US students on life in China: challenging, but no regrets

A file photo of Matt McFetridge. [Photo/keuka.edu]

Deeper understanding

The more time a person spends in a foreign country, the more they understand it. After spending years in China, McFetridge's impression of China had changed, "but mostly positively."

"The country has some obvious room for improvement in certain sectors, but that being said I applaud the development the country has made in such a short amount of time."

For Elyse Ribbons, studying Peking Opera at the National Academy of Chinese Theater Arts, her view on China has changed a lot since she came to Beijing in 2001.

"China only meant three things to me when I first arrived: the Great Wall, Pandas and Kung Pao Chicken, but now I am an old hand, I am often invited to introduce Chinese culture to native children," said Ribbons, a radio host, playwright and entrepreneur who is known in China by the name Liu Suying.

Life in China also helps American students understand that Chinese and Americans "have a lot of common ground."

Schafer said that many people living abroad compare "my people to their people", but he tries to think of people as "people" not "Chinese" or "American."

"I think in this way I can be more objective and better understand the world around me," he explained.

Culture in fact is superficial, as different cultures have different manifestations, said Frank Hawke, one of the first eight American students to study in China in February 1979.

After spending more than three decades in China, Hawke, now the China director for the Stanford Graduate School of Business, said he always suggests that students who study in China should not focus on the superficial differences between Chinese and Americans.

"Chinese and Americans may eat differently, speak differently, deal with things in different ways, but why is that? In the process of answering that question, you will find that they are fundamentally the same," said Hawke.