Advice for Chinese-American Students

Mathematician, control theorist, and retired Harvard professor, Dr. Larry Yu-Chi Ho moved around a lot as a child, following his Nationalist Army (Guomindang) father to various places in the interior of China during WWII. (See post one.) At the end of the war, Larry and his families escaped to Taiwan. When he graduated high school at age 15, he came across the Pacific to attend MIT.  He met many helping hands along the way. (See post two and three.) He graduated, found a research position in one of the first-ever washing machine companies, and won the immigration lottery. (See post four.) He returned to school, this time to Harvard where he was one of a handful of students.    (See post Five.) In 2001, Larry tried to retire. Instead he was asked to provide guidance to the MIT of China. (See post Six.) With one foot in each country, I asked Larry what he saw as some of the challenges. He mentioned that while China is trying to woo students home, many of them remain in the U.S. to enjoy freedom. (See post Seven and Eight.) In the U.S., he sees that we have several issues: a mountain of debt, a mountain of garbage, and a refusal to move into the future. (See post Nine.) While he suggests the U.S. work cooperatively with China, he doesn't see China as Super Power...at least not in the near future. (See post Ten.)

Larry has a blog which describes many of his teachings/experiences throughout the years, and reaches millions of people across the globe. I asked what advice he would give today's students from China?
His first thought was that they might be better off back in China. “Foreign-educated Chinese students are very well treated. They have all kinds of opportunities to rise to the top."

"In China, you don’t have a glass ceiling to deal with. In the U.S., they will never rise up to become the President of the U.S. or president of Amazon, or so forth. There is a glass ceiling, which is even admitted by the U.S. Labor Department data.”

For those who decide to stay, he says, “Practice and live the American dream.”

(With gratitude, this concludes this interview.)

OK With China As Superpower?

Mathematician, control theorist, and retired Harvard professor, Dr. Larry Yu-Chi Ho moved around a lot as a child, following his Nationalist Army (Guomindang) father to various places in the interior of China during WWII. (See post one.) At the end of the war, Larry and his families escaped to Taiwan. When he graduated high school at age 15, he came across the Pacific to attend MIT.  He met many helping hands along the way. (See post two and three.) He graduated, found a research position in one of the first-ever washing machine companies, and won the immigration lottery. (See post four.) He returned to school, this time to Harvard where he was one of a handful of students.    (See post Five.) In 2001, Larry tried to retire. Instead he was asked to provide guidance to the MIT of China. (See post Six.) With one foot in each country, I asked Larry what he saw as some of the challenges. He mentioned that while China is trying to woo students home, many of them remain in the U.S. to enjoy freedom. (See post Seven and Eight.) In the U.S., he sees that we have several issues: a mountain of debt, a mountain of garbage, and a refusal to move into the future. (See post Nine.)

I asked Larry if he was okay with China becoming the superpower of the planet. 

“I don’t think they will….not for a long time to come. China has too many internal problems to worry about. They won’t become a super power. They are powerful enough , yes. They are one of the largest export nations. They hold a lot of U.S. debt. They are the largest holder of U.S. bonds in the world. That’s why it’s important to learn to deal with them in a cooperative fashion rather than as an adversary."

(To be continued. Next: Advice for Chinese-American Students.)

The Main Three Problems in U.S.

Mathematician, control theorist, and retired Harvard professor, Dr. Larry Yu-Chi Ho moved around a lot as a child, following his Nationalist Army (Guomindang) father to various places in the interior of China during WWII. (See post one.) At the end of the war, Larry and his families escaped to Taiwan. When he graduated high school at age 15, he came across the Pacific to attend MIT.  He met many helping hands along the way. (See post two and three.) He graduated, found a research position in one of the first-ever washing machine companies, and won the immigration lottery. (See post four.) He returned to school, this time to Harvard where he was one of a handful of students.( See post FiveIn 2001, Larry tried to retire. Instead he was asked to provide guidance to the MIT of China. (See post Six.) With one foot in each country, I asked Larry what he saw as some of the challenges. He mentioned that while China is trying to woo students home, many of them remain in the U.S. to enjoy freedom. (See post seven and Eight.)

Larry saw three challenges facing the U.S.:

MONEY: “We owe China a lot of money. We are living beyond our means. So many people feel so much entitlement.”

Larry says we are hanging by a string, both intellectually and monetarily, in our schools. “Without all the foreign students—I’m not talking about Chinese students—the U.S. University would collapse.  There would be no graduate students... A lot of U.S. students don’t aspire to be educated at the graduate level in technology, and so forth.  And, that’s actually—I view it as one of our biggest problems. 

RESOURCES: “The world is finite. If China becomes stronger, you have to share some of the wealth of this earth. I mean we—the U.S.--consumes 30-50 times more resources than the rest of the world. That situation cannot last. We export all kinds of pollution out of our country to other places. In fact, until very recently, to China.  All that garbage was dumped there in the ocean. That  kind of situation cannot go on. We have no right to consume that much resources compared to other nations. We have to learn to change."

ATTITUDE: Larry sees the U.S. as suffering from its hold on the past. “We should accept the fact that China is now a rising power, and we cannot have the same kind of influence and domination of the Asia region. You have to let China have some influence there. After WWII, and in the 50’s, we were the only single power, and everybody listened to us. But, now we have to learn to accept the situation that we are not the only superpower in Asia."

Larry insists that, “China has very little desire to acquire more territory or be—what is it called—a hegemon. I mean they are acting civilly. They are not seeking to take over some place—maybe a couple of islands in the South China Sea. That’s about all. They have no interest in taking over, say, Southeast Asia. Or for that matter, the Philippines. So I don’t think we need to worry about that. But we have to accept the fact that we have to live with them."
(To be continued. Next: Ok with China as Superpower?)

China's Other Challenges

Mathematician, control theorist, and retired Harvard professor, Dr. Larry Yu-Chi Ho moved around a lot as a child, following his Nationalist Army (Guomindang) father to various places in the interior of China during WWII. (See post one.) At the end of the war, Larry and his families escaped to Taiwan. When he graduated high school at age 15, he came across the Pacific to attend MIT.  He met many helping hands along the way. (See post two and three.) He graduated, found a research position in one of the first-ever washing machine companies, and won the immigration lottery. (See post four.) He returned to school, this time to Harvard where he was one of a handful of students.( See post FiveIn 2001, Larry tried to retire. Instead he was asked to provide guidance to the MIT of China. (See post SixWith one foot in each country, I asked Larry what he saw as some of the challenges. He mentioned that while China is trying to woo students home, many of them remain in the U.S. to enjoy freedom. (See post Seven.)
Some other challenges he noted facing China: severe pollution, water quality, and a population problem. “Too many old people and not enough young, because of the one-child policy. Even though they (China) have relaxed that (law), most people choose not to have a second child because they want to enjoy life.” Not only are there too many old people and not enough young, but not enough young women."

“You know the old Chinese custom, male is very important, female is not. There’s actually like—last statistic I saw—120 available males to every 100 females. That’s a terrible ratio.”

In addition, he noted income inequality. “Even though lots of rich people, there are still vast amounts of people who aren’t as rich as they would like. And now they’re exposed (via the internet) to what’s impossible. Everybody wants to become rich And here not everyone will be able to do that. And that will become a problem."
(To be continued. Next: The Main Three Problems Facing U.S.)

The Taste of Freedom

Mathematician, control theorist, and retired Harvard professor, Dr. Larry Yu-Chi Ho moved around a lot as a child, following his Nationalist Army (Guomindang) father to various places in the interior of China during WWII. (See post one.) At the end of the war, Larry and his families escaped to Taiwan. When he graduated high school at age 15, he came across the Pacific to attend MIT.  He met many helping hands along the way. (See post two and three.) He graduated, found a research position in one of the first-ever washing machine companies, and won the immigration lottery. (See post four.) He returned to school, this time to Harvard where he was one of a handful of students.( See post Five.) In 2001, Larry tried to retire. Instead he was asked to provide guidance to the MIT of China. (See post Six.)

Having grown up in China til he was a teenager, and then returned to China once a year for the past seventeen, I asked if he’d noticed any changes in attitudes towards the U.S.

“Oh, yeah. A lot of change. But, basically, the U.S. is still the promised land for most educated Chinese.  They all want to come here. About 70% of Chinese who study here remain in the U.S. despite lots of attractive offers from China should people return.  The majority of people—once you taste the freedom of the United States, it’s something very difficult to give up.” 

What freedom is particularly important?

“As one Chinese official once very perceptively told me, ‘In the U.S. you control 80% of your life. The reverse is true in China.’ Even though you may be doing very well in China, the government basically controls 80% of your life—what you can and cannot do. So, once you taste this kind of freedom it’s very hard to give up.”

(To be continued. Next: China's Numerous Challenges.)