“Are you a dragon slayer or a panda hugger?”
China is a fascinating and confusing country to study. Given its continually expanding influence in the world, opinions and attitudes towards China are often polarized. This course aims to provide a nuanced, multifaceted examination of China and hopefully dispel myths and misconceptions that are unhelpful to our understanding of the country.
For each student, to document your journey of learning, you will write a 300- to 500-word exposition at the beginning of the semester and repeat the exercise at the end of the semester. In each of your expositions, describe your impression/understanding of the country, choose a position in the question above (i.e., “dragon slayer,” “panda hugger,” or neutral/don’t know) and explain your reasoning. It will be revealing to see if your position has changed over the course of the semester, and for what reason(s).
Panda Hugger vs. Dragon Slayer: A Primer
Many people are familiar with the terms Panda Hugger and Dragon Slayer. Journalist Rob Gifford […] once defined the two extremes as follows: “A panda hugger is someone who says that almost everything going on in China is good, that China’s progress is a great thing for the world, and that any problems are peripheral. A dragon slayer is someone who says the situation in China is terrible, that China is a threat to the world, and that any positive developments are just window-dressing.”
In an article for the Beijing Review, Jeanine Ivanov, an expat living in China, gave her own explanation: “Panda huggers are total China advocates – people who feel that the world’s future rests on the country’s massive, burly shoulders, that the Western media gives the Chinese Government a raw deal and that China is simply the most exciting place in the world to be right now. Dragon slayers simply don’t believe the hype: China will not be the world’s next superpower because it does not play by fair economic rules, and all the social unrest caused by rural poverty or human rights abuses will eventually cause the country to ‘do a Soviet Union’.”
Requirements:
1.Please make it to at least 300 word thank you
2. Please state that you are neutral, and please dont add any references.
Here is my draft and thoughts, you can use it if you want.
there is no saying of a perfect government. The CCP made a lot of mistakes in the past, especially the Great Leap Forward and the cultural revolution. So many people suffered and died.
Now that I have a better sense on the politics, I still think I’am netural, not a panda hugger or a dragon slayer. I believe there is no country that is inherently bad or good, the motives are always around the country’s intreaste, such as land expention, economic growth, international trade, improving citizens quality of life etc. China’s motives are very obvious — expansion and economic growth.
China did a lot wrong in the history, especially with “The Great Leap Forward” and the cultural revolution.