After being in Beijing for 5 weeks now, I have definitely seen America’s influence in China. When it comes to cultural influence, I feel that I have seen a lot of incorporation of American customs. For instance, among young adults, American movies, shows, and clothing is especially popular. At every shopping center there is a substantial presence of American brands, and I’ve seen plenty of American movies being offered in theaters. However, when it comes to politics, young adults have definitely pointed out the increased tension between China and the US since a new president has been in office. From what I’ve collected, there hasn’t been any positive feedback when recent US political topics have been brought up.
Younger individuals I’ve conversed with here in China don’t have much input when it comes to China and America’s political relationship, but they did have an interesting point of view of American students. We visited a Chinese middle school recently so we could interact and learn about differences in our education systems, however the young students didn’t seem to have a good impression of American students. We asked them what they thought college in America was like, and they said all they thought we did was play. After conversing some more, I could definitely tell how the differences in our education systems led to Chinese student believing schooling in America was extremely loose and much less cut throat. However after introducing our lifestyle at Notre Dame, they seemed to be much more receptive of the American education system.
