To care or not to care

So yesterday, I’m showing my Chinese friend some NYT headlines I get daily in my inbox, specifically “Rice Criticizes Russia’s Limits on News Media” which I would guess is about Putin’s increasing clamp-down on freedom of the press. So my friend asks, “Why is the US always so interested in what is going on inside other countries?” She argued that the US doesn’t really have any right to tell China what to think about human rights, for instance.

So yesterday, I’m showing my Chinese friend some NYT headlines I get daily in my inbox, specifically “” which I would guess is about Putin’s increasing clamp-down on freedom of the press. So my friend asks, “Why is the US always so interested in what is going on inside other countries?” She argued that the US doesn’t really have any right to tell China what to think about human rights, for instance.Then today, a classmate from Dominica (a small island in the Caribbean) started talking about a recent US gambling law which outlaws Americans from betting on off-shore sites — apparently one of Dominica’s large sources of revenues. “Jobs in Dominica were lost because of that law,” he criticized. “Why doesn’t America care what happens inside our country?”

So should we care what happens inside other countries, or not? And what determines when we do care, and what we do about it?

There are a lot of reasons for America’s foreign policy, and not all of them are consistent. There’s the moral view that like Aeneas, America is the unwilling hero here, establishing an ideal society — the “City on the Hill” we were taught about in high school — and has to expand democracy and liberty and the pursuit of happiness (and perhaps Christian values?) to all places. Or there’s the Condi-esque “Realist” view that everything we do is to get or preserve power, to defend our national security. Or one popular with the mainstream and conspiracy theorists alike, that America does whatever protects our economic interests (especially oil and natural resources). Or the Special Interest view, that we do what certain segments of the population care deeply about (think Cuba and Florida’s electoral votes). And of course somethings are best explained by what you could call the Historical Hangover view, that we do things we have always done; etc etc.

So it’s complicated. But yet, as an American in China, I am often asked to represent my country in conversations like this — to fully understand American foreign policy and history and current events, to have watched all episodes of Friends and Seinfeld, to be up to date on Tom Cruise.

But to know all those things would just be downright un-American. After all, one of the best things about being American is that we don’t have to worry as much as everyone else about what America does.

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Proud to be an American test

The below are questions that I have encountered on my merry way through life, which most Americans, myself included sometimes, wouldn’t necessarily know, but probably should.  Wikipedia is no longer blocked by the Great Firewall of China, so it’s time to send it out!  Let me know how you did!

The below are questions that I have encountered on my merry way through life, which most Americans, myself included sometimes, wouldn’t necessarily know, but probably should.  Wikipedia is no longer blocked by the Great Firewall of China, so it’s time to send it out!  Let me know how you did!

(1) The capital of Canada is ___

(2) The leader of China after Mao (late 1970’s and 1980s) who is credited with much of China’s economic reform is ___.

(3) Name 5 cities in mainland China.

(4) Name 5 cities in India.

(5) The GDP of the US is roughly:

1. 120 billion US dollars
2. 1.2 trillion US dollars
3. 12 trillion US dollars
4. 120 trillion US dollars

(6) The next largest economy is:

1. Germany
2. China
3. The UK
4. Japan

(7) The US’s largest trade partner (in terms of total trade, as of August 2006) is:

1. China
2. The European Union
3. Japan
4. Canada
5. Mexico

(8) The Chairman of the US Federal Reserve is ___.

ANSWERS:

(1) The capital of Canada is — surprise! — Ottawa!(2) The leader of China after Mao (late 1970’s and 1980s) who is credited with much of China’s economic reform is Deng Xiaoping. X is pronounced like “shh!”

(3) Name 5 cities in mainland China. The ones you hear talked about are: Shanghai (baby!), Beijing (aka Peking, like the duck), Chengdu (where I am), Chongqing (30 million strong and growing), Kunming (the spring city), Shenzhen (across from HK, the manufacturing capital of China), Tianjin (the next Shenzhen), Xi’an (where the Silk Sidewalk ends), Nanjing (as in the “Rape of Nanjing”), Harbin (the ice festival place), and Qingdao (Tsingdao beer).

(4) Name 5 cities in India. This may be hard because of the name changes in India in the past few years. But the largest 5 cities are Mumbai (Bombay), Delhi, Bangalore, Kolkata (Calcutta), and Chennai (Madras).

(5) The GDP of the US is roughly: 3.  12 trillion US dollars

(6) The next largest economy is: 4. Japan (at about just 1/3 the US’s GDP!)

(7) The US’s largest trade partner (in terms of total trade, as of August 2006) is: 4. Canada (but you knew that, eh?) 

(8) The Chairman of the US Federal Reserve (you know, the guy who sets the US interest rates and is really darn important for the functioning of the global economy) is Ben Bernanke. http://www.federalreserve.gov