An American in Tianjin

I have been in the city of Tianjin for about a week, and I have another week here. Tianjin is about an hour or so away from Beijing and, although it is a major city in China, it is often overshadowed by Beijing. I am here for a workshop and conference on Northeast Asia economic and political relations. I am here partially because I would like to eventually do some post-doc work on Korean and Japanese views of Chinese rice, so I want to learn more about the Northeast Asia region and maybe make some connections. But there is something about being here in the midst of other American and Asian scholars that makes me more aware of my position as an American than I am in Harbin. Let's see if I am successful at putting my thoughts into words.

When I checked into the conference, the first question I was asked was what country I came from. The list of participants was broken up by countries. Among the 30 participants, I was one of the 5 Americans. So from the start, I was defined through my country. But, like most of the participants, I lead an international life within the NE Asian region. Aside from me, an American living in China, the conference hosts Mongolians living in Russia, Koreans living in the US, Chinese living in Japan, etc. But despite our international experiences, we have continuously been grouped by nationality.

Since I have been here, I have had plenty of conversations with people from all over about American politics. American or not, everyone seems to have an opinion about the American election. To be fair, this includes myself, though I usually succeed at keeping my opinions to myself until I gauge what the others think. Over the weekend, though, I had one aggressive person pick an argument with me about what is best for America. He had never been to America, and could not discuss anything about American social issues or even foreign policy; he was an economist and cared only about the economy. I almost felt like I was being attacked. It was a weird conversation and I wondered how I had gotten involved in it. I wished I hadn't because I would have rather preferred to have a more meaningful conversation than an argument. I think its great so many people around the world care so much about the American election-they should care-but I don't like feeling because I am American, I am available to be told what America needs to do.

This morning, the conference focused on history of the region. Over and over again, we (the participants) were told that we would be hearing the 'objective' side of history and the 'facts' so we could understand where the region is today. During the question period, I listened to other Americans asking the speakers to clarify how they were telling history objectively. I later discussed this with other Americans. Some other participants in the conference did not seem to be bothered by an objective understanding of history. Is it only in America that we understand the inherent controversies in telling history? Or is it that we have been taught critical thinking over and over again that we can't help but be critical of any speaker we hear?

Along the same lines, I have been getting in conversations with Chinese people here that I avoid in Harbin. In Harbin I like to forget about Chinese politics and just talk to people. At times, I am perhaps overly sensitive to not discussing Chinese politics. But at an academic conference about economic and political collaboration of this region, it cannot be avoided. Every time something about Chinese politics comes up, the Chinese people tend to get defensive and tell us to ignore the politics and focus on the economics. I personally do not think the two can be separated and find it difficult to have academic conversations when their national pride gets in the way. I am sure I have my own biases (such as finding it difficult to believe an 'objective' history), but I try to be open to hear what is said. I feel like this issue just pulls me farther away from having productive conversations with Chinese academics and I retreat to my American thinking.

Oh yes, I cannot forget, the best part of the conference should come later this week when the former governor of Alaska comes to talk about Energy Policy in Northeast Asia. Seriously, that is what he is talking about. I wonder if he is going to claim he is an energy expert because he comes from an oil state. And how exactly does Alaska's proximity to Russia allow him to talk to a group of NE Asian scholars?