Sunday, April 1, 2012

Why Chinese parents send their kids studying abroad

There are lots of reasons that parents decide to let their children studying abroad. As the economic growth in China and the increasing numbers in middle class, parents who have the ability want to give their children the best education.

First and also the most important one is parents think this is the way changing kids' future. Well-educated parents realized that Chinese education system emphasizes a lot on memorization and testing. They know this is not good for their kids from their own life experiences. They also understand how important to become an international person. They think the best education system is in North America, so they have to send their kids abroad. They think that foreign education system is perfect,  and the flexibility can develop the child's active thinking, language ability...  a lots of advantages. They want their children to accept new system in early age, and expect this can expand their view of the world which is a good foundation of their lives. The idea is good.

Also, Chinese family education is usually very traditional. Parents do not let children do anything except studying, but they know this is not good for the kids. As a result, if they let kids studying abroad, kids will learn how to handle their own life. They have to schedule studying, grocery shopping, cooking...... as well as deal with living with others, solving problems. However, not all the kids will follow the way their parents expected because they can not grow up in one night. It takes time to change. Some kids become independent and focus on studying, while as some just playing and missing classes. They become even worse then they were in China. Yet, parents' wish is always good.

Moreover, they also think that the earlier children to go abroad, the earlier they used to foreign environment. In parents' mind, they think that in North American people make more money and the life is better. From this judgement, they want their children can stay there after they finish education and have better life.

Furthermore, there are some parents are super rich and some parents have super power. For all sorts of reasons, they have send their children to go abroad. This is absolutely not a few. Many Chinese government officials transfer their property abroad. They purchase a house or more than one, and send their spouses and children to travel abroad. They applied for a PR card and even foreign nationality. This is not a secret in Canada and United States. Those money are absolutely from corruption. Transfer money to another country is a safe way. However, as this is not a secret, Chinese government already started investigating senior officials if they got by citizens. It is in a positive progress, yet, it does need time.

I have noticed that lots of information about China are not good, especially on Facebook and Youtube those kind of media. However, you cannot judge a country without visiting or living there. China has its lovely aspect and it is growing in a positive way.


Sunday, March 25, 2012

The increasing market of international education in China


This is the picture that showing the Chinese market of international education. Thousands of students and parents joined this fair which provides the information about studying abroad. Hundreds universities from North American presented in this exhibition. The scene is very crowded.

Each year, millions of students from China mainland apply for studying abroad, and the market of international education in China will be substantially extending to a larger scale. China has become the biggest education market in the world, and lots of countries want to have a share.

In 2009-2010, Chinese students in the United States have rose by nearly 30%. There were nearly 128,000 students in the United States. It achieved the top one number that more than Indian students.

I have been invited to be interviewed by a videographer for the Ministry of Advanced Education for a BC wide video supporting the roll out a new international education strategy. I will be asked those questions:
·         Why did you decide to come to VIU/BC?
·         What are you studying?
·         How would you describe the experience so far – what do you like best about studying at VIU?
·         What do you like most about British Columbia?
·         How do you think you are benefitting from studying in BC?
·         What are your plans for the future – will  you stay to advance your studies or to live and work in BC?

It is easy to recognize that BC is putting lots of efforts on getting international students. I wish I would do well in the interview and sharing my experience.



Friday, March 9, 2012

Some Thoughts after Recovered from Illness

I have been sick in the last two weeks. It was a very very sad period. Lots of pain, lots of suspects, and lots of medical examinations. BUT I don't want to drop out anyway! I'm already here, I cannot withdraw at this moment. I don't wanna give up now and redo it in the September. It's time and cost consuming. I was think putting my healthy as priority and withdraw this semester, but then it's not me. I felt so sad and guilty when I was staying at home. I'm the generation in China that has been through lots of changes, and most of us have a very strong will.

We cannot control the things that happened and will happen in our life, but we can control our attitude toward it. Having a grateful attitude and stay strong will help us go through all the difficulties.

During those days in bed, I did research on China for our group project, and finished the first draft of my part. It hasn't been edited yet and must have lots of errors, but wanna sharing here as cheering for myself.


Our Topic:

Statement 1: India's focus on science and math explains much of their growing success in software, engineering, and pharmaceuticals. China is also successful because of their focus on science and math. All countries should focus on science and math if they want to be economically successful in the 21st century.
Statement 2. Science and math are very useful in many fields and industries, but do not by themselves lead to a successful economy or even happiness. A well-rounded education will lead to the long term economic success of a country because it encourages innovation, leadership in design and culture, and entrepreneurship, which is the foundation of all successful economies.

Three main points are identified in the two statements:
1.     Economically successful 
2.     Education - focus on math and science VS well-rounded education
3.     Happiness

Part 1: China
Structure:
1.     The role of education
2.     China’s education system analysis – historical and general
3.     The advantage and disadvantage of China’s education system
4.     China’s economy in general
5.     The determinants of economic growth in China
6.     China’s happiness index
Work Cited

1. The role of education
As some scholars claimed, although education can be identified as a consumer activity since education provides a variety of possibilities, it is basically an investment activity. Education’s purpose is to obtain ability, get further satisfaction, or increase individual’s future income. It is similar to the general durable consumer good, and also it is the production of goods and materials. Education is regarded as an investment, which will result a form of capital (Lao, 2005).
Moreover, the essence of education has been recognized as the culture inheritance between social and people. Also, all education has the essential characteristic that it is the interaction between social and individuals. Education is in all kinds of , and raise along with the development of human society. The part of conscious education is getting more and more. Therefore, no matter where and when, the essence of education has shown in the diverse education (Lei, 2004).
In short, education system has the ability to effect people’s believe system.

2. China’s education system analysis – historical and general
            Confucianism is recognized that has been throughout the Chinese education system thousand years ago. Because the Confucian has the idea of filial and piety, the authorities let the Confucian play the role of education in order to govern easily. The founder of the Confucian is the Confucius who was living in the spring and autumn period. He is known as the founder of ancient Chinese education. He initiated private learning, expanded the scope of the education objects, emphasized on education, and encouraged in training people. These are initiative of the education which created by Confucius and it is the foundation of China’s ancient education. Confucius was focusing on moral education because he thought moral education is more important than legal system. This is also his most prominent educational thought. His theory has a great influence on later generations (Ling, 2011).
China implements pre-school education, primary education, secondary education, and higher education. China establishes a scientific schooling system. The state Council or education administrative departments authorized by the State Council govern schools and other institutions, education model, length of schooling, enrollment requirement, and training target, etc. China has the nine-year compulsory education system, which ensure school-age children and adolescents access to education. The parents of school-age children and adolescents, other guardian, and related social organizations and individuals have the obligation to ensure that school-age children and adolescents receive and complete the stipulated education (People’s Republic of China, 2006).

3. The advantage and disadvantage of China’s education system
     Advantage:  Science and math
China's education system has a significant advantage that the quality of education is high. Such as, students have a good foundation in early education, the requirements from teachers and school is strict, and the students are studying very hard. In short, the quality of the whole education system, including the basic education and post-secondary education, is high (Zhou, 2004).
Moreover, Chinese students have shown a marvelous and excellent performance through several International mathematics testing and competitions, which including IAEP, TIMSS, and PISA (Xu, 2010, p. 130). Xu has also claimed that the balance between establishing a good basis for students and their future growth has been pursuing, as well as the balance between students’ positive studying and teachers’ practical direction (Xu, 2010, p. 133). Furthermore, Chinese teachers emphasize on both skillful and effective operations, which is an important characteristic of Chinese mathematics instruction (Xu, 2010, p. 136).

     Disadvantage: Hinder innovation
Although many Americans regard China as a global competitor, experts say that it is necessary for China to reevaluate their education system, which can truly help China in global world. Despite China's mathematics and other science dominances, China's education system emphasizes too much on testing and exams. Because of these factors, China creates world class labor competition in the United States and other European countries. China's education system is helping China to become an economic giant, who plays an important role in the world; however, some analysts have stated that if China wants to have more power than the United States and other western countries, and becoming the new leader, China has to make some changes in its education system (Chooljian, 2011).
People tend to think that innovation has become the key of the sustainable growth of employment in China. Nevertheless, for hundreds of years, testing has been the driving force of China's education. For instance, Chinese students in kindergarten during early childhood education have to participate in testing. Also, tests have been frequently required throughout school life and career. Among them, the climax is the university entrance exam, which is very important and recognized as a test that can decide a student’s future. Every June, China has more than 9 million high school students participating in three days, and accumulating for nine hours of the university entrance exam. The university entrance exam brings students enormous pressure, and the process of preparing for the university entrance exam cannot be negligent. Because the exam is so serious, Chinese students tend to spend a huge amount of time to recite, memorize or do training topics (Chooljian, 2011). As a result, there is almost no time to think freely. If their thinking model cannot jump out of the exams mode, they will hardly to have the ability to think outside the box.
In addition, in Chinese higher education, students only learn knowledge from textbooks, and seldom participate practices. However, an ongoing changing in Chinese education will change this situation. Professors noted that students’ behavior is changing and no longer o what they are asked (Lynton, 2006).
To sum up, although China’s education system has a great contribution to the economic growth, a well-rounded education system is needed for the further development.

4. China’s economy in general
The National Bureau of Statistics of China stated that the GDP for 2010 was 40.1202 trillion Yuan. The first industrial was 4.0534 trillion Yuan. The second industrial was 18.7581 trillion Yuan, and the third industrial was 17.3087 trillion Yuan. According to the numbers, the first industry accounted for 10.1%, the second industry accounted for 46.8%, and the third industry accounted for 43.1%National Bureau of Statistics of China, 2011).
In an interview ahead of the fifth G20 Summit with Republic of Korea (ROK) media organizations, Chinese President Hu Jintao has said that China has a stable and developing economy. Also, he noted that as the world's largest developing country, China is making a significant contribution to the recovery of the world economy. China has actively taken part in the international cooperation to cope with the financial crisis. Furthermore, Hu confirmed that China has kept the exchange rate of its currency. The currency is stable and the reform of the exchange rate mechanism is gradually advancing (Xinhua, 2010).
            In brief, China is committing to develop its economic growth and help tpo achieve a sustainable world economic growth.

5. The determinants of economic growth in China
            There were ten factors that have been established as the main determinants of the economic growth in China. First of all, China introduced the concept of market. The high concentration of planned economy that existed thirty years ago was the foundation of Chinese economy. However, it hindered the economic growth later. The reason was it against the commodity production and the law of value, and limited citizen’s enthusiasm that develop independent commodity economy. The introduction of market led a productive development and stimulated people's enthusiasm to participate, invest, produce, and exchange. China’s market economic system has been developed based on the positive and negative experiences of the international socialist constructions. Also, it learned lessons from the develop commodity from western countries. It is a combination of the advantage from both socialism and capitalism. The second factor was the basic economic system met the requirements of the development of productive forces. The third factor was there was a clear and correct development strategy. The fourth factor was making structure adjustment in order to let industry structure keep up with the pace of the development. The fifth factor was emphasizing on technology progress and management. The sixth was the high rate of the investment. The seventh was focusing on district construction and infrastructure. The eighth factor was human resource and enthusiasm. The ninth was government concerns about the citizen's welfare. Finally, the ten factor was opening widely to the global (China Business, 2002). Therefore, there is no direct relationship between China’s economically successful and the focus on science and math.

6. China’s happiness index
The thirty-fourth global happiness index survey launched by Gallup International global organization in 2011 November shows that China’s happiness index is lower than the world level. The global average happiness index is 40%, while China is only 25%. In the BRICs comparison, China is also in the last row of the happiness index while Brazil has the highest happiness index reached 63%, and two other countries are India and Russia with 37% and 31% (China Daily, 2012).
Also, the cross analysis of Happiness and income shows that China is placed in a fourth class which means both happiness index and income levels are low. Moreover, having high happiness index and income countries are mainly concentrated in Europe, the United States and other developed countries. The results of the survey also showed that despite the economic downturn of the European countries, most respondents still feel happiness (China Daily, 2012).
In addition, income is often considered as the important factor when people measure whether they are happiness or not. However, the survey shows that people have the feeling of happiness has nothing to do with their income conditions, but with their relative social status (China Daily, 2012).
In short, although China has been in a significant economic growth, the citizens’ happiness index is low. The economically successful in China did not lead to a happy country.

Work Cited:

China Business. (2002) Ten Factors of China's Economic Growth [Internet]. Available from:
<http://www.china.com.cn/chinese/EC-c/229437.htm> [Accessed 22 February 2012].

China Daily. (2012) 2011 Happiness Index Survey, China is lower than the world level [Internet]. Available from:

Chooljian, L. (2011) China’s education system may stifle innovation [Internet].
Available from:
<http://articles.marketwatch.com/2011-10-20/general/30728501_1_education-system-testing-chinese-companies> [Accessed 21 February 2012].

Lao, K. (2005) The possibility of education market and its limit [Internet]. Available from:
            <http://www.etc.edu.cn/articledigest34/jiaoyushichang.htm> [Accessed 21     February 2012]

Lei, M. (2004) Education is the essence of the cultural inheritance [Internet].    Available from:
<http://www.ictedu.cn/show.aspx?id=683&cid=20> [Accessed 21 February 2012]

Ling, L. (2011) The Development of Confucian Education Ideology and its Impact on Chinese Modern Education [Internet]. Available from:

National Bureau of Statistics of China. (2011) The National Bureau of Statistics about 2010 Annual Gross Domestic Product (GDP) Preliminary Check Announcement [Internet]. Available from:
<http://www.stats.gov.cn/tjdt/zygg/sjxdtzgg/t20110907_402752625.htm> [Accessed 21 February 2012].

People’s Republic of China. (2006) People's Republic of China Compulsory Education Law [Internet]. Available from:
<http://www.gov.cn/flfg/2006-06/30/content_323302.htm> [Accessed 21 February 2012].

Xinhua. (2010) China's economic stability, development contributes to global recovery [Internet]. Available from:
            < http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90776/90883/7195063.html> [Accessed 21 February 2012].

Xu, B. (2010) Research on Mathematics Education in China in the Last Decade: A Review of Journal Articles. Front. Educ China [Internet], 5(1), pp. 130-155. Available from:

Zhou, J. (2004) The Significant Advantage of China’s Education System: High
Quality [Internet]. Available from:




Monday, February 27, 2012

What should I do

Went to see my doctor this morning because cannot bear the pain anymore. He gave me a note letting me take one day off. And I have to see him again next week the same time. We will decide whether keep going or take a long break. I don't want stop the program anyway, but my body is crying. Pain everyday. I don't want lose. I don't want be the weak one in the group. I don't want stop now and redo it when I'm over 30 years old. I don't know what should I do.

But I still felt glad today since I knew I don't have cancer.  Cheers.

Sunday, February 26, 2012

Let You Know China in Ten Minutes


This is a really cool video I saw somebody shared on Facebook. This ten minutes video does cover the major cultural dimensions. It is useful for foreigners who want to go to China either travelling or staying for a while.

Sunday, February 12, 2012

Establishing the Global Context - Week 3 and 4 (Part 2)

Thirdly, Monetary foundation
      We cannot evaluate a country only depend on their debt, and we also have to look at their assets.
      A country's assets including: natural resources, banking stability, skills and education, health/social system, HDI, stable political system, industry, legal, happiness, income distribution, infrastructure.

Fourthly, It’s all about duality. 
      Good or bad? Right or wrong? We have to learn to question everything, and pause before we reacting, as well as look deeper which is level three analysis.

Fifthly, Dimensions of truth: history and culture. 
            Comparing China to Canada:


     China
      Canada
     Power/Distance
     High
      Low
     Individualism
     Low
      High
     Masculinity
     Low (cities)
      Low
     Uncertainty/Avoidance
     High
      Low
     Long-term Orientation
     High
      Low

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

What an Interesting Painting!



This painting was done five years ago by a Toronto-based Chinese painter Liu Yi, but I just saw it tonight on Facebook. Am I out? What a beautiful painting! I mean just simply look at the picture, it's great. But after I read the description, I would say it is a fantastic painting. The description I have read is in Chinese. I found a translation version by using Google. It illustrates the main point, but still slightly different from the Chinese version which has more underlying meaning.

Critical review in World Journal (Toronto), via the 搞搞震 blog:
[in translation]
"Everybody knows that 2008 Beijing is where the Olympics will be.  Westerners call it the Olympic Games.  There is a game in this oil painting, but it is the traditional Chinese game of mahjong.
On the top left corner of "2008-Beijing," there is a standard head portrait of a man.  He seems familiar and unfamiliar at the same time.  He has Sun Yat-sen's beard, Chiang Kai-shek's bald head and Mao Zedong's facial features.  He symbolizes the one hundred years' of Chinese history and the sum total of the old and new democracies.
To the left of the painting, there is a innocent and focused girl who is probably celebrating because she has a good hand.
The girl in the middle with her back turned to the observer has three "east" tiles, symbolizing the unignorable reality -- the emergence of China.  But the girl is also trying to cheat with the tiles hidden behind her foot.
The girl in the middle facing the observer seems to be of mixed blood.  As she plays the games, she is looking at the source of the light (that is, the future).  She is nicely dressed, and she has a slightly worried look.
Then there is that foreign girl.  She is playing a Chinese game in which she has no confidence.  She is lying there, because she has one tile less than required.  She has lost already.
On the right hand side, there is a peasant girl who came to work in the city.  She is the fresh labor force that allowed China to rise.  On her face, there is a little bit of incomprehension and dissatisfaction.  She holds a shining fruit knife in her hand, indicating a resentment against wealthy people and a certain danger.
On the right of the painting, in front of the rundown building, there is a river and some rocks.  This symbolizes the uncertain future by which one can only cross the river by stepping on one rock at a time."

Sunday, January 29, 2012

Establishing the Global Context - Week 3 and 4 (Part 1)

From the week 3 and week 4 lectures, I generate some points that I think it’s important and have to be understood.

1.      Always step back, see the whole picture!
2.      Put the debt crisis in a relevant context.
3.      Monetary foundation
4.      It’s all about duality!
5.      Dimensions of truth

First, "Always step back, see the whole picture!" As Paul has mentioned thousand times, we have to always step back and see the whole picture. This is really important for global business people. We can't research and analyze the problem form a narrow point of view.  This narrow referred to two kinds. One is only thinking from one angle, and other ways did not take into account. Another one is the problem has been limited which means it hasn’t been contacted with associated factors. This will result a fail. For example, we have quiz every week for MBA 500.  The first quiz I got 80%, and then the second one I got 64%. The third one was even lower. What happened? Okay, I admit that I misunderstood some questions and was thinking too much, but I know there are some other reasons beyond that. I didn’t step back and see the whole picture- what is this chapter really talking about? I didn’t recognize the connections between each idea. They must be interconnected; otherwise they would not in one chapter.  Next time, when I study a new chapter, I will draw a mind map as I’m reading. From the whole picture, I believe I can understand more!

Secondly,  "Put the debt crisis in a relevant context." When we saw the World Debt Clock, we have different feelings. For Canadian students, they might think what happened to Canada? Why the debt is so high? For students from China, we may be proud of our country. The color is green, yeah! And we lend money to America. How good we are. We are growing so fast! But when we step back, see the whole picture, it is not the truth. Although Canada has so much debt, it also has so much resource, such as, the nature resource, good medical system, good running government, human resource, high happiness index, ect. When we look at China, it is definitely growing very fast and the biggest creditor in the world. What is the problem? We are using too much natural resources and some resources have been wasted. Also, for the upper and middle class, the happiness index is pretty good. But for the lower class, the majority class of China, the happiness index is very low! People from village and rural area want to have a better life, so they went to cities. What is waiting for them? It’s not money, but hopelessness. The 17 suisides were not caused from one reason. It is caused form hunderds of interconnected problems which reflect the whole society.  

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Establishing the Global Context - Week 1 and 2

Because of the MBA Games 2012, I missed the first class of Establishing the Global Context.  After reviewed the presentation for week 1, I had a brief idea for which Paul had talked about. There were two goals have been talked about during the first lecture.

Goal 1: "Learn to question everything you believe and know to be true about the world." Everybody has different truth in their mind. Sometimes what we think or believe is not true. Several pictures were provided in the presentation which were really interesting. The perspective of New Zealand from different country are totally varying. For example, from Americans' point of view, New Zealand is just a country has no advantage. The most famous cities in New Zealand are just similar as some cities in American, and the rest are bugs. On the contrary, Canadians think everywhere in New Zealand is really pretty. Furthermore, Europeans, Indians, Israelis, British, and New Zealanders themselves all have different perspective of this country. It seems like Paul asked all the students did a very fun activity - global perception of the world cause there are group pictures on the moodle site. It let me remember the ads creation we did for Ricola last term. I like these kind of activities which ask applying the knowledge we learned form the lecture and also applying innovation.

Goal 2: "See two sides to how things work in the world." This talks about duality. We should not believe either side of everything. We should know what truth we need to understand and work with in the real business context. This is the goal we need to achieve through this course. Paul applied the Asbestos case in the presentation, but I'm not sure I understand the purpose of doing this. Does that mean the export of asbestos is proud of Canada, but hurt the developing country, therefore to illustrate that everything has two sides? I'm going to send Paul an email to ask this question.

The lecture of Global Context week 2, Paul reviewed these two goals and continued talking about the importance of multiple view mind frame which could make great contribution to our businesses and lives. Also, a new tool has been applied, 1/2 second mental pause. To learn this, several ways would be helpful, such as question everything, pause before reacting, and third person writing.

The scenario of a situation has been discussed during the class. It talked about a group cooperation which presented a situation all the groups of us somewhat have. The solution was putting individual in different positions which would maximize their strengths. We did this while discussing our group project. In our group,  Ryan has the bachelor degree in English, so we decided he review and check all the paper work. Daniel keeps the process and hold the group meeting. Amar comes from India, so he becomes the specialist in India for our project. I'm a Chinese, so I become the specialist in China. But we all agreed that each of us should participate all the processes, draft, and final paper. This is to ensure we all understand the concepts of this course and have the ability to succeed.

Find examples duality in my life? Emmmm, studying in Canada to pursue a MBA degree have two sides. I left my home and family to study abroad and have been suffered from homesick and different diet. But the positive aspect, I have learned a lot beside the knowledge from the course itself. For example, how to work with people from all over the world, how to communicate and write paper in English, and having a unique life experience in Canada. At least, I have about two years away from the extreme traffic in my hometown. The same distance takes 15 minutes driving here in Nanaimo, but takes 1.5-2 hours in Wuhan, China. Also, I used to be a student did really poor job in English course from elementary school to university. To be honest, I hated English and thought I would never use this language in the rest of my life. But when I decided to come here to make a challenge, it changed. I received an award  for ESL Achievement last September and got $1000 scholarship. It did happen.

Are these duality examples? Did I understand the concept?

Final question. In the "Success Orientations", there are three methods that people achieve success in life, relationship, process, and goal. I still can't believe there just are three methods and all the approaches are connecting with these three. It is interesting and good to know that Chinese are putting process at first. When process has problem or fails, they switch to relationship. Emmmm, maybe this could answer why we have lots of briberies because these are the fastest way to make relationships.