Global Education Profile

Tom Gold, Director
Berkeley China Initiative

In 1978, the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution that had gripped China in social and economic upheaval for a decade was only two years' past. With the Gang of Four toppled, a new leader (Deng Xiaoping) in place, and a new mandate to modernize, the world's most populous country began a cautious reopening to the West. The United States and China signed a landmark educational exchange agreement in July 1978 that would once again open China's universities to American students. Among the first cohort of seven Americans to arrive in China in February 1979 was Tom Gold, UC Berkeley Professor of Sociology and Director of IAS's Berkeley China Initiative.

A graduate student in sociology at Harvard at the time, Gold had been interested in China since his undergraduate days at Oberlin and had been to Taiwan twice, most recently researching his dissertation on Taiwanese political-economic development. "I had met many Shanghai emigrés in Taiwan, and my experience there helped me appreciate how far Taiwan had come, and the challenge the PRC was facing as it was trying to reform. It was clear that the old institutions were no longer viable, but there was no clear sense of what was next. To see new institutions and ways of thinking emerge in real time seemed like an unbelievable opportunity."

Whereas the other six in that first cohort stayed in Beijing, Gold found himself the lone American at Fudan University in Shanghai among an international group that included students from

Europe, Japan, and Canada. Prepared for fanfare

Tom Gold

befitting the momentousness of the occasion, he was let down. "There was no notice taken," he laughs. The discipline of sociology did not exist in China at the time, having been dismantled under Mao, so Gold focused on modern Chinese literature, studying the poetry of Mao and the writings of Lu Xun. "Things were still somewhat restrictive intellectually. My teachers weren't quite sure what to make of my opinions; my evaluation simply stated, 'Gold has his own way of thinking about things.'

"Many of my Chinese classmates were my own age [30 at the time], and were the first group to go to college based on an aptitude test, rather than political allegiances. Many had been persecuted as intellectuals. There was an unbelievable hunger for learning and a pent-up desire to take advantage of everything available."

With that hunger came a hunger for understanding the ways of the West and of capitalism, and to tell their stories. "Suddenly I became an expert on Western capitalism. People would turn to me and ask, 'How do Americans do things?' I had also worked as an interpreter in the U.S. for Chinese delegations, and I got to meet several of these people again throughout China. I was amazed that people would say, 'Everything we told you before in the U.S. was a lie. Now we can tell you the truth.'"

In addition to his own continuing research on Chinese economics and society, and his tireless work directing the Berkeley China Initiative, Gold remains committed to international education and language instruction. He is Executive Director of the Inter-University Program for Chinese Language Studies, a consortium of 14 American universities that administers an advanced language program at Tsinghua University in Beijing. And he continues to be an evangelist for study abroad. "I flog it in every class I teach. For me, 30-plus years ago study abroad was more rare. But here at Berkeley it's not odd, and it's not hard to do, so you just have to plan well and do it. The energy of a city like Shanghai is so interesting; I encourage my students to attack and absorb the rhythms of daily life when you're young. I try to do it myself when I can, but these days I rarely have the time to unpack."

To learn about the Berkeley China Initiative, visit bci.berkeley.edu.

UC-Fudan Program Highlights China's Economic Miracle

China today serves as an ideal setting in which to observe the political and social consequences of rapid economic development, which, for all its lightning speed, is both uneven and tremendously complex. Among UC's most exciting new Education Abroad Program (EAP) opportunities is the UC-Fudan University Joint Program in International Studies. Located in Shanghai, the epicenter of China's economic transformation, Fudan University is one of China's preeminent academic institutions. The semester-long program focuses on the historical, political, economic, sociological, and cultural dimensions of globalization, especially as they relate to China in the modern world. Courses are co-taught in English by both UC and Fudan University faculty members. Chinese language study is also offered. Students live on campus in foreign student dormitories with other international and UC students, or off campus.

For more information, students may visit the BPSA Office in 160 Stephens Hall, or go to http://eap.ucop.edu/eap/country/china/cnapp.htm.