CUSEF Blog

Shaniece Criss from Harvard Kennedy School: “Since I come from a U.S. perspective, it was so helpful to hear from government officials so that I could understand more about the one-party system. It broadened my view on how the government functions and cares for its people. I also better understood how individual-based society versus a community-based society address the same issues in different ways. It was so helpful to gain a better understanding about these perspectives.” Read More

Adnane Meziane from Harvard Kennedy School: “Prior to coming to China for the first time, I had learned a lot about the country through several readings. Nevertheless, the media that I consume on a daily basis in the United States had instilled some negative connotations in me, including about China’s aggressions in the region, China’s oppression, China’s pollution… As a result, the trip to China was a welcome fact-finding trip that would allow me to see for myself whether the depiction that some media makes was a reality or a fiction. What I found was astonishing and rather positive. Read More

Daniel Cnossen from Harvard Kennedy School: Although I cannot claim to fully understand China from a 10-day travel experience in which an enormous amount of the country was not seen, I can now say with confidence that I understand the country much better than before, and that Americans should be aware of these biases inherent in our media’s reporting. I think that the dialogue between American students and Chinese was very important. On these occasions, we were able to field questions from Chinese scholars. This implicitly provided insight into what Chinese think of America, and their misperceptions, based on the lines of questioning. Just like American students have misperceptions of the Chinese government and of life in general in China, so do many Chinese fail to understand American politics. Read More