Two Differences I now Realize between the U.S. and China

Applying for a Faculty Position in China

I am currently applying for a faculty position at a university in China. It took me nearly two months to complete the application through their online portal, and that was more than two months ago. Since then, I feel as though I’ve been left in limbo. I worry that the university may have forgotten about my application.

I reached out to the administrator who had assisted me during the process. She explained that she genuinely had no information to offer — the matter was no longer within her control. With some additional prompting, I learned that faculty appointments and approvals must pass through the national Ministry of Education. Having lived in the U.S. for so long, I had forgotten how many aspects of higher education in China — especially hiring at the professor level — are overseen or influenced by national authorities, not entirely determined by the hiring university.

History Repeats Itself

Recently, I’ve been watching YouTube programs on modern Chinese history, starting from the Opium War in the mid-nineteenth century. One story struck me deeply: the Qing government once sent about thirty young boys, ages 10 to 16, to the United States to study, hoping they would return and help modernize China.

These boys embraced American life — dressing like locals, attending church, and enjoying the freedoms and customs of their new environment — even as they were required to study Chinese Classics and perform rituals of loyalty to the emperor from afar. Conservative officials in the Qing court feared that American society was corrupting these youths, “eroding” their hearts, minds, and bodies. After ten years abroad, the boys were recalled to China before completing their studies.

In some ways, I see echoes of that story in my own life. I came to the United States in 1998, first as a student, then staying on as a professor. I, too, came to appreciate many aspects of American life. Here, overt political propaganda is rare; television doesn’t broadcast ideology around the clock. Over the years, I realized that much of the history I learned while growing up in China was distorted or incomplete.

I also feel that using military force against Taiwan in pursuit of reunification is outdated and out of step with the modern world. When I shared these reflections with a childhood friend, her response echoed the mindset of the Qing conservatives more than a century ago. She told me, “America has eroded you — your body, mind, and spirit.”