Building a Bridge Between China and The US

In reference to the above blog entry by Bob Eckhart, I saw a few very strongly-worded comments against both China and the efforts of our State Department to make an investment of cultural engagement with them.  This was my response to those comments which is also posted at the above link:

“I thank the previous comments because I do believe that the discussion which is inspired by them is necessary when it comes to facing a decision on each particular international engagement.  However, I also feel strongly that there is no way we, as Americans, can avoid the fact that we must negotiate for ourselves the difficulties of dealing with challenging and even seemingly morally impassable behaviors such as can be found from the Chinese government.  We can’t ignore the fact that we live in a global environment.  We send our students out into it by the hundreds of thousands, we impact the world and the world impacts us.  Cultural exchange and engagement is the healthiest way I know in which we can even hope to open the minds and hearts of the Chinese people away from the policies and controls of Beijing. This was much more beautifully stated by the Dalai Lama at the Amnesty International ‘Shine a Light on Human Rights’ event last spring.  This is a sophisticated process and not one that comes easily.  However, in the end, it is the person-to-person interaction and not the government-to-government interaction that will prove to be the most valuable to securing a healthy economic, intellectual, and cultural future.  At  The Global Theatre Project this is what we focus on daily.  There are hard issues being faced around the world and here at home.  However I applaud the actions of the State Department for understanding the need for opening the doors to cultural interaction with China.  I don’t, however, believe that a pure exportation of our culture…. whether it is from Hollywood or from a  square dance…. is the answer.  It may have been the first step. But we must move beyond that now.  The real impact is found when we learn to create TOGETHER.  When we truly experience the challenges which process and development offer.  Then we find out who we are.  Our identity as individuals becomes apparent and our identity as an individual from a particular nation becomes apparent.  And at that point, we can bring our communication to another level of conversation and exchange. Consciously constructed international engagement IS necessary in this world in which we are in.  Especially with China.  The question is, how do we step into this without merely exporting our cultural wares?  We did that for 20 years with our television and film.  And the effect, in many ways, has backfired.  Our students on their own have not proved to be the best example of ambassadorship of our culture.  At least that has proven to be my experience and observation in Florence,Italy and my understanding in other parts of the world.  But this is a path that we must move forward on. “