Stephen Ropers

THERE’S a small but growing trend occurring in China right now and it’s one I encourage wholeheartedly: a migration of Chinese students to American universities. In 2008-2009 more than 26,000 Chinese students studied as undergraduates in the United States, up from about 8,000 eight years earlier, and now represent the fastest-growing group of international students, according to the Institute of International Education.

These students are attending not just nationally known universities, but also regional colleges, state schools, and even community colleges that recruit overseas.

By no means is my endorsement of this movement imperialistic or nationalist in nature, but instead founded in a desire to see two dramatically different cultures bridge gaps and better understand each other. It’s no secret that the relationship between China and the United States is, at the moment, rather tense. From the specter of the U.S. weapon sales to Taiwan to the disputed value of the yuan, there are numerous fundamental differences in policies that leave glaring opportunities for misrepresentation and misunderstanding on both sides.

A relationship widely regarded as one of the most important of the 21st century can’t afford to be tense. We need unity.

From personal experience I can say that intimate exposure to another culture not only increases one’s understanding of it, but also appreciation. My own thoughts and ideas about China and the life I’d inherit before teaching in Shenzhen were shamefully ignorant. I wondered if Communist agents would spy on me, or if I’d ever get to read The New York Times again.

But then I got here and saw how woefully misinformed I was. And, as my time in China and understanding of the country increased, I learned from my students to appreciate the open curiosity of the Chinese and their impressive work ethic — one need look no further than my high-school students’ 12 hours-a-day of class for proof of that.

What I’m saying is that, if my cultural understanding and appreciation of China has increased exponentially in two years, think of what four years in an American university could do for Chinese students. Think of the progress that could be made — for both Americans and Chinese — with direct exposure to people their own age with dramatically different backgrounds.

There may not be agreement in everything but, as I’ve learned in my time away from home, that doesn’t mean you can’t amicably co-exist. And, at a time when that’s a lesson both China and the United States desperately need to remember, it’s good to see there are small steps being made to expedite the process.

(The author is a former U.S. journalist who is teaching English in Shenzhen.