Caroline Tong can put it bluntly. But it’s easier to watch her in action.

The director of Syracuse University’s Beijing Abroad program spent last week in the United States, a busy week, moving across the Syracuse campus in her short time away from China’s capital.

One day during her trip, she spoke to a group of students about the significance of the upcoming Beijing Olympics and tried to put the event in context.

These games are not just a sporting event to Tong. It’s a chance for the world’s most populous country to show how much it’s changed throughout the last quarter-century – show how the nation could be the world’s next superpower.

Tong’s point not clear yet? Let her explain:

‘If there’s one country that Americans here need to understand, it’s China,’ Tong said. ‘If there’s one foreign language that’s going to be very useful it’s Chinese. These are the two big countries. Whether (the United States and China) like it or not, they have to deal with each other.’

China’s growing economy has put the colossal country back on the map. And SU students already seem to be heeding Tong’s words. As China grows, so does undergraduate interest in the country that’s home to more than 1.3 billion people.

Chinese language classes are packed this semester. Class enrollment in China-related courses are more than double what they were five years ago. Syracuse’s study abroad programs in China have larger numbers than ever before – and the program expanded recently, opening a center in Beijing. More than 25 SU students survived a highly competitive program to earn the opportunity to intern this summer’s Beijing Olympics

The signs are there – the future lies in China. Syracuse students have noticed.

‘Management, financing, cultural, entertainment, property rights – almost any job seems to have a global dimension,’ said Hongying Wang, an associate professor of political science. ‘And everything that has a global dimension seems to have a China component.’

Before the turn of the millennium, China barely registered as a blip on the radar screen when discussing potential job markets, Wang said.

But as the nation’s economy swelled, she was surprised to see the number of students in her politics of East Asia classes balloon.

Wang first began teaching about the region in 1998. Up until 2001, the class never had more than 20 students – most often it was between 12 to 15. After a year off in 2002, things changed. Wang returned to find class sizes at more than 40.

Other professors have noticed a similar effect. Norman Kutcher, an associate professor of history, said his modern Chinese history class grew as well. When the class started in 1991, there were just five students. In the mid-1990s the course had about 40. Now they have 95.

‘I remember as an undergrad – the East Asian courses – a lot of people weren’t very interested in them,’ said Winslow Robertson, a graduate student in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs. ‘It’s really cool to see a lot of people taking something that maybe five years ago they wouldn’t have considered.’

And those seeking to learn the language also find the classes crowded.

Until about three years ago, three sections of Chinese 101 existed, said Lew Josephs, the East Asian language coordinator, in an e-mail. Now there are six – most which were filled to capacity in the fall. More than 120 students are enrolled in a Chinese language course during the current semester.

Rebecca Bennett, a junior illustration major with a minor in Chinese, pointed out her language courses are packed, adding the class includes a large part of business, political science and international relations students.

It seems to be no coincidence. The interest in China ascended alongside the country’s massive economic boom in the past decade.

The growth started with reforms that began in the late 1970s, said Jonathan Hanson, an assistant professor of political science. The changes allowed for more private enterprises, moving away from the communism that had gripped the nation since Mao Zedong came to power in 1949.

‘It’s changed so dramatically,’ Hanson said. ‘While China is still run by the Communist Party, it’s Communist in name only.’

The market took off. Nearly 20 years later, China is nearing its economic peak. And the rest of the world has started paying more attention.

This spring Wang teaches 57 students in her politics of East Asia class. And the makeup of the class surprises her more. When the semester started, she surveyed the class and discovered approximately 45 of her students had little to no background in East Asian culture.

‘We’re drawing from the unwashed much more than before,’ Wang said. ‘Before it’s people who already had some interest who wanted to improve their understanding. Now it’s people who have no background whatsoever who want to know about East Asia, and I think most of it is about China.’

The most populous country’s allure could take another huge leap forward this summer when China is showcased during the Beijing Olympics, Wang said. The Olympics represent a chance for China to overcome the stereotypes and negative media reports often associated with the country during its emergence as a world power, such as China’s arresting of political dissidents or problems with air pollution.

When Hanson was an undergraduate at Harvard University in the 1990s, he remembers the prevalent image of China in the United States was the 1989 riots at Tiananmen Square. Now, skyscrapers and high-rises line the regions. Louis Vuitton and McDonald’s are found throughout Chinese cities.

And even in the country’s most sacred areas, Western ideals have pervaded.

In the ancient Forbidden City, visitors can find a Starbucks.

‘For at least 10 years (Tiananmen Square) was the dominant image of China,’ Hanson said. ‘But I think as time has gone on that’s faded a bit. Now it’s an extremely vibrant place, free wheeling. It just doesn’t fit a lot of the stereotypes a lot of Americans have about China.’

That’s what Linda Braithwaite, the student counselor for China at SUAbroad, hopes those studying abroad realize. Both the Hong Kong and Beijing centers have demonstrated rapid growth. Statistics also show abroad programs in Asia have become more popular on a national level.

The 11-year-old Hong Kong program at Syracuse drew about 20 students a semester for most of the 1990s. But in the last five years, the numbers shot up – the destination had to be capped at 63 students last semester.

Braithwaite added a majority of the SU students studying abroad in China major in finance, economics students, marketing.

But she wishes more students would head to Beijing. While Hong Kong has developed a more westernized culture, Beijing – the program run by Tong – provides the authentic China experience. This spring 19 students enrolled in the Beijing program, which started in January 2006.

It’s the most the program has ever had, but Braithwaite said, despite the growing interest, many students still are intimidated by the language and cultural barriers found in China’s capital.

Spencer Raymond, a junior in the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, is visiting China to get a genuine understanding of the country.

‘I want to see what China is really like,’ Raymond said via e-mail from Beijing. ‘I want to make a judgment for myself instead of letting other people do it for me. U.S. news outlets sensationalize this place so much.’

Tong maintains that same emphasis – students need to do all they can to learn about China in its full context. As issues from human rights to the Summer Olympics grab headlines, it appears it’s China’s turn to take hold of the college population.

‘(It’s) a country that’s going to be very important to the United States,’ Tong said. ‘A country that’s going to affect our lives.’

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Sidebar: HISTORY REPEATS ITSELF

Asia overall has seen a massive influx of students arriving from all over the world. Europe remains the most popular destination for those who study abroad, but Asia serves as one of the fastest-growing destinations, according to an Institute of International Education report from November 2007. Enrollment by students in Asia saw a 26 percent rise; only the Middle East saw a higher percentage increase.

Jonathan Hanson, an assistant professor of political science at Syracuse University, said there’s always been a tendency for students to show greater interest in areas of the world regarded as important during that time. Throughout the Cold War, Soviet studies flourished. Japan’s economic boon in the 1980s caused a considerable increase in students learning Japanese. Now the areas of the world receiving the most interest appear to be the Middle East and East Asia.

Published on February 28, 2008 at 12:00 pm