On May 21st, at the University of Maryland (UMD) campus-wide graduation ceremony, Shuping Yang, an international student from China, gave a commencement address. Controversy erupted. Her speech, extolling democracy and freedom of speech in the United States, depicted China as a literally and figuratively stifling, heavily polluted country with no political liberty. Many Chinese found her speech offensive, propagating exaggerations and stereotypes about China. Though the incident has swirled primarily on Chinese social media, it is instructive for everyone.
The young speaker received the most pushback for details that many fellow Chinese students considered embellishments. For example, she recounted wearing a face mask every day in her home city of Kunming because of severe air pollution. In fact, Kunming is one of China’s cleanest cities, and many long-time residents were baffled by her assertion.
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