Author Archives: Fang Kecheng

Caution! “Diploma Mills” in China Deceiving International Students

Pakistan student Orphir was expelled from school on March 17th, 2011. Before that he was a sophomore studying the MBBS (Bachelor of Medicine / Bachelor of Surgery) programme in Changsha Medical University, a privately-run college in Hunan province. The school informed that he was dismissed for failing 8 courses and frequently breaking the school rules,

Who are “old friends of the Chinese people”?

There is such group of foreigners, whom most Chinese citizens have never met. But once their names are mentioned, almost every Chinese will be automatically conditioned to label them as “old friends of the Chinese people” Edgar Snow, Norodom Sihanouk, Henry Kissinger, Joseph Needham, Juan Antonio Samaranch are some of the most well-known ones in

Chinese Mothers are Forced to be Tiger Moms

THE Chinese-style strict parenting is the consequence of our education system, employment system and social security system.  Becoming “Tiger Moms” is the only choice for Chinese mothers.   “Tiger Mom” Amy Chua is chanting her battle hymn in the U.S., criticizing that American mothers are too tolerant and permissive, but her book exerts great impact

Gambling for a PhD Degree in China

Just before graduation, PhD candidate Ye Ming got a phone call from the office of academic affairs, “you still have one more core subject to complete, otherwise you couldn’t obtain your degree before meeting the graduation credit requirement.” Ye felt astonished as well as ridiculous, since the course he missed was called “Scientific Research Training”.

Several facts about China’s higher education (2)

Originally referring to the candidate who was listed as coming in first in the Imperial Examinations, the Chinese title “Zhuang Yuan”(状元) is now often given to the top scorer of a province in the National Higher Education Entrance Examination. As the biggest winners in the examination, they can choose the university and the major. It’s

Several facts about China’s higher education (1)

In China, the National Higher Education Entrance Examination (also known as Gao Kao) plays a key role in promoting mobility among social classes. For teenagers born in rural areas, studying hard in high school and entering a university is the most important and usually the only way to become an urban resident and join the

Chang’e II VS Xinwen Lianbo

When China’s second unmanned lunar probe, Chang’e II, was scheduled to blast off at 18:59:57 on October 1st 2010, 3 seconds before CCP mouthpiece CCTV’s Xinwen Lianbo began, the biggest highlight of this launch emerged — how would CCTV deal with the time conflict between the live broadcast of Chang’e’s flying to the moon and

Publish and be deleted

Below is a Global Times report, based on mine and some other Chinese netizen’s experience in China’s Internet censorship. By Zhang Lei He couldn’t take it anymore. When Hong Kong writer and poet Liao Weitang found his online photo album had been deleted by douban.com, he quit, leaving behind the 3,000 friends he had made over two years. “I had

From “Angrily Denounce” to “Be Gravely Hurt”

—A Research on the Set Phrases in China’s Diplomatese Introduction  As China continues to expand its role in the international community, its diplomatese stays mechanical. Many people notice that “hurt the feelings of the Chinese people” becomes a phrase the Chinese government chooses for nearly every statement when dealing with international disagreement. For example, after

Try to understand and write about my country and my people

“For a long time I have hoped that one of these few would write us all a book about his own China, a real book, permeated with the essential spirit of the people. Time after time I have opened a book, eagerly and with hope, and time after time I have closed it again in