Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but the country's restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible, and he now sees interest among his fellow academics waning even after China reopens. China.
Common concerns, he said, include restrictions on academic freedom and the risk of being stranded in China.
Today, only about 700 American students study at Chinese universities, down from a high of about 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students in American schools.
Some young Americans are deterred from investing their time in China by what they see as diminishing economic opportunities and strained relations between Washington and Beijing.
Whatever the reason for the imbalance, American officials and academics lament the loss of opportunities for young people to experience life in China and learn about a formidable American adversary.
And officials from both countries agree that more must be done to encourage student exchanges, at a time when Beijing and Washington can hardly agree on anything else.
“I don't think the environment is as conducive to educational exchange as it has been in the past, and I think both sides will have to take action.”
“I don't think the environment is as conducive to educational exchange as it has been in the past, and I think both sides will have to take action,” said Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell.
The United States has advised its citizens to “reconsider traveling” to China for fear of arbitrary detention and broader use of exit bans to prevent Americans from leaving the country. Campbell said this has hampered the restoration of exchanges and that easing the advisory is now being “actively considered.”
For its part, Beijing is reviving programs for international students that were closed during the pandemic, and Chinese President Xi Jinping has invited tens of thousands of American high school students to visit them.
The situation was much different after President Barack Obama started the 100,000 Strong initiative in 2009 to dramatically increase the number of American students studying in China.
In 2012, there were as many as 24,583 American students in China, according to data from the Chinese Ministry of Education. Open Doors reports from the Institute of International Education, which only tracks students enrolled in American schools and studying in China for credit, show that the number peaked at 14,887 in the 2011-2012 school year. But 10 years later, the number was reduced to just 211.
By the end of 2023, the number of American students stood at 700, according to Nicholas Burns, the US ambassador to China, who said they were too few in a country of such importance to the United States.
“We need young Americans to learn Mandarin. “We need young Americans to have an experience of China,” Burns said.
Without these American students, “in the next decade, we will not be able to exercise intelligent, well-informed diplomacy in China,” warned David Moser, an American linguist who traveled to China in the 1980s and is now tasked with establishing a new master's degree. program for international students at Beijing Capital Normal University.
Moser recalled the years when American students found China fascinating and thought an education there could lead to an interesting career. But he said the days of boisterous trade and currency deals are behind us, as American students and their parents watch China and the United States drift away from each other.
“That's why people think investing in China as a career is a dumb idea,” Moser said.
After 2012, the number of American students in China declined but remained stable at more than 11,000 for several years, according to Open Doors, until the pandemic hit, when China closed its borders and kept most foreigners out. Programs for foreign students that took years to build were closed and staff were laid off, David Moser said.
Amy Gadsden, executive director of China Initiatives at the University of Pennsylvania, also attributed some of the declining interest to foreign companies closing their offices in China. Beijing's draconian governing style, laid bare by its response to the pandemic, has also given American students pause, she said.
Garrett, who is on track to graduate this summer from Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies, said he feels ambivalent about working in China, citing lack of access to information, restrictions on discussions about issues politically sensitive and the broad fight against Chinese espionage.
He lived in Hong Kong as a teenager and worked an internship in mainland China, and said he is still interested in traveling to China, but not anytime soon.
Some American students remain committed to studying in China, said Andrew Mertha, director of the China Global Research Center at SAIS. “There are people who are interested in China for China's sake,” he said. “I don't think those numbers will be affected at all.”
About 40 American students are now studying at the Hopkins-Nanjing center in the eastern Chinese city, and the number is expected to increase in the fall to approach the pre-pandemic level of 50 to 60 students, said Adam Webb, the center's American director. . co-director.
Among them is Chris Hankin, 28, who said he believed time in China was irreplaceable because he could interact with ordinary people and travel to places off the international media radar.
“As the relationship becomes more intense, it's important to have that color, to have that granularity,” said Hankin, a master's student in international relations with a concentration in energy and environment.
Jonathan Zhang, a Chinese-American studying in the prestigious Schwarzman Scholars program at Tsinghua University in Beijing, said it was more important than ever to be in China at a time of tense relations.
“It's really difficult to talk about China without being in China,” he said. “I think it's really a shame that so many people have never set foot in China.”
Zhang ran into concerns when he deferred an offer from a consulting firm to go to Beijing. “They say, 'Oh, be careful,' or, 'What do you mean you're going back to China?'” Zhang said. “I feel like the (Chinese) government is trying very hard, but I feel like a lot of this trust has been broken.”
Gadsden said American universities must do more to encourage students to consider China. “We need to be more intentional about creating opportunities and encouraging students to do this deeper work on China, because it will be interesting to them and it will be valuable to the US-China relationship and to the world.” she said.
In China, Jia Qingguo, an international relations professor and national political advisor, has suggested that Beijing clarify its laws involving foreign citizens, introduce a separate system for political reviews of foreign students' dissertations, and make it easier for foreign graduates to internship search. and jobs in Chinese companies.
Meanwhile, China is welcoming American high school students under a plan President Xi unveiled in November to welcome 50,000 over the next five years.
In January, a group of 24 students from Iowa's Muscatine High School became the first to travel to China. The nine-day, all-expenses-paid trip took them to the Beijing Zoo, the Great Wall, the Palace Museum, the Yu Garden and the Shanghai Museum.
Sienna Stonking, one of the Muscatine students, now wants to return to China to study.
“If I had the chance, I would love to go to university in China,” he told Chinese state broadcaster CGTN. “Honestly, I love it there.”
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