No Such Thing as Chinese

Former Asia Correspondent and author Howard French, who spoke in conversation with Dr. George Koo at the Commonwealth Club in March, spoke about his reason for writing Everything Under the Heavens. He was puzzled as to why the countries in Asia (Japan, Korea, China) did not behave like those in Europe (Germany, France, UK), putting the World War behind them and moving on. (See post one.) 
French discovered that, because of its sheer size, China was in a different ballpark.
"First of all, the thing we recognize in any common map as China is a fairly recent thing. China started out a very long time ago as something called Zhongyuan which is essentially four present-day provinces in Central China near the Yellow River...

China --Ancient boundaries represented in dark red

"So, China was across the breadth of its own history waging what we now think of as internal wars.... But there was no such thing as China back then. There was an empire. There were dynasties...There was the Qing dynasty, the Yuan Dynasty, or the Ming Dynasty or the Song Dynasty, etc.etc. For simplicity’s sake, we call that, 'The Chinese.' "

(In fact the first use of the term came about during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) when the Emperors referred to their subjects as "The Chinese.")

"And China got to be the big China that we see on the map today through a very gradual process of conquest and assimilation and migration and various other things... And, it’s not one constant, steady expansion, by the way. There are setbacks. It expands. It contracts. It expands. It contracts. Then it gets locked into place in effect by the international system whereby large states recognize each other’s sovereignty." 

(To Be Continued. Next: Of Course China Wants a Say) 

Why Can't Asian Countries Do Like Europe?

Howard French, Former New York Times Asia Correspondent, and author of the new book Everything Under the Heavens :How the Past Helps Shape China’s Push for Global Power  spoke at the San Francisco Commonwealth Club in March.

He appeared in conversation with Dr. George Koo, contributor to the online Asia Times, a member of the Committee of 100, and a past Bridge-Over-The-Pacific interviewee. 

George Lewinski, former foreign editor of Marketplace and a lecturer at U.C. Berkeley, served as moderator.   

Following are some of the highlights:

Dr Koo, Professor French and George Lewinski

George Lewinski: Professor French, in the acknowledgements for the book, you write that the idea came when you were a correspondent in Tokyo in the 1990s, and you were struck by the similarities between the three countries in northeast Asia: Japan, China and Korea. And yet you were kind of puzzled by how they seemed trapped in the kind of loop of recrimination and distrust compared to let’s say the three major powers in Europe: France, Germany and the U.K who seem to have sort of gotten over the centuries of war that they had.  Can you explain that?

Howard French: If you look at the principal countries of northwestern Europe and the principal countries of northeast Asia what you find is a common basis in a lot of really important things: writing, religion, philosophy, legal ideas, etc. that go back a really long ways.
And yet you find something striking happens…. after what is probably the world’s worst war, the Europeans found a way to overcome their past divisiveness and killing, and form a golden union. And the northeast Asians were not able to do that.

Once I got to know China…I came to understand that China is this gigantic country that is completely out of proportion with surrounding societies.  China has the longest record of continuous government and civilization.  These other societies have borrowed much more heavily from China than China borrowed from them. And so this is not a mirror of western Europe at all.

It’s quite a different path.

(To Be Continued: No Such Thing as Chinese.)

Immigrants Need to Join Society

Retired NASA Chemist, Winifred Huo, was born in Guangzhou, China two weeks before the start of the Sino-Japanese war.  She recalls the first eight years of her life as looking for a safe place to live, and a place where her father could work. (see post one.) Winifred's highly-educated father was assigned to Guangdong to help build the impossible: the Burma Road. (see post two.) Two years after arriving, the Japanese invaded and the family had to make a quick escape. (see post three.) Thanks to Winifred's mother, despite all the moving about, Winifred excelled at her studies.  And, when she finally landed in Hong Kong for high school, she found her passion in the sciences.(see post four.) When she graduated--while the University of Hong Kong would not accept her because of some British rulings--she got a place at the University of Taiwan. (see post five.) In 1957, her father was offered an exchange post at Purdue University. This coincided with Sputnik--and was a time when America needed scientists--and he was offered a green card, the family was welcome to the U.S. (see post six.) She pursued graduate studies in science at the University of Chicago where she was often the only woman in the class. (post seven.)  Upon graduation, Winifred taught in a number of prestigious universities. (post eight.) In 1978, she found NASA, which turned into a lifelong rewarding career. (see post nine.) She had wise words for women, including the thought, "You're as good as any man." (see post ten.)

For young Chinese immigrants, she also had some thoughts.

“In order to—if you want to stay in the United States—then you have to be part of the society instead of a special section."

"It’s really much more comfortable to be with someone that you share the same language and same worries than someone you don’t know as well. But you cannot work successfully if you don’t try to integrate. Try to understand how American society functions.”

(With gratitude to Winifred Huo, this concludes our interview.) 

Losing Gifted Scientists to Social Pressure

Retired NASA Chemist, Winifred Huo, was born in Guangzhou, China two weeks before the start of the Sino-Japanese war.  She recalls the first eight years of her life as looking for a safe place to live, and a place where her father could work. (see post one.) Winifred's highly-educated father was assigned to Guangdong to help build the impossible: the Burma Road. (see post two.) Two years after arriving, the Japanese invaded and the family had to make a quick escape. (see post three.) Thanks to Winifred's mother, despite all the moving about, Winifred excelled at her studies.  And, when she finally landed in Hong Kong for high school, she found her passion in the sciences.(see post four.) When she graduated--while the University of Hong Kong would not accept her because of some British rulings--she got a place at the University of Taiwan. (see post five.) In 1957, her father was offered an exchange post at Purdue University. This coincided with Sputnik--and was a time when America needed scientists--and he was offered a green card, the family was welcome to the U.S. (see post six.) She pursued graduate studies in science at the University of Chicago where she was often the only woman in the class. (post seven.)  Upon graduation, Winifred taught in a number of prestigious universities. (post eight.) In 1978, she found NASA, which turned into a lifelong rewarding career. (see post nine.)

Winifred said it was important for women to remember:

“You are as good as any man."

“There’s a program set up by the former astronaut Sally Ride—after she retired from NASA her focus was to try to understand why girls do not excel in engineering and science and how do you get them interested. I went to one of her seminars."

Astronaut Sally Ride on Sesame Street

"She said she went to schools and talked to kids. All kids love to talk to astronauts. She said before 3^rd grade—3^rd grade and below—she found boys and girls both asked questions, asked very similar questions. After 3^rd grade you see the deviation. 

"First, boys asked more questions. The girls kept quiet. Or they asked less-relevant questions. It was more important for them to be interested in stuff that is considered, ‘womanly.’ 

"I was surprised.
“We lose half the population because of social pressure.  It’s very difficult for a young girl to fight social pressure. The only way to overcome it is to buddy with another girl who is, say, interested in science. You need companionship. You cannot fight it on your own."

(To be continued.  Next and final post: Immigrants Need to Join Society.)

NASA Rewarding Career for Women

Retired NASA Chemist, Winifred Huo, was born in Guangzhou, China two weeks before the start of the Sino-Japanese war.  She recalls the first eight years of her life as looking for a safe place to live, and a place where her father could work. (see post one.) Winifred's highly-educated father was assigned to Guangdong to help build the impossible: the Burma Road. (see post two.) Two years after arriving, the Japanese invaded and the family had to make a quick escape. (see post three.) Thanks to Winifred's mother, despite all the moving about, Winifred excelled at her studies.  And, when she finally landed in Hong Kong for high school, she found her passion in the sciences.(see post four.) When she graduated--while the University of Hong Kong would not accept her because of some British rulings--she got a place at the University of Taiwan. (see post five.) In 1957, her father was offered an exchange post at Purdue University. This coincided with Sputnik--and was a time when America needed scientists--and he was offered a green card, the family was welcome to the U.S. (see post six.) She pursued graduate studies in science at the University of Chicago where she was often the only woman in the class. (post seven.)  Upon graduation, Winifred taught in a number of prestigious universities. (post eight.)

In 1978, Winifred's husband got a job offer from Bank of America in San Francisco. That is when she found NASA. It was a rewarding place to work as a woman. She was there until her retirement in 2006. (Even today she still goes in once or twice a week.)

In 1994 she received the NASA Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal.

“It was for the study of Entry Environment, and I worked with an experimental group to study—in the early 80s—to try to study the Shuttle’s protective shield because there was worry about the shuttle design. We tried to devise an experiment to measure the temperature, the pressure and the speed of the shuttle.”

(To be continued. Next: Losing Gifted Scientists to Social Pressure.)

No Place for Women

Retired NASA Chemist, Winifred Huo, was born in Guangzhou, China two weeks before the start of the Sino-Japanese war.  She recalls the first eight years of her life as looking for a safe place to live, and a place where her father could work. (see post one.) Winifred's highly-educated father was assigned to Guangdong to help build the impossible: the Burma Road. (see post two.) Two years after arriving, the Japanese invaded and the family had to make a quick escape. (see post three.) Thanks to Winifred's mother, despite all the moving about, Winifred excelled at her studies.  And, when she finally landed in Hong Kong for high school, she found her passion in the sciences.(see post four.) When she graduated--while the University of Hong Kong would not accept her because of some British rulings--she got a place at the University of Taiwan. (see post five.) In 1957, her father was offered an exchange post at Purdue University. This coincided with Sputnik--and was a time when America needed scientists--and he was offered a green card, the family was welcome to the U.S. (see post six.) She pursued graduate studies in science at the University of Chicago where she was often the only woman in the class. (post seven.) 

Upon graduation, Winifred did a post-doc at Harvard, taught at Rutgers, the University of Pittsburgh, Carnegie-Mellon and University of Notre Dame.  I asked if she ever ran up against discrimination.

She said that she did, adding, “I’m pretty thick-skinned. It didn’t bother me much. But when I moved from Harvard to New Jersey, because my husband was teaching in New Jersey, my professor contacted three places for me. He contacted AT&T, Rutgers, and Princeton. 

"Princeton said, ‘We don’t have a position for females.’ 

"AT&T said, ‘We don’t take women employees in physical sciences.  You could be a secretary, but we don’t take women employees.’ 

"This was between ‘67-‘69.”

She managed to get a research position at Carnegie-Mellon, although she was way beyond the researching phase in her life. 
“My boss was trying to get me into a regular teaching position.  He said he was upset because one of the comments the other faculty made was, ‘She’s doing pretty well, as a woman.’”

(To be continued. Next: NASA Rewarding Career for Women)

Protected as a Foreigner

Retired NASA Chemist, Winifred Huo, was born in Guangzhou, China two weeks before the start of the Sino-Japanese war.  She recalls the first eight years of her life as looking for a safe place to live, and a place where her father could work. (see post one.) Winifred's highly-educated father was assigned to Guangdong to help build the impossible: the Burma Road. (see post two.) Two years after arriving, the Japanese invaded and the family had to make a quick escape. (see post three.) Thanks to Winifred's mother, despite all the moving about, Winifred excelled at her studies.  And, when she finally landed in Hong Kong for high school, she found her passion in the sciences.(see post four.) When she graduated--while the University of Hong Kong would not accept her because of some British rulings--she got a place at the University of Taiwan. (see post five.) In 1957, her father was offered an exchange post at Purdue University. This coincided with Sputnik--and was a time when America needed scientists--and he was offered a green card, the family was welcome to the U.S. (see post six.)

Winifred continued her science education at University of Chicago, a time when not many women were going to graduate school--and certainly not as a science major.

“I think I was protected because I was a foreign student. I was different anyway.  The first couple years of graduate school, I frequently was the only woman in class. I remember there was one professor who was away and got his assistant to give his lecture for him. This substitute, each time he showed up, he would look at the class and say, “Lady and Gentlemen.” 

(To be continued. Next: No Place for Women.)

Sputnik Changed Everything.

Retired NASA Chemist, Winifred Huo, was born in Guangzhou, China two weeks before the start of the Sino-Japanese war.  She recalls the first eight years of her life as looking for a safe place to live, and a place where her father could work. (see post one.) Winifred's highly-educated father was assigned to Guangdong to help build the impossible: the Burma Road. (see post two.) Two years after arriving, the Japanese invaded and the family had to make a quick escape. (see post three.) Thanks to Winifred's mother, despite all the moving about, Winifred excelled at her studies.  And, when she finally landed in Hong Kong for high school, she found her passion in the sciences.(see post four.) When she graduated--while the University of Hong Kong would not accept her because of some British rulings--she got a place at the University of Taiwan. (see post five.)

Winifred’s father also moved to Taiwan to work with a friend of his in a vocational school. Shortly thereafter Purdue University in Indiana suggested teacher exchanges. They invited Winifred's father to the U.S. as an instructor in 1957. Then came Sputnik.

"Sputnik Changed Everything."

"Sputnik Changed Everything.  The U.S. changed its immigration policy. For scientists and engineers they encouraged immigration. So my father took the chance, applied for a green card and got it. So because he had a green card, he could get his family out. Our whole family moved to Chicago. My mother, sisters and I came in 1958.”

(To be continued.  Next: Protected as a Foreigner.)

Disappointment Opens Door to Better Opportunity

Retired NASA Chemist, Winifred Huo, was born in Guangzhou, China two weeks before the start of the Sino-Japanese war.  She recalls the first eight years of her life as looking for a safe place to live, and a place where her father could work. (see post one.) Winifred's highly-educated father was assigned to Guangdong to help build the impossible: the Burma Road. (see post two.) Two years after arriving, the Japanese invaded and the family had to make a quick escape. (see post three.) Thanks to Winifred's mother, despite all the moving about, Winifred excelled at her studies.  And, when she finally landed in Hong Kong for high school, she found her passion in the sciences.(see post four.)

When Winifred graduated from high school, she discovered that she could not apply to the university in Hong Kong.  Hong Kong was under British rule at the time, the University was under the British system, and the administration would not accept applicants from a non-British high school...without an extra two years of education.  Although disappointing at the time, it turned out to be fortuitous, “That year was the first year that Taiwan had an open solicitation of students from the Hong Kong/Macau area. So I took the exam and I got into the Taiwan Normal University.”

Taiwan became a lily pad from which she jumped to the U.S. in yet another fortuitous time.

(To be continued.  Next: Sputnik Changed Everything.)