For the first time, a Faculty of Law student is on exchange at Tsinghua University School of Law. Jonathan Chow writes how he's learning about much more than Chinese law.
By Jonathan Chow, 3L, Faculty of Law
I've been asked to write a short blurb about my time at Tsinghua University. I’ve been procrastinating—badly. The tricky thing, I think, is knowing what to write.
Jonathan Chow, first row far right, seen here with his colleagues and a former dean of Tsinghua Law School, Dean Wang, at the Great Wall.
My classmates are mostly foreigners. Most of the Americans are on exchange and here to play. Everyone else is a bit more serious. A lot of folks come from Hong Kong, having studied in the UK, and now feeling the need to beef up their Chinese law credentials. I had not realized there were so many curse words in Cantonese.
The Chinese students are something else. Never have I met such incredible talent brought together under one neo-Stalinist roof. The focus and drive of Tsinghua’s top law students is beyond belief. I feel very lazy. A stereotype floats around the west about how students from top Chinese schools can study and follow instructions but can’t think creatively worth a damn. This stereotype is false.
Recently it snowed. It was the first time I’ve seen snow in my mother country. Many girls wore hoodies with little felt ears on top. Go figure. The students at Tsinghua will be China’s next generation of teachers, leaders, and Party officials. Tsinghua’s archrival across the street will also have a role to play. But I have found the outspoken minds of Peking University are much maligned here. Tsinghua students don’t always like them.
I have been procrastinating so badly and time has passed so fast. Just two months ago, the first years in their kitten ears were parading along Zijing Road in full military fatigues. Things have changed so fast. Even the locals have trouble recognizing their home from the dingy little alleys of the recent past. Some students desperately long to return to their hometowns. Others dream of New York, and Melbourne, and Berlin. I’d like to thank my teachers at Tsinghua for a wonderful time and both deans for organizing this eye-opening experience. And I’d like to ask whomever might read this blurb to say something nice to our exchange students from Tsinghua should you meet them in the halls.
