On Wednesday, September 15, 2021, more than 120 attendees gathered over livestream for the webinar, “Caught in a Crossfire: 150 Years of Chinese Students at the Nexus of Sino-U.S. Relations,” presented by Eric Fish. Fish is a journalist and author of the book China’s Millennials: The Want Generation who has also written for outlets including The Atlantic, Foreign Policy, TIME, The Diplomat, South China Morning Post, and The Telegraph.
Fish started with his personal experience studying and working in China, then reviewed the history of the 150 years of Chinese students coming to the U.S. Ever since the first “wave” of Chinese students began arriving in the United States in 1872, this group has found itself — for better or worse — on the front lines of the U.S.-China relationship. At times applauded for bringing the two countries closer together and learning vital skills needed to build a new China, and at others cursed as traitors or spies to be regarded with suspicion and contempt, they’ve always been vulnerable to the many waxes and wanes in the bilateral relationship — and both countries’ complicated domestic politics.
A century-and-a-half after that first wave, the United States is experiencing an unprecedented boom in the number of Chinese students, with some 370,000 studying at the college level in 2019. But as relations between the two countries once again sour, these students are yet again left in a precarious, uncertain position. Fish said that U.S. higher education remains highly attractive to Chinese students despite all the hurdles. He also does not believe the door of exchange will slam shut like after the first two waves. However, he is deeply concerned that the atmosphere of discrimination and suspicion against Chinese students will increase anxieties and push them away from U.S. ideology.
An engaging Q & A session followed Fish's presentation. The discussion ranged from the concern over espionage allegations against Chinese students and scholars to how this tension could affect Chinese Americans born in the States.
About the Speaker
Eric Fish is a journalist and author of the book China’s Millennials: The Want Generation who has also written for outlets including The Atlantic, Foreign Policy, TIME, The Diplomat, South China Morning Post, and The Telegraph. From 2010 to 2014, he was based in Beijing where he produced the China Hang-up podcast and worked at the Economic Observer newspaper during a time that coincided with the once-per-decade Communist Party leadership transition.
His work has predominantly focused on Chinese youth, education, and politics, and his book, China’s Millennials, explores how young Chinese born in the late 1980s and 1990s are navigating the enormous socioeconomic and political shifts unfolding in their country. He’s currently researching his second book, which looks at the rapid influx of Chinese students studying in American universities and how they’ve been affected by shifting political dynamics in both their home and sojourn countries.