Anonymous wrote:I would say it depends on a variety of factors. It is an incredible opportunity and experience for the kid, but do they have the tenacity or stomach for it? Do the parents?. Are many other students from their school also going to this location, or is your kid one of a few/going alone? Having someone that far away with little to no support system close by is a tough call for both parents and the kid. God forbid something happens - it's not like you can just hop on a plane and be there in a couple of hours, and if there is no local support, it will be even harder. Does your kid adapt easily, or do they get stressed? Asia is not like Western cultures, so in addition to the standard adjustments (time zone, language) they will need to adapt to a completely different way of life in a short amount of time. For us, we decided against it because we preferred to travel to these areas first for shorter, more controlled visits as opposed to a 5 month commitment for our kid alone. We decided on Europe for a few reasons - it was closer in case something happened, many other kids were also going so our kid would have some measure of local support, travel between countries in Europe is cheaper and relatively easy to manage (which allows the kid to explore many different countries over the course of the semester) and support in most European countries is pretty good (health care, police, etc).

This such a basic mindset but you do you

I would say it depends on a variety of factors. It is an incredible opportunity and experience for the kid, but do they have the tenacity or stomach for it? Do the parents?. Are many other students from their school also going to this location, or is your kid one of a few/going alone? Having someone that far away with little to no support system close by is a tough call for both parents and the kid. God forbid something happens - it's not like you can just hop on a plane and be there in a couple of hours, and if there is no local support, it will be even harder. Does your kid adapt easily, or do they get stressed? Asia is not like Western cultures, so in addition to the standard adjustments (time zone, language) they will need to adapt to a completely different way of life in a short amount of time. For us, we decided against it because we preferred to travel to these areas first for shorter, more controlled visits as opposed to a 5 month commitment for our kid alone. We decided on Europe for a few reasons - it was closer in case something happened, many other kids were also going so our kid would have some measure of local support, travel between countries in Europe is cheaper and relatively easy to manage (which allows the kid to explore many different countries over the course of the semester) and support in most European countries is pretty good (health care, police, etc).

Some of yall haven’t seen Brokedown Palace and it shows. No I would not send my teenager over there.

I understand the concern but there’s very little knowledge of China. I didn’t want to read every page of this post but the first two pages showed a lot of bias.

If your kid goes he shouldn’t do any drugs or anything illegal.But the same is true for international students studying here. Kids are getting deported for having a fake id. Students are being turned away at the border. I went to visit DD at Harvard last weekend and there was an active shooter in the square. So which country is more safe?

China has many surveillance cameras and while it may be invasive it keeps the everyday citizen very safe! The food is amazing. The transport between the big cities fast and easy. Maybe you should look at some TikTok’s and search foreigner in China.

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Anonymous wrote:For Asia, Japan, Korea, or Singapore.

You do realize they don’t speak Mandarin there, right?

DP, and I live in Singapore. Mandarin is WIDELY spoken here: it's the second language, after English. I'm American and don't speak Mandarin, but I hear it every day. Outside, shopping, at hawker centers, overhearing my Singaporean colleagues chatting in Mandarin amongst themselves: everywhere. Even "Singlish", a common local vernacular, is English modeled on Mandarin sentence structures, with Mandarin words woven in.

If OP's child wanted to speak Mandarin in Singapore, he could easily do it every day with people who are native speakers, on all levels of society.

Oh, and the majority of Singaporeans do NOT sound like the characters on Crazy Rich Asians. I think that was source of your misunderstanding, PP. Crazy Rich Asians...is not real.

Singaporean Mandarin is quite different than standard, with different grammar and vocabulary. Like you wouldn’t call Singlish speakers “native” speakers of English.

Yes, I would, because the majority of Singlish speakers readily code-switch between standard English (for work, speaking to non-Singlish speakers, etc) and Singlish and Mandarin.

I don't speak Mandarin so can't comment for sure about the differences in that, but I do know that MANY people here were born/raised in China, so I would imagine their Mandarin is indeed "Chinese Mandarin." I'd be surprised if "Singapore Mandarin" is different because there is just so much interaction and exposure to "China Chinease" and their media, culture, and natives who moved here.

That’s an interesting question. I do know that many Chinese people speak Mandarin as a 2nd language and their local dialect as their first language, even among young people. This is IRL. Maybe the official story is different.

It would be interesting to learn of any language drift between Singapore Mandarin and the official Chinese Mandarin.

It’s rare for a native Singaporean to be fluent in Mandarin - it’s broken and different, not unlike Singlish. Chinese media or even culture isn’t as prevalent as you think - Korean dramas and pop are more popular, for example.

This is just not true.

And I live in Singapore.

Read “Other Rivers” by Peter Hessler for a recent (2024) account of a joint US-China college program from the perspective of a professor.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/199347135-other-rivers

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Anonymous wrote:Study in China, um no.

I am a huge supporter of study abroad but this is a terrible time for these locales.

+ 1,000 - Communists HATE Americans.

Unlike Americans, the Chinese are able to differentiate between people and a country's politics.
China's only been communist for 50 years and most Chinese are not members of the party.

75 years.

The existence of anti-japanese riots suggests you may be wrong about other things, too.

This is indeed wildly simplistic. There is considerable racial and nationalistic animosity in China.

“ A 10-year-old Japanese student has died one day after he was stabbed near his school in southern China.
The boy, who was enrolled at the Shenzhen Japanese School, succumbed to his injuries early on Thursday, Japanese officials said.
His assailant, a 44-year-old man surnamed Zhong, was arrested on the spot, local police said.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has called the attack "extremely despicable" and said Tokyo had "strongly urged" Beijing for an explanation "as soon as possible".
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian said the case was being investigated and that China and Japan were "in communication".
"China expresses its regret and sadness that this kind of unfortunate incident occurred," he told reporters at a news conference on Thursday.
Mr Lin also confirmed that the boy was a Japanese national with a Japanese father and a Chinese mother.
The motive for the attack was not immediately known. But some observers have expressed concern that nationalist sentiment in China might be spilling into increasing violence against foreigners.
In June, a man targeted a Japanese mother and her child in the eastern city of Suzhou. That attack was also near a Japanese school and led to the death of a Chinese national who had tried to protect the mother and son.
Earlier in June, four American teachers were stabbed in the northern city of Jilin.
Beijing has described all of these attacks - including the one on Wednesday - as "isolated incidents". And on Wednesday, Mr Lin said China would continue "to protect the safety of all foreigners in the country".
The Japanese embassy in Beijing called on the Chinese government to "prevent such incidents from happening again".
Some have pointed out that the stabbing happened on the anniversary of the notorious Mukden Incident, when Japan faked an explosion to justify its invasion of Manchuria in 1931, triggering a 14-year war with China.”

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy94qq01qweo

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Study in China, um no.

I am a huge supporter of study abroad but this is a terrible time for these locales.

+ 1,000 - Communists HATE Americans.

Unlike Americans, the Chinese are able to differentiate between people and a country's politics.
China's only been communist for 50 years and most Chinese are not members of the party.

75 years.

The existence of anti-japanese riots suggests you may be wrong about other things, too.

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That’s an interesting question. I do know that many Chinese people speak Mandarin as a 2nd language and their local dialect as their first language, even among young people. This is IRL. Maybe the official story is different.

It would be interesting to learn of any language drift between Singapore Mandarin and the official Chinese Mandarin.

It's a bit different. I speak official Mandarin (putonghua) and they didn't understand me too well in Singapore. If OP's son is looking for the best experience with Chinese, China is the place to do it.

Taiwan is a much better option than China, by a long shot

The risk of Taiwan being invaded is much higher now than it used to be.

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We are Brazilian currently living in São Paulo and my son was accepted to Brown and NYU and also a couple of European schools. Given the recent US Gov view on foreign students, we have the same issues that you Americans do when worrying about your kids going abroad.

We adivsed him to forgo those offers and accept one of the UK/EU offers. He is now deciding between LSE, St Andrews and Bocconi.

Same here. We are from Turkey. My son had offers from UCLA, Chicago and Dartmouth. He always dreamt of studying in the US. Both his father and I studied in the US. But given the latest environment, he is turning down those schools for UCL in London.

I’m an American, and I think we’ll somehow get the Trump problem under control, but I think you’re right to be nervous about sending your children to the United States, and I think Americans have to be extra thoughtful about sending our kids abroad.

We might all be lovely people. We might all live in same places where most people are kind to students and serious problems are rare.

But Trump is doing so many crazy, infuriating things that it’s hard to know what the limits of insanity are or how people will react. Sending students across borders for college today is not the same move as in 2023.

Chances are that most students will be physically safe, but we’re seeing Trump screwing Fulbright grant recipients over mid-semester. He’s just not someone who cares whether your kid is one term paper away from passing a class. He’ll cheerfully deport students and start shooting wars while our kids are in the middle of final exams in the countries under attack. He’ll cheerfully have goons smash the your kid’s lab rats. So, your kid might be fine, but who wants to put up with all of that chaos while you’re studying?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Study in China, um no.

I am a huge supporter of study abroad but this is a terrible time for these locales.

+ 1,000 - Communists HATE Americans.

Unlike Americans, the Chinese are able to differentiate between people and a country's politics.
China's only been communist for 50 years and most Chinese are not members of the party.

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Anonymous wrote:Study in China, um no.

I am a huge supporter of study abroad but this is a terrible time for these locales.

It has been a terrible time to study in china for decades.

Unfortunately, Hong Kong was ruined when the British gave it back.

China, hell no.
Hong Kong, nope nope nope

Taiwan? Yes, definitely! Great modern country with a functioning modern democratic government. Just have a solid escape plan for when china invades.

Singapore? YES.

Japan? Definitely.

Sure Taiwan is functioning. The fit fights at the legislature are a daily occurrence.
The rely on Japan for infrastructure technology and the inly game it has is TSMC. Without TSMC, Taiwan is in trouble.

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Anonymous wrote:Another American in HK (lived in Asia for decades).

- I would recommend your undergrad, provided they exercise good judgement generally (not impulsive) study in Shanghai;
- I would expect some friction at immigration (common for Americans these days given geopolitical, but nothing too crazy more like 10 minutes of questions);
- There are only couple of hundred USA students in China now (this is very sad and bad for the for future relations);
- China & USA have to find a way to coexist;
- This experience will be a valuable life experience & will differentiate;
- The risks: some kind of legal limbo if your kid is posting things political or commits a crime; some kind of encampment if there is WW3 (I view these as very low probability).

Shanghai is an amazing city (Beijing & Taipei also great options for language & Taipei would entail less 'friction').

I also share the sentiments about USA. My half-Asian is a freshman in a USA uni right now and has had one friend deported (not for political reasons) with little due process & his school had an active shooter lockdown (hoax). Off campus he has witnessed serious crime. Shanghai would be much safer day to day on the street & even politically it seems at the moment (don't hear of any foreign students getting deported from China, we hear about it & have first had knowledge of it in USA).

Op here. This is useful, thank you. Dc is not interested in politics so he wouldn’t be posting but he also knows he needs to even watch what he texts, follows online etc. He also knows no drugs (even before he arrives), careful with drinking etc. He’s adventurous in terms of wanting to experience other cultures, but he’s also a rule follower.

Taipei would be great if his focus was just language acquisition (he studied Taiwanese mandarin/learned how to write traditional for years) but unfortunately he’s also specific program focused and Shanghai is his top choice

Taipei is milquetoast compared to Shanghai.

Op here. Lol, did my ds join the chat?

No, a midde aged child of Xian and Taiwan who also spent time working in Hong Kong.
I was doing a yoga class in Central Park today and thought about all the lack of greenery back there. The few lawns there were are bald parches of flat green that no one is supposed to step foot on and hiked up way above pavement level. The Philipina amahs spend their one day a week off camped out in the concrete beneath HSBC bank building or whatever few free public spaces there are.
Yes, one should spend some time in foreign countries. There are things to appreciate and blanch at on both sides of the Pacific.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Study in China, um no.

I am a huge supporter of study abroad but this is a terrible time for these locales.

It has been a terrible time to study in china for decades.

Unfortunately, Hong Kong was ruined when the British gave it back.

China, hell no.
Hong Kong, nope nope nope

Taiwan? Yes, definitely! Great modern country with a functioning modern democratic government. Just have a solid escape plan for when china invades.

Singapore? YES.

Japan? Definitely.

I can’t say you are completely wrong but it’s really too bad. We lived in China for many years and it was a great experience. We left a couple years ago.

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That’s an interesting question. I do know that many Chinese people speak Mandarin as a 2nd language and their local dialect as their first language, even among young people. This is IRL. Maybe the official story is different.

It would be interesting to learn of any language drift between Singapore Mandarin and the official Chinese Mandarin.

It's a bit different. I speak official Mandarin (putonghua) and they didn't understand me too well in Singapore. If OP's son is looking for the best experience with Chinese, China is the place to do it.

Taiwan is a much better option than China, by a long shot