VIDEO: West Seattle High School’s Chinese Program gets a visit from Consul General

| West Seattle news | West Seattle schools | WS culture/arts

(WSB photos. Above, Consul General Zhang Jianmin and wife Zheng Xin with WSHS Chinese teacher Ying Yu)

“I’m sure that if we work together, both sides will be better off, the world will be better off.”

China’s San Francisco-based Consul General Zhang Jianmin offered that thought toward the end of a short speech in West Seattle High School‘s theater today, following a presentation by students from the WSHS Chinese Program. It was the highlight of the short visit by the Consul General and wife Zheng Zin to learn about the program. The area inside WSHS’s south entrance was decorated to welcome them:

During the program in the theater, several students talked about what the Chinese-language program meant to them – “one of those classes you look forward to every day” – and one detailed what he’d learned about China, noting the combined economic power of the U.S. and China. And with the Lunar New Year approaching, students presented cultural performances including a lion and dragon dance:

Other performances spotlighted music and martial arts.

The consul general then took the stage to say he found it a “joy” to meet teacher Ying Yu and her students on the eve of the Year of the Dragon:

He told the students that while the U.S. and China have different cultures, that’s “not to be feared as long as you … reach out to understand.” He noted last year’s U.S.-China presidential summit in California, saying it’s important for the two nations to “jointly share our responsibilities as major powers.”

He also told the students they had many counterparts in his nation learning English, which he started studying at age 12.

He invited them all to apply to visit China through a program of the Institute for International Education. (They might not find it so foreign, he noted as an aside, given that China has about 9,000 Starbucks stores.)

P.S. This wasn’t the Consul General’s first West Seattle visit – we noted this online report of a trip last week including a stop at the Seattle Chinese Garden on Puget Ridge.

Brooke January 30, 2024 (9:56 pm)

Very cool experience! And the school is so lucky to have Ms. Y!

Daniel January 31, 2024 (10:41 am)

“He also told the students they had many counterparts in his nation learning English”. The understatement of the month haha. Many = hundreds of millions. English is like 25% of the total score for college entrance examinations (imagine the SAT, except it is literally the only thing that matters for getting in to college). And before that, it’s on the high school entrance exams. Everyone has to start learning it in Elementary school now.

Brian January 31, 2024 (1:48 pm)

You cracked the code that “many” means “a lot” and that it was said in reference to the population of China which is a known quantity.

Anping Liu January 31, 2024 (11:41 am)

It’s really awesome! Principal Vance and the staff are very supportive! Both Ms.Yu and her students have been doing very well in the Chinese language program!

WSHS parent January 31, 2024 (12:42 pm)

Great job Ms. Yu! As a parent I am consistently impressed with her enthusiasm as a teacher. Honestly the highlight of my child’s experience at West Seattle, so far I have been less than impressed with the principal’s attitude (based on previous correspondence) toward supporting things like Chinese. The Consulate General just highlighted the need for this! Chinese despite its necessity for global efforts is underrepresented compared to commonly offered languages like Spanish and French. We will need Chinese speakers in the future for mutual understanding between the two countries as the Consulate General states in the video. I’m glad that Ms. Yu’s efforts are being recognized, we need more teachers and leaders like her!

9th Grade Parent January 31, 2024 (2:41 pm)

What an awesome opportunity for the WSHS community! Thank you, WS Blog for this glimpse into the school assembly. As a parent of a 9th grader (who has Chinese heritage), I would love to see the WSHS Chinese language program offer more sections so that even more students can enroll in their first choice foreign language. Ms. Yu’s position should be increased to 1.0 FTE to allow for more kids to benefit from learning Mandarin. My fingers are crossed that my son gets a spot next year!

Lazarus January 31, 2024 (4:20 pm)

It is absolutely shameful that Consul General Zhang was invited to WSHS. No member of the Chinese Communist Party should ever be allowed to show their face inside an American high school, and I am absolutely appalled that WSHS admin allowed him to step foot inside their school.

As a Chinese American myself, I applaud the efforts of Ms. Ying Yu to bridge the cultural divide between China and America, working to teach and expose students to the wonders of Chinese culture. However, she could’ve invited a representative of the Republic of China, which would’ve still provided students to learn about the culture of China, without legitimizing the abhorrent acts committed by the CCP. While I understand that maintaining peace and stability is everyone’s desired outcome, genocide, human rights, and denial of fundamental liberties anywhere and everywhere, including Israel, China, and even America, should be categorically and wholeheartedly condemned, rather than swept under the rug.

By inviting Mr Zhang onto their campus, WSHS admin and Ms. Yu have demonstrated that they are complicit with the human rights abuses, genocide, islamaphobia, anti-LGBT, and anti-democracy actions currently being perpetrated by the CCP. In allowing students to be enticed with an opportunity to visit China, a
country that has unjustly abducted Americans, many of whom are still held, against their will, to this day, WSHS has put the livelihoods of their students and
families at risk, while also creating a ripe opportunity for students to
be further indoctrinated by a government that regularly steals
research, technology, and patents from America. Furthermore, they are allowing students to be brainwashed into believing that there simply needs to be “mutual understanding” between America and China, despite the Chinese government’s clear disregard for the rule of law, human rights, and fundamental liberties, all of which anybody with a clear moral conscience would not hesitate in supporting.

During the 1930s, the allies sought to appease Germany by allowing it to enter the demilitarized Rhineland, and annex parts of Czechoslovakia. As we approach a crucial point in Sino-US relations, we must not allow history to repeat itself, else face the consequences of our own actions. The government in Beijing, of which Mr. Zhang represents, has repeatedly demonstrated that it is willing to enable corruption in majority black and brown countries, already devastated by colonialism, blatantly disregard other countries’ sovereign territorial rights, and threaten democracy, freedom, and the rule of law in both Hong Kong and Taiwan, even going as far as to threaten to take Taiwan “by any means necessary,” a far cry from the “mutual understanding,” “problem solving,” and “peace” that Mr. Zhang preached to students.

While I am elated to see the efforts of WSHS and Ms. Yu in bringing my culture to students here in America, one must understand that there is a fundamental difference between the government in Beijing, and the culture of Han Chinese. While it is a shame that I must bring politics into an otherwise amazing multicultural event, Mr. Zhang is a representative of the Communist Party in Beijing that has repeatedly demonstrated its disrespect for minority cultures under its control. Next time, I urge WSHS and Ms. Yu to do better, to promote Chinese culture without promoting the politics of the Communist Party, to promote the well being of every human being, Chinese or not, mainlander or not, and to teach students that the Chinese language and Chinese culture is not fundamentally incompatible with human rights, liberty, and democracy, as demonstrated on the island of Taiwan.

WSCurmudgeon January 31, 2024 (6:06 pm)

Lazarus, TL; DR. If you can’t edit your comments, find a good editor. I worked in the State Dept during the Cold War in the USSR. I am not a Communist, nor an enthusiast for totalitarian regimes. I agree with the statements of yours that I read, but there is too much there.

WSeattleite January 31, 2024 (8:22 pm)

Lazarus, please provide proof to back up your statement:”By inviting Mr Zhang onto their campus, WSHS admin and Ms. Yu have demonstrated that they are complicit with the human rights abuses, genocide, islamaphobia, anti-LGBT, and anti-democracy actions currently being perpetrated by the CCP.”How do you know that Ms. Yu had any involvement in inviting this person to the campus? Is there not a partnership that exists between SPS and the Institute? Perhaps she was as surprised as you were to learn of this visit. In your opinion, the presence of Mr. Zhang at the school was politically incorrect. You have a right to your opinion; however, you are making some pretty serious accusations against SPS staff and Ms. Yu in particular. Some might see your statement as libelous. When considering all the recent national news coverage about defamation lawsuits, one would think people would exercise a little more restraint.

WSCurmudgeon January 31, 2024 (11:38 pm)

WSeattleite, Thank you for reading Lazarus’s very long comment more closely than I did. I agreed generally with his criticisms of the CCP and the PRC that I happened to see. I didn’t read any of the criticisms of the teacher or SPS. Neither SPS nor Ms Yu should be criticized for organizing this event, IMO.

Wshs parent February 1, 2024 (12:40 pm)

How exciting! I have a college freshman who had her and they loved Ms. Yu. Unfortunately, my current high school freshman did not get in. Based on the sounds of it almost everyone my child new signed up for Chinese, many of them seemed to get their second choice of Spanish or French. I believe that the Chinese program should be expanded to include at least one more teacher given the demand. I know that French expanded I think to have another teacher when its popularity grew. I don’t see why it shouldn’t be the same for Chinese when Spanish has three teachers, and French has two. Ms. Yu is a fantastic teacher and for any of you prospective parents out there I would recommend encouraging your child to give it a shot, it might be one of their best choices in high school.

Anywhere but here February 1, 2024 (8:26 pm)

He did not however, visit CSIHS. Their Chinese teacher 💓 is from Taiwan.

Mike February 1, 2024 (9:49 pm)

You might need to help people in Seattle understand why that matters. I’ve been surprised at how many people don’t understand the history of Taiwan and the future we’re staring directly at right now. Lots of family and friends have fought wars against and fled communist regimes, lost loved ones during those wars and after in “reeducation” camps. It’s sad how uninformed and sometimes just plain ignorant people are here.
- Brian February 2, 2024 (7:27 am)
  
  Source literally any of these claims. What specific communist regimes did people flee (rather than the reality that they fled countries being terrorized by CIA-backed militias hunting “leftists”)?

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