中國學(xué)生“西游記”

文/馬爾科姆·瑞斯特 (Malcolm Wrest)

國際化企業(yè)的勞動力的臨時(shí)流動對全球的人口遷移，影響日益增大。這些發(fā)展趨勢也影響著教育的愿景。舉個例子，在澳大利亞的中國移民已經(jīng)不著痕跡地融入其主流社會當(dāng)中。短期的中國學(xué)生數(shù)量也在產(chǎn)生著非常大的社會影響力,這一趨勢很可能會繼續(xù)保持下去。

毫無疑問，國際華人永久移民和臨時(shí)工人以及學(xué)生人數(shù)的遷移，是顯而易見的趨勢。這種趨勢在世界上大多數(shù)大城市中最容易觀察到。澳大利亞、加拿大、英國和美國等國家都從吸收移民進(jìn)入本國、融入本國中受益匪淺。

單憑澳大利亞就可以確定，世界各大中心城市都會經(jīng)常以各種溢美之詞提起當(dāng)?shù)氐摹爸袊恰保瑏硗癸@他們的城市是多么的都市化，多么富有特色。在世界各地，在各個不同的國度，“中國城”都被奉為當(dāng)?shù)厝撕椭袊约捌渌麌矣慰偷闹饕包c(diǎn)。這其中的緣由自然是因?yàn)槿藗儗χ袊腼兊钠毡檎J(rèn)可和對特色明顯而又備受矚目的中國文化的尊重（獨(dú)特的建筑風(fēng)格、生活模式等）。

Global population movements are now being increasingly impacted upon by the temporary movements of an internationally corporatized work-force. Educational aspirations are being shaped by these developments. By way of example.In Australia, permanent populations of Chinese immigrants more seamlessly move into (and shape)mainstream Australian society. Transient Chinese student populations are also hugely influential socially, and are a trend that on the basis of ongoing favorable ancillary circumstances appears likely to only continue.

Without dispute, the international Chinese diaspora of permanent immigrants and temporary workers together with student populations are highly visible trends. Countries that have major formal immigration intakes such as the Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States have all greatly benefited from the absorption of immigrants into their respective population mixes.

The worlds' major urban centers all now routinely cite their local China-towns, in their various guises, as evidence of how urbane and sophisticated their particular city is. Across the planet, from one country to another the worlds “China-towns” are all touted as major attractions for both locals and tourists and for Chinese and non-Chinese visitors alike. This is naturally due to the universal respect held for Chinese cuisine and the highly visible and readily appreciable nature of Chinese culture (in the shape of distinctive architectural styles, living patterns and so on).

歷史背景

就澳大利亞而言，印尼和東帝汶的中國人與澳大利亞北部的原始土著人口的貿(mào)易可以追溯到幾百年前。遠(yuǎn)航船舶上的人們同當(dāng)?shù)厝擞憙r(jià)還價(jià)購買風(fēng)味美食如Trepang（當(dāng)?shù)睾ｕr美食），這樣的交易活動持續(xù)了很長的時(shí)間。

在澳大利亞，繼歐洲入侵澳大利亞以后，第一次中國移民潮發(fā)生在淘金熱的19世紀(jì)50年代，成千上萬的中國淘金者進(jìn)入澳大利亞尋求財(cái)富。在地表金礦消失殆盡后，這些淘金者中大部分最終被遣返中國，但是留下來的中國人依然是現(xiàn)代澳大利亞“中國城”的人口的歷史基礎(chǔ)。

來自亞洲國家的移民不斷涌入澳大利亞，包括印度人、印尼人、韓國人、中國人，澳大利亞在經(jīng)濟(jì)和文化上都大大受益。中國移民仍然可以說是澳大利亞移民群體中最卓越的團(tuán)體。現(xiàn)在，有足夠多的“中國城”遍布澳大利亞各城市。澳大利亞華人完全融入澳洲社會，生活在各城市網(wǎng)中的富庶地區(qū)。

Historical Background

In respect of Australia, evidence of Indonesian and Timorese Chinese trade with the original Aboriginal populations of northern Australia dates back some hundreds of years. Vessels manned by sea-faring folk are reputed to have bargained for local delicacies such as the Trepang (a local seafood delicacy) for extended period of times.

In Australia, following the European invasion of Aboriginal Australia,the first influx of Chinese immigrants occurred during the gold rushes of the 1850's when thousands of Chinese prospectors entered Australia to seek their fortune. Many of those prospectors were ultimately repatriated to China following the petering out of the major surface gold veins however the Chinese population that remained formed the historical basis of Australia's modern “China-Towns”.

While Australia has hugely benefitted both economically and culturally, the Chinese community arguably remains easily the most socially prominent immigrant group in Australian society. There are naturally enough no longer distinct “China Towns” dotted throughout Australia's municipalities these days, Chinese Australians are fully integrated into Australian society and live in well-to-do locations through-out the entire urban fabric of the country.

本文作者馬爾科姆·瑞斯特

留學(xué)生的“中國城”

盡管過去幾十年來，大多數(shù)發(fā)達(dá)國家的移民組合出現(xiàn)了一個特別顯著的變化，這種現(xiàn)象就是指“短暫的”，卻“龐大的”國際學(xué)生群體。這主要是因?yàn)橹袊恼w經(jīng)濟(jì)的發(fā)展（因此中國的公民有能力負(fù)擔(dān)海外留學(xué)費(fèi)用），也是由于經(jīng)濟(jì)全球化和不斷發(fā)展的配套運(yùn)輸系統(tǒng)，這些利好條件使得世界人口的經(jīng)濟(jì)命運(yùn)更緊密地結(jié)合在一起。

總的說來，臨時(shí)入境者人數(shù)有很大增加。這里我所說的不僅僅是出境游的游客，更重要的是，跨國公司所產(chǎn)生的“全球自由勞動力”，以及外國留學(xué)生，他們希望能充分利用國際教育給他們提供的優(yōu)勢。

雖然澳大利亞的永久移民項(xiàng)目保持每年不足20萬的新增人口，但是獲得簽證的暫時(shí)居住的國際學(xué)生，已經(jīng)開始逐漸逼近每年60萬人。到目前為止，在全部留學(xué)生中，最突出的民族是華裔學(xué)生。他們占整個學(xué)生入學(xué)人數(shù)的30%，是位列第二位的民族（印度）的兩倍。事實(shí)上，目前（2017—2018），每年通過留學(xué)項(xiàng)目進(jìn)入澳大利亞的中國學(xué)生人數(shù)幾乎是每年澳大利亞全部永久移民的人數(shù)總和。

如此之多的中國學(xué)生進(jìn)入澳大利亞，并經(jīng)常集中在一些大城市，他們已經(jīng)對澳大利亞現(xiàn)代文化環(huán)境產(chǎn)生巨大的影響力，有效地構(gòu)成了一個全國矚目的社會團(tuán)體。

走在墨爾本中部或悉尼的任何一條主要街道上，幾乎不可能不遇到外國人，尤其是占比較高的中國學(xué)生。他們已然成了現(xiàn)代澳大利亞城市生活中被公認(rèn)的一部分。

Transitory Student “China-Towns”

What has though proved though to be a particularly significant change in the immigration mix for most developed countries over the last few decades is the phenomenon of “transient” yet massive international student populations. This has been a transformation significantly centered both on China's overall economic growth and development(hence the ability of its citizenry to be able to afford to send individuals abroad) and the worlds' steadily globalizing economy with ancillary transport systems that continue to mesh the economic fate of the worlds' principal population centers more tightly together.

In general there has been an enormous increase in the number of temporary entrants. Here I speak not simply of visitors engaging in international tourism but more generally the “foot-loose” global work-force that multi-national corporations have engendered and the foreign student population that has dutifully followed hoping to take advantage of the benefits an international education offers.

While Australia's permanent immigration program remains under 200,000 annual entrants, the visaed arrival of international students,temporarily resident in the country has begun to edge up toward 600,000 annual entrants. By far the most prominent nationality, among the entire student intake, are students of ethnic Chinese background.They represent close to 30% of the entire student intake and are twice as large an entrant category as the next student nationality category(India). In fact, currently (2017 - 2018) the number of Chinese students annually entering Australia under the student program, on their own is almost as large as the number of permanent arrivals to Australia, of EVERY nationality.

These student entrants arrive in such numbers, and, often concentrated around specific inner-urban centres of learning have become hugely influential in the cultural milieu of modern Australia, effectively now constituting a recognizable “social grouping” within the nation.

To walk down any of the main streets of central Melbourne or Sydney it would be nigh impossible not to encounter foreign, and in particular,Chinese students in significant numbers. They have however become such an accepted part of the life of modern urban Australia, that to an uninformed observer they could just as easily be mistaken for long term residents.

澳大利亞每年吸引著大量的中國留學(xué)生

國內(nèi)教育的發(fā)展

中國經(jīng)濟(jì)的發(fā)展使它有能力對其教育部門進(jìn)行大量投資。教育標(biāo)準(zhǔn)有了很大的改進(jìn)，我的一個親密的私人朋友此刻出現(xiàn)在我的腦海中。我的朋友多蘿西，2017年開始在湖南省的一個鄉(xiāng)鎮(zhèn)小學(xué)開始了她的教學(xué)生涯，在此之前她曾求學(xué)于長沙。多蘿西在大學(xué)學(xué)習(xí)期間只有很少的外籍英語教師，她并未經(jīng)常與講英語的人交往，也從未出國旅行過。然而她的英語近乎流利。我?guī)缀鯇λ挠⒄Z會話無可挑剔，甚至她在語法方面的書面寫作也只需小小的修改。我很幸運(yùn)遇到了她的一些朋友，他們看起來專業(yè)方面也不相上下。多蘿西的學(xué)生也在接受一樣的英語教學(xué)，這將與澳大利亞許多學(xué)校的英語水平相媲美。多蘿西和她的同事們正在努力使中國的英語教學(xué)水平與西方接軌。他們代表了迅速接近“未來”的中國的公立學(xué)校系統(tǒng)。

Domestic Educational Development

The successful economic expansion of the country has enabled it to underwrite substantial investments in its' Education Sector.There have been vast improvements in the education standards offered locally to the citizens of the People's Republic. A close personal friend comes immediately to mind. Dorothy, recently (2017) commenced her teaching career in a State Primary School in a small nondescript town in Hunan province, due south of the state capital, Changsha, where she studied. Dorothy had a small number of expatriate English language instructors in her university studies however has never regularly socially interacted with an English speaking audience nor has she ever travelled overseas. Yet her English is near perfectly fluent. I can barely fault any conversational English she has with me and even her technical written work only requires minor correction. I have been fortunate enough to have met a number of her friends who do not seem greatly professionally dissimilar. Dorothy's students are in turn receiving standards of English tuition that would be on par with English delivery in many of Australia's Schools . Near western pedagogical equivalency is where Dorothy and her colleagues are now taking China. They represent the rapidly approaching “future” of China's State School System.

隨著中國的公立學(xué)校的極大改善，私立教育也在飛速發(fā)展。他們與海外機(jī)構(gòu)建立了創(chuàng)造性的伙伴關(guān)系，努力提供教育產(chǎn)品，使之與國外的教育機(jī)會相競爭。當(dāng)然，在相關(guān)的小學(xué)和中學(xué)（包括高中），中國的民辦教育行業(yè)現(xiàn)在提供學(xué)生體育基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施跟國際學(xué)生相比，一點(diǎn)也不差。從我所目睹的，在蘇州、上海、南京和杭州的許多私立學(xué)校，在很多方面的資源上比他們的西方同行有過之而無不及。

While Chinese State Schools have improved enormously the private education sector has also leapt ahead, entering into creative partnerships with overseas institutions that endeavor to offer an education product competitive with the opportunities available overseas. Certainly in relation to Primary and Secondary (High and Middle) Schools, China's private education industry now offers students physical infrastructure no poorer than that that on offer to students internationally. From what I have personally witnessed, the private Schools in Suzhou and Shanghai, Nanjing and Hangzhou are in many senses as well, and sometimes, even better resourced than their Western counterparts.

留學(xué)的優(yōu)勢

國內(nèi)的教育飛速發(fā)展，那么中國學(xué)生出國留學(xué)還有什么好處呢？我的判斷來自一些輔助的條件的支持。我假定這一結(jié)論主要基于以下具體原因：

成本等價(jià)中國的國內(nèi)民辦教育的標(biāo)準(zhǔn)非常高，但現(xiàn)在實(shí)際成本支出與澳大利亞幾乎等價(jià)。人們總是會持有這樣一種看法：海外教育包括一些基本的文化視野和中國機(jī)構(gòu)所不能提供的語言環(huán)境。在澳洲，學(xué)生經(jīng)常有機(jī)會在歐洲或美國度過一個學(xué)期學(xué)習(xí)任何學(xué)位課程的一部分，因?yàn)槟抢镉械玫秸J(rèn)可澳大利亞的姊妹機(jī)構(gòu)。

經(jīng)濟(jì)機(jī)會現(xiàn)在的澳大利亞房價(jià)與中國的主要城市的房價(jià)相比具有很強(qiáng)的競爭力。［墨爾本的房價(jià)中位數(shù)——65萬澳元（2017年），約合人民幣330萬元。就相當(dāng)于很常見的城市單元房，如蘇州的中檔房地產(chǎn)價(jià)格——我們所說的300萬元一套的兩間或三間臥室的125平方米，實(shí)際上這個價(jià)格還要比在上海附近的住房便宜多了］。雖然學(xué)生在學(xué)習(xí)期間沒有必要購買住房，但對于許多富有的中國房地產(chǎn)投資者來說，在孩子的學(xué)習(xí)過程中投資是一個現(xiàn)實(shí)的命題。

生活方式因素澳大利亞有著豐富的戶外體育活動文化，學(xué)生能夠在自然環(huán)境中獲塑造性格的體驗(yàn)（例如參加遠(yuǎn)足、露營、沖浪或潛水等水上運(yùn)動），這些在中國教育中還有所缺失。

Advantages of studying abroad

Given that China has responded so comprehensively to the product in the educational market, is there now any advantage for Chinese students who would choose to study abroad? This I believe is also due to a number of ancillary circumstances. I would postulate the following specific reasons for this conclusion.

Cost equivalency

China's domestic private education offers an enormously high standard of education but one that is now on virtual cost parity with Australia.There will always be a perception that an overseas education includes essential cultural insights and language exposure that institutions in China can never offer.It is frequently possible to make study in Europe or America part of any degree course in Australia with a semester abroad in a sister institution, readily approvable for most courses.

Economic Opportunity

The cost of housing in Australia is now literally price-competitive with the housing commonly on the market in China's major cities. (The median House Price in Melbourne (In the range of AUD $650,000 (in 2017)－approximately RMB $ 3,300,000) would be equivalent to many of the Units now commonly available in a city such as Suzhou's middle range property market (shall we say RMB $3,000,000 for a two or three bedroom 125 m2Unit) and in turn would actually be CHEAPER than much of the housing in nearby Shanghai). While there is no need for students to purchase housing while undertaking their studies, for many wealthy Chinese property investment over the course of their child's studies is a realistic proposition.

Lifestyle Considerations

Australia has a cultural emphasis on sport and outdoor activities .Students are likely to be able to acquire character building experiences in the natural environment (For example Hiking and Camping or participation in water sports such as Suring or Diving) that are missing from the educational experience in China.