How long has it been since China reopened the market, or let’s say, the gate for international friends from all over the world? Less than 40 years. Today, the rapid economic development and China’s magnificent changes from the 19th to the 20th to the 21st century are shocking. These changes give rise to more and more cultural and social problems to which nobody knows the solutions or how to which nobody knows how react. First, China is facing cultural tensions from within, with more and more of the younger generation struggling between traditional culture and international culture. Second, a majority of the public is lacking critical education and awareness about ideas like feminism and racism which are becoming a dominant part in the public mind. These are missing puzzles in the Chinese education system. In terms of gender equality, this year’s national celebration for Spring Festival included several performances with hints of gender inequality. This is shocking because, as a national event, it will have a huge impact. For racial inequality, Nady, one of our students from Senegal talked about the awkward situations she encountered when she came to China. People would take photos of her without asking permission and sometimes strangers would touch her hijab or face. She understands that Chinese people are still curious about 外国人 (Wàiguó rén, foreigners). It is natural for human beings to not know how to react when they encounter an entirely new situation, but we need to turn this curiosity into understanding of people from different cultures and backgrounds. Otherwise, it can be misconstrued as, or can turn into, racism. She also mentioned that China has many investment projects in Africa, and because of this, what will happen if African people feel unwelcome in China? We have to admit that China should keep running to catch up with the world on education and raising awareness for these problems. The situation is getting better, but it’s still not enough. Take Shanghai for example: there are more than 150,000 permanent foreign residents in this city. However, due to the vast differences in culture and language, it’s harder for foreigners to integrate themselves into the local culture. We can all see that it’s definitely more difficult here for an American to live here, than if, say, an American decided to start new life in Britain. Besides cultural differences, the education system in China makes it extremely difficult to go to a local government public school as a foreigner unless you go to an international school. There are a lot of foreigners here, but most of them chose Shanghai as one of the stops in their lifetime to experience something different from what they were used to. Usually huge differences like food, clothes, language, living style and everything else force them to stay in the international bubble they create in Shanghai; the communication between international visitors and the Chinese locals is very limited. Meanwhile, all our international friends could have been ambassadors for their culture and the Chinese people would have an opportunity to display their culture. As long as the current situation is maintained, Chinese people will always see foreign symbols, such as Coca-Cola or Starbucks, as a symbol of difference and integration but will not learn new ideas, different thoughts, or different cultures from foreigners who could have been good teachers. On the other hand, foreigners may continue to consider China as a place on their bucket list, a must-go spot and then lose the opportunity to guide their curiosity into an open attitude to accept differences and learn to communicate with each other instead of this gap and lack of understanding that leads to increasing racism. As international students and Chinese students living together at this university, we all have more responsibility than we think on our shoulders. This article was written by Sunyi Wang. Send an email to [email protected] to get in touch. Photo Credit: