Conscience Lost

by xpt
April 28, 2008

Going to America was, and is still, a dream for almost every mainland Chinese student. Each year, tens of thousands of young Chinese fresh from college are rushing through the port gates in Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, and Chicago with wondering eyes and excitement. For the last 30 years, estimated 10 million of them have entered the universities throughout the world, and only one quarter of them went back to their so-called motherland. A majority of them left in their adopted home, becoming technicians, businessmen, and workers. Among them are a group of elite Chinese, both in education level and in earning power, who became faculty of the universities. Some currently occupy the seats in the most famous universities.

The marvel over these people is hardly just about their achievements alone. I often marveled by their apathy toward the critical issues at "home", or China - many still consider China their home although they are already gave up their Chinese citizenship and became Americans. They keep silent about the critical issues such as human rights, environmental pollution, political persecution, religious rights, and corruptions. Contrast to this strange silence is the loud and very public show of collaboration and support of China in research and industrial development.

They may tell you that they do this because this is an effective way to help China - only an economically strong China can go on to democracy. However, the recent protests staged by the young patriotic Chinese throughout the world to support Chinese government and Beijing Olympic Games clearly show that this attitude is not working!

The repulsive and fanatic behaviors of the young Chinese on the streets in the west is frightening. Their extremely biased view and overzealous passion can be only compared with those of the Red Guards in 1960s. It is not hard to see those students are the failed products of the western educations, and also failed products from the hands of those Chinese who came to the west earlier and become educators!

They taught them how to handle computers, but not how to examine their souls;
They taught them how to fly airplane, but not how to have a balanced view;
They taught them how to live and enjoy a peaceful life in the west, but not how to share and pass this to the people in their motherland;
They taught them how to do mathematics, but not how to have a conscience...

This is an never-ending cycle started from 1880's when the first group of Chinese were sent to America. Many of those west-educated students became the driving force in 1940 and 1950s for building the communist China which lasts till today...