Disillusion in Peking

The students who arrived on the sprawling campus on the northwestern outskirts of Peking last fall were an enthusiastic if diverse group. They talked eagerly of getting to know the Chinese and of "experiencing the revolution firsthand." Some even donned the standard Chinese work blues as a sign of unity with their hosts. There was good reason for their excitement. They were the first foreigners to be admitted to the Peking Language Institute since it was closed because of the Cultural Revolution in 1967.

Now, even before they have completed their first year, many of the students are disillusioned and talk of studying in Taiwan or Hong Kong instead. The chief complaint centers about the lack of stimulating classes at the institute. Most of the 300 students* from 40 countries had considerable facility in Chinese before they arrived. One Canadian, for example, is a specialist in Tang poetry; others were in postgraduate studies. Thus they feel that the study materials, which frequently consist of official tracts and xenophobic diatribes from the Chinese press, are an insult to their intelligence.

One early class was devoted to a parable about the life of Lei Feng, a young soldier who died in 1962 and is revered as a revolutionary hero. Another centered about the People's Daily attack on Italian Filmmaker Michelangelo Antonioni, whose documentary film on China has been under attack for its portrayal of some of the cruder aspects of Chinese life. There is so little interest in another class, devoted to the Communist party line on Chinese affairs, that only three or four students regularly attend it. When students presented a petition--signed not only by Westerners, but also by those from the Third World --complaining of teaching methods, authorities refused to accept it.

Social freedom is on a par with academic freedom at the institute. The students charge that they have been discouraged from intermingling and conversing with the Chinese. Although some Chinese students attend the institute, they have separate classes and their own dormitory and mess hall. There are also limits on how much the foreign students can socialize with each other. Early on, an institute official decreed that relations between the sexes must be "solemn and legitimate." Men and women sleep in segregated dormitories, two to a room. To make sure things stay that way, the women's residence is padlocked each night at 10 p.m. "It's like being in the army," says one Canadian. "You ask why they have a certain rule and they reply, in effect, 'Because we do.' It drives you up the wall."

Old China hands are not all that surprised at the students' experiences, however. They point out that the Chinese are reserved with foreigners, who are traditionally treated as outsiders, and that the students were somewhat naive in thinking that they could quickly form close relationships. The reopening of the institute last October also coincided with the first stirrings of the current revival of the Cultural Revolution and its barrage of attacks on foreign films and music. This may have caused officials to be more cautious in the courses offered at the institute.

Peking had obviously opened the institute with good intentions and went out of its way to make certain that the campus would be comfortable for foreigners. The beginning of classes was delayed two months last fall while central heating was installed in the dormitories and a dining room serving both Chinese and Western food was set up.

Creature comforts, however, are not enough for the highly motivated student body. When Peking announced recently that it was calling off specialized studies in Chinese art and archaeology, filmmaking and the social sciences--which had been promised after the first year's training in language--it was the last straw for some of the Westerners. Seven Canadians and a number of British and French students have already decided not to take up their option for a second year at the institute. More are expected to follow suit.

* There are 100 Westerners but none from the U.S. because the two countries do not have diplomatic relations.

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