MCLC: confusion of being a Chinese student in the US (1)

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: Anne Henochowicz <annemh at alumni.upenn.edu>
Subject: confusion of being a Chinese student in the US (1)
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There is a crucial point missing from this otherwise balanced essay:
Chinese students and their families face real danger if they overstep
Chinese political boundaries while in the U.S. Wang, the Duke student
whose friends called her "mentally ill" for participating in a pro-Tibet
rally, was ridiculed and threatened:

"The next day [after the rally], a photo appeared on an Internet forum for
Chinese students with a photo of Ms. Wang and the words 'traitor to your
country' emblazoned in Chinese across her forehead. Ms. Wang¹s Chinese
name, identification number and contact information were posted, along
with directions to her parents¹ apartment in Qingdao, a Chinese port
city." (NYT: 
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/17/us/17student.html?pagewanted=all)

People didn't just tell her to go to hell. One person online said she
should be burned with oil. Another sent her an email saying "If you return
to China, your dead corpse will be chopped into 10,000 pieces" (quoted in
the NYT).

Her parents weren't safe, either:

"After fierce denunciations of Wang by ethnic Chinese in the U.S. and in
China, her parents in China have been forced into hiding."
(NPR:http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=89803198)

Students can be threatened by the Chinese authorities while abroad as
well. I know of a Chinese student at an American university who started
blogging about human rights. Even though (s)he used a pseudonym, (s)he
still got a call from his/her father to stop. "I don't know what it is
you're up to, but whatever it is, you'd better stop now."

Whatever a Chinese student may really think, (s)he is not free to speak
his/her mind in the Land of the Free. I'm sure plenty of students hold
their tongues to avoid nasty consequences.

Anne