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The sunny panda-face which China liked to show the world is beginning to lose its smile as economic and political realities catch up on the once so-positive super-nation.

In the early 2000s it began to launch exchange programs with universities around the world in order to learn from the best in other countries and extend friendly economic and cultural ties.  At first it was thinking only of links between its own top universities and those in the US, UK and Japan but in the spirit of giving weaker provinces a chance to prosper it allowed them to begin projects with lesser known universities in smaller countries, such as Ireland.

Gradually it discovered that many of those universities did not have the resources to produce the hoped-for outcome and last year it ended 234 such partnerships.

Among them were four projects with UCD and UCC. It is not that all such programs have ended – some Irish universities have recently signed new agreements. However the old days of plentiful money and lose regulation are coming to an end.  They are replaced by a more business-like attitude, more calculating than the previous affability. 

This cooling down is reflected also in other aspects of the new China such as its attitude toward religion where toleration had been increasing since the mid-1980s. Now old laws and regulations are being resurrected to strengthen control and ensure that, in a communist state, religion is tolerated only in as far as it serves the government.

In future we are likely to see less of the panda’s smile and feel more of its substantial size and considerable weight.

The tragic accident of Mons Ante Jozic in his native Croatia shocked his many friends in Hong Kong. I had met him on numerous occasions after his arrival there over six years ago as the Vatican Representative and share their sadness.  The Vatican is not allowed an official delegate or nuncio on the mainland so since the 1950 a low-level representative (like Mons Ante) was their ‘China Watcher’ in Hong Kong.

The accident occurred shortly after Mons Ante had left Hong Kong on completing his six years stint. He had just been appointed Nuncio to the Ivory Coast and, as part of the process, was to be ordained Archbishop on 1 May.   

However on 7 April, when driving his car in a tunnel, another car drove into his. The cars burst into       flames and while both drivers were pulled out, the other driver died shortly afterwards and Mons Ante has just recently regained consciousness.

His youthful energy and warm personality sparked a bond with many people in Hong Kong. However he was not so popular among ‘Old Catholics’ on the mainland where he was blamed for the recent ‘Provisional Agreement’ between the Vatican and Beijing.

The Vatican saw it as a way of protecting the present Catholics and establishing the Church more firmly in China but many Catholics who had suffered persecution there saw it as handing over too much control to a Communist Government.

Indeed, after the Agreement was announced, pressure has increase on priests associated with the old or independent Church to join the government organised ‘Catholic Patriotic Association.’

Unfortunately, Mons Ante, who would have had little say in negotiating the agreement, received a lot of the criticism. Hopefully he himself will recover fully and will be able to resume his work in the Vatican diplomatic service but the wounds inflicted on the Chinese Church towards the end of his time as representative in Hong Kong will take longer to heal.

Seventy people, representing 30 groups, gathered in Dalgan last Saturday for an ‘Open Space’ discussion on possible services that could be offered by the Columbans in Dalgan.

It was my first time to see how the process works.

People from various backgrounds are invited to come together and discuss a wide topic –such as how Dalgan could help local and wider communities.

However there is no fixed agenda. The participants are asked to volunteer to lead a workshop on a topic of their choice.  When a number have done this, the remainder are asked to look at the list and join the workshop in which they are most interested.

There are four principles:  

Whoever comes are the right people;

Whatever happens is the only thing that could happen;

When it starts is the right time;

When it’s over, it‘s over.

There is one bye-law, the ‘law of two feet’ – you are free to move from one group to another at any time and be a ‘honey bee’ pollinating other groups.   

At the end there is a plenary session in which everyone has the chance of a final word and all the proposals are collected.

The proposals will be gathered in a report and sent to all the convenors of workshops for correction.

The conclusions will be the basis for an action plan that should emerge. 

Following the excitement of last Saturday’s gathering, we look forward to the new direction they will give to Dalgan.

Last Saturday I was a meeting of Cultur (with a fada on the final ‘u’), the  community organisation in Navan that works with migrants, asylum seekers and refugees.

Among those attending were women from Brazil, Sudan, Ghana and Nigeria.

A local Garda turned up to give them some idea of family disciplinary methods that are illegal in Ireland. Some of the punishment common in their home counties are banned here.  It was a practical example of the cultural problems migrant families face – not just with the culture of the locals but with their own children who get new ideas in local schools that conflict with traditions back home.  

There was also a young man from Monaghan there to encourage them to learn Irish!

‘Inclusion’ was a word often mentioned, they want to feel part of the local community.

There were no Chinese in sight though they do have a presence in Navan. The reason for their absence was that ‘they like to keep to themselves and are hard to get to know.’ That phenomenon is something I know only too well from my effort to contact Chinese in Dublin.

The Cultur Group were getting ready to join in the St Patrick’s Day parade in Navan.  

They are a great bunch of people and the wider Navan community seem to be doing their best to ‘include’ them.  

A lot has been read into the Chinese stamp to celebrate the Lunar New Year. It shows five pigs (this is the ‘Year of the Pig’) a mammy, daddy and three little ones. The general opinion was that it is a signal from the Chinese Government, which established a ‘One Child’ policy in 1979 and extended it to two in 2016, that it is now encouraging three children per family.

It seems there were only 17.58 million births in China in 2017, 12% below official forecasts. It led to a fear that in the not-too-distant future there will be too many old people and not enough young to provide for them.  

In many families both parents have to hold on to jobs and prefer to put all their resources into the education and raising of one child rather than facing the financial burden of two or more.

Pig are still a symbol of prosperity in Asia so connecting pigs (prosperity) with the number of children is not farfetched.  In the West we have a story of Three Little Pigs. Two were easy-going and lazily built houses of straw and sticks while the third put extra effort into building a sturdy house of brick which the hungry wolf could not knock down. So, going that bit further and having a third child is like building up a durable family that is more likely to survive future challenges.

In the meantime, a lot of huffing and puffing is going on between the government and cautious parents, both trying to keep the wolf from the door.

The Chinese Spring Festival New Year celebrations have not yet ended in Ireland!

Last night the ‘Gala’ (as New Year concerts are called in China) was in the Maynooth University Students Union.  There were singing (no dancing), food and, of course, a raffle.

The number of students participating was boosted by a group from the Confucian Institute in Dublin.

Dishes of food were presented to each table and included favourites such as spring rolls, chicken wings, dumplings, friend rice, fried noodles and Chinese style chips. Everything else was prepared by the students themselves and if it was not up to TV-performance level, the enthusiasm and cheer made up for it.

Not all the students were Chinese, among the performers were young people from Europe,  Africa and India,  studying Chinese here.  Each table had a ‘menu’ encouraging everyone to learn a few words.

It is another reminder of how Chinese influence is extending throughout the world.  The students’ celebration illustrated the positive side.   

Today two more volunteer teachers set out for Hong Kong on their way to China. They will teach in state universities. One, Eimer, has already taught on the mainland and will be returning to Chongqing, a major city with a population of over 30 million people.

Margret is on her first visit and will be teaching in Wuhan which has its connections with Ireland as the Columban Fathers, who started as the Maynooth Mission to China, have their roots there.

They are sponsored by AITECE (see www.aitece.com) who have arranged a break and orientation for them in Hong Kong before setting out for the mainland.

There are now direct flights from Dublin to Hong Kong, only 12 hours on Cathay Pacific, but China and Ireland are two different worlds.

China is not just a paradise for food, exotic sights (to Western eyes) and an amazing culture but also for teachers. Or at least that is the experience of the Irish teachers who have gone there with AITECE.  They report that they have never met students who are so open, friendly and responsive – a teacher’s dream, they say.

If you have a third level degree, or know someone who has, this is a great opportunity not only to meet the students but to experience another world.

Just add on, if necessary, a short course in teaching English as a foreign language and you are ready to go! (Also, you need to between 22 and 60.)

Get in touch!

The best way of celebrating the Lunar New Year is to gather with a  group of friends and spend a few hours  talking, singing and making dumplings (jiaozi) together.

During the chatting, gossip about other people comes up making their ears burns –  that is why the dumplings are made in the shape of ears and the name jiaozi comes from that!

Well, actually that is not quite true. The reputed inventor of jiaozi was the doctor Zhang Zhongjing who, 1800 years ago, noted how his neighbours usually had frostbitten ears around the New Year. He made dumplings from mutton, chilli and herbs, wrapped them in a dough skin, boiled them and distributed them.  They were shaped like ears to indicate they would de-ice the ears, warm the body and increase blood flow.

Today making dumplings represents companionship, celebration, feasting and wishing each other good luck.

Last week we had such a celebration in our house. There were plenty of dumplings with music and song from China, Korea, Japan and Ireland. No frostbite was reported but everyone enjoyed the warmth, good company and even the news that was exchanged.

Recently Maynooth University joined an international trend by opening a Maynooth College of Engineering in Fuzhou, on the east coast of China. It will offer Chinese students courses in computer science, engineering, robotics and web programming with the first 300 students graduating in 2023.

It is not Maynooth’s first contact with China, one hundred year ago Maynooth proudly gave birth to the Maynooth Mission to China. In its name, hundreds of Irish men and women went to that war-torn county between 1920 and 1954. They worked with the poorest until the early 1950s when all foreigner were expelled. The graves of some of those Irish missionaries remain there. 

The university continues this tradition in a new form. It states, ‘The partnership will prove to be a powerful model of third-level internationalisation,  one in which we engage fully with and learn from the local culture and local academic environment.’

The intention to learn from the Chinese experience in education and culture is to be praised. A number of other Western universities have found that continuing to work in China depends of self-censorship with regard to matters that might offend the government. They have had to cancel talks and visits from individuals not approved by the authorities. However, as the Maynooth college specialises in engineering it is unlikely to experience any such problems.   

Last Friday we had a reunion of Aitece teachers who returned from China in recent years. Between them they had put in seventy-two years of teaching English there!

As they shared their experiences the most common reflections were, ‘a wonderful time’, ‘most rewarding period of my life’, ‘amazing students’ and ‘it was so positive’.

It was also ‘send-off’ time for two new volunteers and the story of their struggle to get all the necessary documentation together in time was sobering.

In recent years many foreigners have gone to China to teach with doubtful qualifications so now everything has to be documented, notarised and certified.  Congratulations to the two who had to rush to complete the process before a deadline. After that, for them life in China will be no problem.

Hopefully the Chinese government will realise that the new regulations will deprive them of many great experience teachers who won’t want go to all that bother but in the meantime we will try to meet the demands.

The good news is that there are still fantastic opportunities to spend a year or more in China working with young people, the less good news is that you will need to apply in plenty of time to get the documentation done.

Congratulations again to the twelve teachers who have spent so many happy and productive years in China and on the good relationships they have built up on a personal level between Irish and Chinese.