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jwsg's review against another edition
3.0
In 1982, Dillard was part of a 6-member delegation of US scholars, writers and publishers that travelled to Beijing, Xian, Hangzhou, Nanjing and Shanghai in China. Later that year, a small group of Chinese writers would visit the US for a US-Chinese writers conference and Dillard was one of the delegates. In the Introduction, Dillard makes clear that this series of essays does not purport to tell "the truth about China". Rather, these are "some small stories...a collection of moments...[that] yield [she hopes], contradictory impressions."
Dillard's accounts of the exchanges between the Chinese and the Americans are pretty entertaining. To some of the older Chinese who have survived the Cultural Revolution, the Americans are a naive lot. Engaging them is "like talking to young children about what you did in the war. Whatever you did, the memory of which might be quite painful to you, will fortunately never be touched on by the children's little questions, always so innocently wide off the mark." In general, the Chinese do not understand how the Americans can write solely for themselves - rather than to serve society. They also cannot fathom what it means to read purely for pleasure and recreation; in China, books are so rare and so precious, when one reads, it is for scholarship, it is to study.
Dillard recounts how she commits a terrible faux pas. Asked how Chinese textbooks compare with American texts, Dillard thinks about how Chinese middle school textbooks cover more advanced concepts in math and science, but doesn't see complex modern literature being covered in the middle school curriculum. She replies that Chinese education seemed to be stronger in the sciences while US education is stronger in the arts. She is puzzled by the reaction of the Chinese and realises belatedly that she's just conveyed that the US, a young upstart nation, is superior in the arts to "the oldest and most refined civilisation on earth." If her Chinese hosts do not think her clueless, then surely they must conclude that she is being deliberately hostile and malicious.
An entertaining enough read.
Dillard's accounts of the exchanges between the Chinese and the Americans are pretty entertaining. To some of the older Chinese who have survived the Cultural Revolution, the Americans are a naive lot. Engaging them is "like talking to young children about what you did in the war. Whatever you did, the memory of which might be quite painful to you, will fortunately never be touched on by the children's little questions, always so innocently wide off the mark." In general, the Chinese do not understand how the Americans can write solely for themselves - rather than to serve society. They also cannot fathom what it means to read purely for pleasure and recreation; in China, books are so rare and so precious, when one reads, it is for scholarship, it is to study.
Dillard recounts how she commits a terrible faux pas. Asked how Chinese textbooks compare with American texts, Dillard thinks about how Chinese middle school textbooks cover more advanced concepts in math and science, but doesn't see complex modern literature being covered in the middle school curriculum. She replies that Chinese education seemed to be stronger in the sciences while US education is stronger in the arts. She is puzzled by the reaction of the Chinese and realises belatedly that she's just conveyed that the US, a young upstart nation, is superior in the arts to "the oldest and most refined civilisation on earth." If her Chinese hosts do not think her clueless, then surely they must conclude that she is being deliberately hostile and malicious.
An entertaining enough read.
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