In the early 20th century, thousands of members of the Chinese Communist Party went to Russia to learn how to revolutionize and build a socialist state. In turn, the Russians hoped that the study programs would give them a lasting influence on their Chinese peers, many of whom would go on to hold great power positions. But within a decade of becoming communist, China began conflicting with the Soviet Union. In 1961 leaders in Beijing denounced Soviet communism as the work of “revisionist traitors”.
The episode holds serious lessons for Western countries, which have hosted millions of Chinese students over the past four decades – many of whom have risen to positions of great power. While the universities raked in the cash, Western leaders hoped that the experience would sway future Chinese leaders to liberal values. But like Russia, they too have been disappointed. Today the party is more anti-Western than it has been in decades, a mood reflected in words from President Xi Jinping and Foreign Minister Qin Gang at a meeting of the National People’s Congress this month.
Foreign-educated students returning to China are known as haigui (sea turtles), a homophone for “returning home from abroad”. For a long time those who entered China’s bureaucracy found themselves swimming upward. While his technical knowledge was valued, the party feared that he would have divided loyalties. But as Haigui’s numbers grew, mistrust faded.
Today more than 20% of the Central Committee members – the 370 most powerful party officials in China – have received some foreign education, mostly at Western universities. That’s up from 6% two decades ago, according to Cheng Li of the Brookings Institution, a think-tank in Washington. Eight of the 24 members of the Politburo have studied in Western countries, the most ever.
Like many overseas Chinese students today, leaders often focused on STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering, and math). A Politburo member named Chen Jinying, who is the party boss in Shanghai, spent a decade in Britain to study engineering. Another member, Yuan Jiajun, studied at the Aerospace Research Center in Germany. He later ran the rocket program that sent the first Chinese man into space.
But there was a demand for other subjects as well. In 2002, Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, working with Chinese institutions, began a three-month program to teach mid-ranking Chinese executives about governance. Similar short-term programs sprung up at universities in the US and elsewhere in the West. (Some, such as Harvard, were later closed.)
Despite all this, an anti-Western sentiment pervades the leadership. The state directive rages against “flawed” Western ideas such as an independent judiciary. In schools in China, students are warned not to be misled by foreign concepts. to foreign powers” when he encouraged students to study abroad. Never mind that China’s Education Minister Hui Jinping was a visiting scholar at Columbia University in the US in the 1990s.
President Xi Jinping only studied in China. But their ideological czar, Wang Huning, was a visiting scholar in the US in 1988. He wrote a book about his experience, revealing an admiration for certain aspects of the country, such as the way presidents reliably leave office when their terms expire (Mr. Xi will) soon become a norm—busted. to be confirmed for a third term). But, Mr Wang wrote, there was an “undercurrent of crisis” due to racial tensions, disintegrated families and poor education. For them, America mostly provided a lesson in what to avoid.
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© 2023, The Economist Newspaper Limited. All rights reserved. From The Economist, published under license. Original content can be found at www.economist.com
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