Xu Jiru delivers a speech at a TV program. [cyol.com]

It is no secret that the Chinese are obsessed with the Ivy League, Harvard especially. Recently, netizen gossip moved in the direction of a speech entitled The State in Strength, The Youth in Strength by Xu Jiru, who recently graduated from the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard.

In this particular case, sound bites proved very state-media friendly, as the speech essentially implied that impressions of Chinese are based on national strength. Here are a few quotes that were referred as "golden sentences" on the social network.

"You don't have to be an excellent individual on someone else's land to be respected. Being an ordinary, down-to-earth Chinese, you will be treated nicely, because behind you there is a stable country, and the world is in such awe of her."

"The right to free choices, which comes with a sense of security, is the best gift that a country could ever give to its young people."

Xu Jiru's speech first appeared on Television Beijing last Friday in I’m the Speaker, a reality show that aims at "promoting positive energy and mainstream values". As of today, Xu's speech has received more than 5 million hits online.

At the Kennedy School, Xu studied the Palestinian-Israeli conflicts, the civil war in Syria, and the nuclear crisis in Iran; at the time she said that she found these issues "so remote from real life, and as well quite useless".

However, upon graduation she started to feel that her way of seeing the world had changed.

This spring, Xu went to Israel on a program with the Kennedy School. At the airport, she was offended by the Israeli security officers who interrogated her for half an hour and was overwhelmed by the questions asked: "What's your first and family name? Where are you from and where are you going to? What schools did you go to? What jobs have you worked? Which countries have you been to? What dreams have you had? What essays have you written? Who have you loved? "

When her Israeli classmate told her that the Israelis are very obsessed with the concept of safety, Xu decided that without a sense of security in the hearts of the citizens, a country is still capable of raising its national powers—as Israel had become powerful for its size, despite its security situation.

She felt that the valuable sense of security offered by China to its citizens comes under no conditions, requires no effort, and is often taken for granted.

Xu went on to talk with another classmate who enjoys absolutely no sense of security – a Syrian refugee who admires Xu's identity as a Chinese citizen. The biggest difference between being a refugee and being a citizen, according to Xu, is the right to free choices.

Xu then brought her speech back to Harvard and said she was often asked by professors to explain Chinese policies and positions during classes, including the issue on South China Sea. She felt she always had a say in class, because people at Harvard must have thought: "China is very important, and they must listen to what Chinese students have to say."

At the end of the speech, Xu reflected on a famous saying from the Century of Humiliation in China, "The youth in strength, the state in strength". She emphasized that the youth could only be strong when the state is strong, and called for the young people in China to become stronger to make the country stronger – more or less the specific message that Chinese state organs spread at every opportunity.

Last year, Xu was interviewed by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) on the appeal of Ivy League schools for the Chinese. Xu said the long-term Chinese obsession to the United States and its higher education comes from decades of being the underdog in the international system and its goal of becoming the top dog. Other than that, the dose of internationalization—Americanization to be exact—is something important to be put on resume to prove oneself as a "cosmopolitan, sophisticated global citizen".

Xu also told the ABC that she went to the Chinese equivalent of an international school for high school education. Learning the English language so extensively, she was inevitably exposed to American values and ideologies. She also considered herself naturally familiar with American ways of thinking and doing things.

When asked about reasons for going to America, Xu described herself as a responsible citizen with global awareness who hopes to have influence on people around her. In today's China, global perspective and mindset are extremely important, especially for her generation, who are "ready to march into the world".

Dreaming of becoming a diplomat in the future, Xu has always been interested in public services and foreign affairs. According to Elite Youth, a publication under the Youth League of the CPC, Xu worked as the Goodwill Ambassador for the Nanjing 2014 Youth Olympic Games when she was in year 12 at high school.

Xu Jiru poses at her graduation ceremony from the John E. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard. [The World of Chinese]

(Source: The World of Chinese)

Editor: Jane Wang