Integration proves difficult for Chinese students
The stench of the frying pan
A growing number of Chinese students travel to the Netherlands annually, in search of highly esteemed European degrees. In Groningen, many Chinese students are accommodated in the Selwerd students' flats. To the annoyance of Dutch students. They find their Asian housemates unsociable and dislike the smell of foreign food in their hallways.
They don't greet or chat, sneak across the hallways, use the kitchen to brew stinky stuff and their 'kin' is continuously dropping in. With its Dutch inhabitants, Chinese students are not very popular in the Seaward flats. A passionate debate flared on the flat's Internet newsgroup only a few months ago. The Chinese residents received its full blast. As a kind of encore, a competition was held between flat floors: which one housed the largest number of Chinese students?
Even this outburst could not trigger a dialogue between Dutch and Chinese students. So far, no communication whatsoever has developed between them. As one Chinese student puts it: "I don't speak the language." But then, why not use English? "No, I'm not very good at it."
Frank Vaneker, Folkert van Schagen en Joris van Riel did not participate in the Internet discussion. Certainly, they do have Chinese students on their floor in Selwerd-2 and yes, they don't mind - with Champion's League football in the background - saying something about it. Vaneker: "How many do we have here?" It sounds as if he is referring to pets. "Four, in three rooms", answers Van Riel. "And another one is coming. Yes, we have our very own Chinatown here. But hey, they have to chuck them somewhere."
Slimy food
Come to think of it, they cannot find many positive things to say about them and except for "that Lassie", they don't know their flatmates by name. "They never say a word", says Vaneker. "And they all look the same." "The doorbell is ringing for them all the time", comments Van Riel, "and then you see this little Chinese head pop up under the poster on the door." Vaneker: "When they're really at it, you're simply a porter." And then the Dutch students haven't discussed their cooking yet. "Those guys deep-fry everything." Hilbert Michel, a former floor mate, joins the discussion: "They cook chicken in Coca-Cola!" Vaneker again: "They deep-fry sweat pepper too." And Michel: "They deep-fry 24 hours a day" Van Riel once encountered a group of Chinese students in the kitchen in the middle of the night, when he wanted to drink some water. "They offered me something slimy. Well, I didn't eat it of course."
Ah well, somewhere deep down, the students do understand. It must be tough for them, so far away from home. "We didn't say anything racist, did we?" asks Michel, who's afraid of having said something unacceptable. "Do we have something positive to say about the Chinese?" he asks quickly, mainly to keep his former housemates from stigmatising statements. "They never make any noise", states Van Schagen resolutely. The rest agrees. "Ah well", says Vaneker, "you can't have 14 decent chaps on your floor. We had one Chinese student that spoke Dutch. But he's gone now." Michel: "No man, you mean Jessy, he was an Indonesian."
Cleaning job
The University of Groningen maintains good contacts in China. The RUG is the only Dutch university with a staff member who's specifically assigned to maintain contacts with Asia. In 2002, 119 Chinese students were studying at the RUG and some 50 students came to the Netherlands for an education at the Hanzehogeschool. Acquiring a Dutch degree is 'hot' in China. Not only are the Netherlands less well known and therefore more interesting than England and America, but also a whole lot cheaper. Still, Chinese students pay many thousands of euros in order to get a degree here.
In a nutshell, positive experiences of pioneers appear to be spreading quickly in China. Dutch quality of education is celebrated as much as the quietness of the country. But the harsh reality isn't always easy for Chinese students in Holland. Dustin Siafeng for example, might have preferred to stay in China. It was his father who believed that it was better for him to study abroad. "He's a businessman, trading in silk. He wants me to take over the company", says Siafeng resignedly. He does understand his father. "At this age, we need knowledge. That's why I gave up my life in China. And really", he ads quickly, "being a businessman isn't so bad." He shares a room with his girlfriend Vivian Weidi on the same floor as Vaneker, Van Schagen and Van Riel. They consider themselves lucky. Not only are they able to share the costs of a room, but they both found a cleaning job as well.
Prejudice
They are not aware of the feelings that some of the Dutch have towards them. They themselves quite like Dutch people, even though there are many cultural differences. Like playing soccer in the hallway. In China students would never do that, states Weidi. And studying they also notice differences. Dutch students make do with a grade of 5.5. Siafeng: "We want to learn as much as possible. We're not paying so much money for nothing."
Prejudice against Chinese students is not as strong everywhere, but almost every Dutch student agrees that the Chinese are quiet and hardly take part in the social life on the flat. Which is something the Chinese students themselves regret. "I would like to have more contact with Dutch people", says Fang Zeng, a friend of Weidi and Siafeng, living on another floor, "but it is hard for us."
Before she came to Holland, she received a military education for four years because her father would have liked to be in the army once. "I'm a quiet person, used to answering questions, not to start a conversation myself." Outside of Selwerd, Zeng and fellow-student Yi Zhu, find it hard to make contact. "We prefer to say something indirectly, so we don't offend others. But if we do this, the Dutch people don't understand us."
Savings
Instead, they feel homesick regularly. They miss China's social life, with its gardens, its tea and its karaoke. In Groningen, they don't like to go out for dancing or drinking. Zhu: "It seems to be quite popular here. But what if you have to attend class the next morning?" Zeng: "It isn't suitable for a girl to drink lots of beer either." The dreams for the future of the Chinese girls also differ enormously from those of the Dutch students. Zhu: "Once I would like to buy a big house for my parents."
Rieks Bos is co-ordinator of the popular English master International Financial Management. He went to China several times to recruit students. "If we'd want to, we could fill our entire program with Chinese. There's a great lack of possibilities to study there, being educated is very important and China is huge. And there's a lot of savings there as well."
The educational system in the Netherlands offers Chinese a big change. "They are not very used to interactivity, to really see through the material. When questions on an examination turn out different than the ones they have practised, they are often highly surprised." It is beyond any doubt that they are very eager students. Even in the evenings and in the weekends they continue studying. "The savings of the family cannot go to waste."
Spring rolls
Bos fears Chinese students easily grow lonely in our individualistic society and finds it very important that they are shown the ropes around here. "Some university staff members don't know how to deal with them. It's important to help them, even when they ask a question that lies outside of your field. If you get them here, you have to reach out to them."
Bos regularly goes to Schiphol personally to pick up students. Or he shows them a shop where they can buy second-hand children's bikes, points the right direction to Mecca or helps them to recover confiscated packages. "Sometimes there's some indistinct dried meat in it, or parents have noted a package's value in Chinese currency without mentioning it."
Selwerd student Richard Etten also thinks that the Dutch students should do more for the Chinese students. At least, there is one thing they should stop doing: complain. "What's stench anyway? What about the smell of weed, French fries or pizza? I happen to like Vietnamese spring rolls. Some students say a lot of things without thinking, let alone talking about it with the Chinese students themselves. There's just a lot of complaining and that is a typical trait of Dutch culture." |
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