Professional Experience
At what institution(s) have you been engaged in teaching? Number and level of students? Course offered?
Zhongshan University, Guangzhou, China. I teach about thirty graduate students in law. In the fall I taught public international law. In the spring I will teach special topics in international law, and comparative constitutional law.
There are three masters programs in law at ZhongDa, each of three years' duration: international law, economic law, and legal history. I have students from all three, and from each year. Only first- and second-year graduate students in international law are required to take my course (about 10 students).
My course meets twice a week, in the afternoon. The schedule is nice for me, but a difficult one with which to get students to do much preparatory reading. I insisted on keeping the class at six (rather than four) hours per week (i.e., 2 times 3 hours rather than 2 times 2 hours). The students are getting only three units of credit for the course. In order to give a full measure of effort, I have assigned term papers on a voluntary basis, and given supplementary lectures. Next semester the schedule will be the same, but I plan to organize it as two classes, and the students are supposed to get 2 units for each class, or four units if they take both.
Although it is often said that it is difficult to get Chinese students to speak in class, it is certainly possible, and well worth the effort. It has indeed been more difficult for me in Guangzhou this year than it was last time seven years ago in Beijing. But I still get adequate participation from about half of my students. I use the same techniques that I use in U.S. law school classes to stimulate discussion, with the same relatively high degree of success for those students who have read the material. Of course many students even in the U.S. are reluctant to talk in class, and you have to know how to call on students without threatening them. Those students whose English reading ability does not permit them to prepare adequately for class will not, of course, be able to participate in a law class no matter what you do. But for the rest, it works.
In line with my object of providing the U.S. law school experience as much as possible, I give closed-book, timed final exams. To take into account the differences in English reading ability, I give a preliminary hour (for each one-and-a-half or two hours of test) in which the students can read, translate, and ask questions about the exam questions before starting to write.
Any problems in communication, either for reasons of language or student preparation?
The English ability of my students varies quite a bit. I deal with this by trying to vary my expectations accordingly.
Relations with colleagues? Library resources in your field?
My primary contact, a professor of about 7 years' experience, attends all of my classes and has assisted me in several ways. In addition, I see the director of the international law program, and the dean of the law school, only occasionally, but they are very cordial and eager to assist me and my family.
One of my students gave me a tour of the English-language library resources on the campus. The main library has law books in three (not logically distinguishable) places, and they consist either of very dated material or scattered casebooks and treatises. The law building has its own library, one room on the third floor, with a librarian. There are no reporter or statute series, but some periodicals (no real index though), including reproduced copies of the American Journal of International Law and International Legal Materials for the last 10 or so years. There are also various donated treatises, casebooks, and yearbooks. It is enough for the students to do some initial research, and--if the student has ingenuity, determination, and guidance--to write an acceptable term paper based mostly on secondary sources. Law library resources here are thus inadequate. [Editorial note: book donations are not the answer (although I will be donating a lot of books, both from of the Fulbright Program and from myself). Donated books without logical shelving, cataloging, or lending systems don't do much good. Graduate students have little facility doing research or citing sources. The whole library/book research system needs radical overhaul.]
Activities outside your host institution--consultation, lectures, seminar?
The US Public Affairs Officer for the Consulate in Guangzhou invited several relevant contact persons from the law departments of various Guangdong universities to lunch with my wife and me, with a view toward encouraging them to invite me to lecture, and in one case I followed up with a letter asking for an invitation. I have not received any invitations as a result yet. I plan to speak to a faculty seminar at Hong Kong University next semester. Also, I participated in the Hong Kong portion of the American Bar Association briefing trip to China and Hong Kong in October.
Has there been any opportunity for you to do research or writing of your own?
I completed revisions of an article accepted by the journal Legal Theory in the fall. I plan to work on another theoretical article in the spring. I have access to LEXIS with my computer and modem, but I have to pay for the long distance charges to Hong Kong. I could do this from my apartment if we could direct dial, which we cannot. The USIS office has been kind enough to let me direct dial from their office (to be billed later for the calls), and I have done this on occasion, but it requires a half-hour taxi trip to get there. My Chinese language ability is too limited to do research profitably on Chinese law.
What information would you have needed that you did not have about the assignment? In short, please comment upon your stay in the host country from the professional point of view.
I had an earlier Fulbright lectureship in China, so I knew pretty well what kinds of questions to ask. I can't think of any information we needed that we did not have.
It is always rewarding for me to teach Chinese students. Their previous educational experiences are in some ways stronger and in some ways much weaker than their American counterparts, and through feedback this greatly enriches my teaching. I also learn a lot about the Chinese legal system, legal education system, and education system in general. This provides me with a helpful perspective when I get back to the States.
Generally it is hard to get much done in the way of research or academic writing of any sort. No office is provided, as Chinese as well as foreign teachers are expected to work at home (except for teaching classes or going to meetings). This is hard if you have small children at home. The reading room of the main library is available; despite the lack of air conditioning it is not too hot, and I have used it to read for class. But it is only open for two or three hours at a time. (I now have a key to a meeting room in the law building that I can use several mornings and afternoons per week. It has an electrical outlet so that I can use my laptop, and I can meet students to go over papers there in a more professional atmosphere than when they come to my apartment. However, it is not suitable for leaving my books there, and has no air conditioning or heat.)
Practical Experience
Please discuss, for the purpose of improving program administration as well as for the information of next year's grantees, your experience in the following areas: obtaining and renewing visa, necessity of car, transportation in general, housing, accessibility of items required for daily living, educational arrangements for children, outside activities of spouse, health services, social life, opportunities for you and members of your family to become involved in community activities.
(a) Obtaining and renewing visa: We followed all of the USIA instructions carefully, and received single-entry visas with no problem despite the fact that two of the four of us did not have passports until late June. Once we got to Guangzhou we sought multiple-entry visas so that we could go back and forth to Hong Kong or Macao without planning way ahead. (These places are only three hours away by train.) We had to wait until we got our residence (green) cards, though, and this took a month plus a fee. Then we paid about US$150 for the four of us to get the multiple reentry visas, good until next July.
(b) Necessity of car: It would be crazy to buy, much less drive, a car in Guangzhou.
(c) Transportation in general: Around the campus we walk or bicycle. Off campus we bike, or take the ferry (direct from the campus), minivan, bus, or taxi. All except the ferry are very adversely affected by the jammed traffic. To other places in China we take the plane or train, and we have taken the overnight ferry to/from Hong Kong and Macao. Plane tickets can now be purchased round-trip, and are easier to get than seven years ago when I lived in Beijing (or even than two years ago when I was in China for a visit), but more expensive. Getting train tickets seems to be a major pain--you either have to ask a big favor of someone to ask a big favor of someone else who knows someone, or you have to pay some sort of commission or fee to get someone to ask a big favor, etc. (Hong Kong tickets are an exception, and ferry tickets to Hong Kong/Macao are easy to get.)
(d) Housing: We live in a two-bedroom apartment in the foreign expert's building on campus. It has an air conditioning unit that cools one or two bedrooms, 5 beds (4 with bedding and mosquito nets), a bookcase, table and four chairs, two leatherette chairs, and some basic painted-wood furniture. The tile floor in the kitchen and bathroom needed to be scrubbed with SOS (not available in China), tile by tile. There is no hot water in the kitchen, or in the bathroom sink, but the bathtub has an electric water heater for baths and showers. We bring up water for drinking and washing dishes by thermos from the boiler downstairs. We have an automatic washer that works (uses cold water), and we hang things up to dry on the balcony. We bought an iron and ironing board. There is generally not enough wardrobe and shelf space for a family of four, but we are making do fine. My wife cooks most meals--there are large markets nearby and since she was born Chinese she has little difficulty finding and bargaining for food. There are restaurants with reasonably-priced excellent food nearby on campus, and the workers & teachers cafeteria next door has very inexpensive, but so-so, food. Our apartment has tile floors that we sweep and mop to keep clean. All told, the living conditions are fine except for the mosquitoes--they never give up, even during the winter.
(e) Accessibility of items required for daily living: Fresh meat and vegetables are available in markets nearby, as well as most drug store-type items. We have found a lady to sell us fresh whole milk each morning on campus, but we use powdered milk for the baby. As mentioned, you can't buy SOS (I don't know how they live without it). We have recently found OFF in aerosol cans for sale in Guangzhou, but it is expensive. We should have brought lots more than two bottles of Deepwoods OFF in the pumpspray/nonaerosol form. Also available but expensive are Pampers. The cost works out to about 50 cents (US) per diaper. Sometimes it is worth it, but mostly we use cloth diapers. As for news, we get the CBS Evening News live each morning on Hong Kong TV -- which is to say that we have inadequate news from the U.S. We can subscribe to the China Daily, but we have not done so since it is available in a nearby reading room of the waiban office. U.S. magazines and the International Herald-Tribune are available in the China Hotel and Garden Hotel where the U.S. business community seem to congregate, but these are at least one-half hour away by taxi, and more by other means.
(f) Educational arrangements for children: My daughter is three and my son is one. With a letter from the waiban and a certificate from the university clinic following a blood test, we were able to enroll my daughter in the Chinese kindergarten on the campus. My daughter's class is great: she does exercises, drawing, painting, paper folding, listens to stories, has lunch, etc. The teachers and classmates love her, and vice versa. She goes six mornings/week for 300 yuan (US$35)/month (the Chinese pay only 90 yuan, but we are not complaining). We plan to send her full-days next semester. Instruction is in Mandarin Chinese, and my daughter is the only non-Chinese in the school (except for a two-year-old Finn who will not be here next semester). We thought of sending my one-year-old son also, but the rooms with kids even one year older than he have few activities.
(g) Outside activities of spouse: My wife is Chinese-American, fluent in Mandarin, French, and English, with a U.S. masters degree in international commerce. We thought she could get a good job with an American company in Guangzhou, but there seem to be only two kinds of jobs with U.S. companies in China: "expat" jobs with huge salaries, trips home, supplements, etc., and "Chinese" jobs with salaries in the low hundreds (US)/month. The former are hard to get if you start looking over here, and the latter don't pay much. My wife has done some consulting, and also got a part-time internship in the commerce section of the U.S. Consulate.
(h) Health services: We have all been very healthy, with only occasional colds and brief bouts of diarrhea. None of us has needed to go to a doctor. We did not get special inoculations, as they were not recommended by our family doctor. (I did get Gamma Globulin and Japanese Encephalitis shots from the embassy at the time of the Beijing orientation.) Rather too much time at the Beijing orientation was given to evacuation companies to sell their services; we did not purchase any as we live so close to Hong Kong, where we can easily repair in case of a medical emergency. I brought a lot of the following in tablet or capsule form: cough medicine with expectorant, Pepto-Bismol, Kaopectate, Imodium, and Tylenol. We also brought a healthy supply of contact lens fluids.
(i) Social life: We have friends among the other foreign teachers (none of whom have children, however), and some individual friends such as a Chinese production engineer I knew from my previous time in China, my contact person in the law department, and an officer at the U.S. Consulate and his family. Cultural activities are limited in Guangzhou, but we have gone to a play and two or three concerts downtown, as well as to some movies. We take advantage of the short overnight trips offered by the waiban office to Guangdong tourist attractions, and arrange trips of our own.
(j) Opportunities for you and members of your family to become involved in community activities: Beyond those already mentioned, these are limited.
Are members of your family working, or doing volunteer work, or studying, or otherwise involved in host country activities?
I have a tutor twice a week to help me maintain my limited ability in the Chinese language (Mandarin). I swim almost every morning at one of the pair of 50-meter pools on campus. As described above, my wife has done some business consulting and is working on a project for the commerce section of the U.S. Consulate, and my daughter is enrolled in Chinese kindergarten.
Is your grant sufficient to meet your expenses in the host country? If not, please outline its shortcomings in terms as specific as possible.
Yes. I receive half-salary from my home university as sabbatical pay, which along with the Fulbright grant makes me almost as well paid as if I had continued to teach at home. By the standard of most other (non-Fulbright) foreigners teaching in China, however, we are rich. Funds from both sources are deposited in my U.S. bank checking account. With my American Express card (be sure to get one), I cash a personal check every month or so at the Bank of China branch at either the China Hotel or the International Hotel (but not other branches in Guangzhou). I have arranged to have a substantial amount additionally withheld for taxes from my home university sabbatical check each month. This step was especially necessary since I will be seeking an extension of time to file my return in August rather than April, and I don't want to pay interest or penalties.
Did you receive and are you receiving adequate information and support from CIES, USIA, or Foundations/Commissions/ Embassies?
Yes. CIES was in a state of reorganization, and responsibilities shifted while I was being considered and selected this time, but information was adequate and generally accurate. USIA in the person of Bill Shine is great. The orientation in Washington was fine. Compared to the one I went to seven years earlier that was put on by the CSCPRC, it was better in some respects (e.g., tax info), but lacked some of the scholarly depth, range of contacts, and general level of excitement of the earlier one. The Beijing orientation was also fine. I did not need the living and teaching tips so much this time (though the medical briefing was very interesting), but I especially liked the briefings by substantive consular officers.
The Fulbright Office has supported my idea that Zhongshan University host an international law conference, by expressing willingness to pay for the travel of other Fulbright law professors in China to the conference.
Please think of the kinds of information in these areas that would be useful to someone considering a similar appointment. In summary, what would you have liked to know about living conditions--including the cost of living before you went abroad? Would additional orientation in the U.S. or a meeting with the previous grantee have better informed you about what to expect?
We obtained initialed originals of our lab reports for our physical exams in the U.S., and got the Chinese forms stamped and notarized, and because of these steps we were the only foreigners at Zhongshan this year who did not need to get local physical exams in order to get our residence (green) cards.
I got business cards prepared soon after determining my local address and phone number here. These are a necessity in China.
Get a bicycle as soon as you arrive. Your student or contact person can help you. I got a new one despite advice that new ones are more likely to be stolen, since a used one may well already have been stolen. (This state of affairs is decidedly different from seven years ago.) But you can get a new one for under 400 yuan (less than US$50), get solid locks and a registration, and get the bike tightened (a necessary half-hour procedure for new Chinese bikes), all at the place where you buy the bike (also unlike seven years ago).
As on my previous Fulbright to China, I brought suits and ties to wear to class. I attempt to wear the same type of dress that I would wear in a U.S. class, and for me that is a coat and tie. In a way, I think dressing down to foreign classes is a little derogatory. Students take it as a sign of respect, I think, that you dress up to teach them. Of course, lack of laundry and dry cleaning facilities would make for a different story, but this not a problem in Guangzhou.
The most useful information generally is the supply of all of the reports of the previous two years from China Fulbright lecturers. My packet this time, however, contained no reports from either my university or my field. Reports that are even older than two years but from the same university, and reports in the same field even from different universities, would be helpful. In addition, China Bound, put out by CSCPRC, is an excellent orientation all in itself.
For those with no previous Chinese language training, I recommend doing as much as possible of tape-recorded lessons before you leave. Last time I used Modern Chinese: A Basic Course, by the Faculty of Peking University, Dover Publications, New York. I only got through about 10 lessons, but these proved an invaluable basis for the beginning class I started soon after I arrived in China. You can easily get your students to recommend someone to tutor you in Chinese. It is better not to get someone who wants to have you help them with English in return; if you do you won't end up concentrating on Chinese much. Pay someone to concentrate on teaching you; it won't cost too much.
I brought a laptop, small inkjet printer, small modem, and both WordPerfect and Chinese character software. They all continue to work fine, and therefore contribute enormously to the success of my whole effort. But I wish I had used them all for 6 months before I left, rather than for a few weeks. I now save documents very frequently because the laptop simply shuts down every now and then, for a software or hardware reason that I am unable to figure out on my own over here. My Chinese word processing software is Xia Li Ba Ren, also called Word Orient; I got it from Cheng & Tsui Co., 25 West Street, Boston MA 02111, tel 617-426-6074; fax 617-426-3669 (check out their interesting catalog).
Here are some other things to bring: hometown phone book, lots of contact lens fluid, small screw driver, small short wave radio, personal checks, duplicate stamps from your collection (make great gifts), small adjustable wrench, extension cords, SOS, oral thermometer, razor knife (good for opening book boxes), post-it pads, glue sticks (Chinese envelopes have no gum, although contrary to what you will be told, Chinese stamps do have gum), batteries (available but not as good quality here), scotch tape (same), China: a Travel Survival Kit (this is still the handiest guidebook), hangers (you can buy plastic ones, but a supply of wire ones helps), bulletins from your school, photos of your home and office in the U.S., Pinyin-English dictionary, 10 or 15 small (1" x 1 1/2" or so) photos of each member of the family (you will be asked for them immediately in order to get all of the necessary ID cards).
If you are teaching law, you may be able to get lawbook publishers to donate superseded texts. Publishers are most likely to donate books that have only recently been superseded (after a year they dispose of superseded books). Have the publisher send the books directly to the USIA address. This time I obtained at no cost 35 copies of three casebooks and two supplements from Foundation Press, 30 copies of a constitutional law reader from West, and 30 copies of a great documentary supplement from Little, Brown. With this much help donated, I am able to buy needed books for the law library here, as well as 30 copies of my own teaching materials, from the Fulbright allocation for books, with money left over.
The Exchange Program
Please comment on any aspect of the program that is relevant. For example:
Are there opportunities for Americans in your own or related fields for continuing professional relationships with your colleagues after your return to the U.S.?
Yes, although this is limited by the number of professional contacts made with professors and teachers. I hope to increase this by getting the law department to organize a conference on international law in the spring.
Is an academic year teaching affiliation a good use of the visitor's time, or would some other kind of appointment, perhaps on a short-term basis, be preferable?
I think a one-year appointment is most valuable in terms of true communication (both ways) about legal systems and about education. It takes time for differences to sink in. Maybe one-semester appointments are necessary to lure professors with the possibility of double dipping (grant plus full sabbatical pay), but I don't think two one semester grants are as valuable as one full-year one. It's just not the same experience.
Would research fellowships rather than lectureships, or a combination, be more attractive alternatives to scholars in your field?
Generally no.
Given a limited number of grants for each country, what do you see as the most worthwhile kinds of awards and assignments?
If you could get a team of librarians to revamp at least one library in China, it would be great.
What do you think of the feasibility of institution-to-institution relationships, in which, for example, universities in each of the two countries agree to exchange a faculty member and student in a particular field over a period of perhaps two or three years?
These don't work too well in the field of law since in the U.S. law schools are post-graduate professional institutions, while in most of the rest of the world (including China) law departments primarily teach undergraduates, with graduate training for future teachers and some specialists.
John Rogers, February 11, 1995
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