces, you’d be fooling yourself. “You may say that I am a dreamer. But I am not the only one.”

In fact, many Americans, whether they speak Chinese or not, believe that they know enough about China to form a strong opinion about that country. They either follow the negative media attention which blames China for all American ills, from contaminated Barbie dolls and Thomas the Train models filled with some extra lead, to an enormous trade deficit that only widens every year. Others who claim to know China base their knowledge on heavy academic books, which in our mega-fast world become out-of-date before they are even published.

According to Committee 100’s recent survey of U.S. and Chinese attitudes towards each other (www.survey.committee100.org), “despite generally favorable mutual perceptions and a universal approval of bilateral trade, more than 60% of all four U.S. samples regard China’s emergence as an economic power as either a serious or potential threat.”

By no means am I asserting that these concerns should be neglected, however. China’s growing military build-up, human rights issues, IPR violations and environmental concerns have not disappeared. At the same time, though, let us not fall into rhetoric akin to that of the Cold War, painting everything in black and white. Today the United States’ and China’s economies are so interwoven that both countries need to act as responsible global partners. Today more than ever we need to know what lies behind the Great Wall.

So what is the answer? Meet the people, learn the history and culture, talk and share your thoughts. Then and only then, you may say that you know something beyond the headlines. And this obviously is a two-way street – Chinese also need to learn more about Americans.

Realizing the importance of such mutual understanding, The Washington Center (TWC),
a non-profit organization and a leader in experiential learning, and the Boeing Company are partnering in an exciting pilot project: the U.S.-China Bilateral Trade Internship Program. This three-year program is bringing Chinese and U.S. students together to work, study and learn in Washington, D.C., to facilitate bilateral trade, best business practices, and cross-cultural awareness. Moreover, the program promotes the benefits of bilateral trade; helps Chinese students develop an understanding of U.S. business culture, specifically policy-making and best business practices; and assists U.S. students in understanding Chinese culture, traditions and mindset.

“Increasing our understanding of China’s culture and people will make it easier to forge a peaceful and productive relationship with them in the future as global society tackles the 21st century’s biggest problems,” says Madison Hampden, a fourth-year student from the Washington University in St. Louis, who was selected to join the first year of the program, which began last week.

This unique program is crafted to fulfill this promise. In fact, each of the program’s components supports the experiential education model and reflects on the Three Pillars of The Washington Center: Civic Engagement, Professional Achievement and Leadership Development. Not only are the students working and growing professionally, but they will also choose a civic engagement project to assist the local community during the semester.

Some of the Chinese students arrived with business experience already under their belts; others have worked and interned at humanitarian projects or participated in exchange programs. “I have been working with U.S. and Chinese firms which attempt to build solid business relationships with each other, and I think that they need to help solve the problem of asymmetric information between them. I wanted to learn why this happens and what we can do to solve these problems,” notes Ms. Chen Xi, a graduate student at Beijing University.

“The program’s special focus on U.S.-China bilateral trade ignited my desire to apply,” adds Ms. Yayun Pan from Fudan University. “Furthermore, in this interconnected world understanding one’s home country’s ideology and the way of thinking is not merely sufficient. I want to bring my skills and contacts from this internship to China’s private-owned enterprises by offering constructive proposals to them.”

As part of the U.S.-China Bilateral Trade Internship Program, students are spending four days a week at their internship. Each Monday they are taking an intensive academic course, with numerous meetings with U.S.-China analysts, policy makers, top business executives and government officials.

The demand from top agencies and organizations for these bright minds was overwhelming: American and Chinese students are interning at the U.S. Department of Commerce, the Library of Congress, the Atlantic Council of the United States, the Nixon Center, the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Merrill Lynch, Focus Bankers, Oppenheimer & Co., and the Asia Society. Many other companies have asked TWC to “reserve an intern for us for next year.”

The Freeman Chair in China Studies at CSIS, who oversees the work of TWC intern at CSIS, was very excited about the opportunity. “We have been very impressed with the caliber of the interns in the program, and look forward to a very fruitful and rewarding semester hosting our student from Beijing University who will be joining us to work on US-China economic and trade relations,” commented Dr. Charles W. Freeman III.

From my perspective as Program Manager, I see that this program can deliver even more positive results in improving the American image abroad. Do you know that a recent Pew Research survey found that “the rise of anti-Americanism in recent years has given China a decided image advantage over the United States”?
I am confident that the U.S.-China Bilateral Trade Internship Program will help the new generation of Americans and Chinese to improve their understanding of each other. Ultimately, our image abroad will undoubtedly improve.

Andrey Gidaspov