By CGTN’s Keerqinfu
A commencement speech at Maryland University's graduation ceremony recently sparked heated discussion in China about freedom of speech, patriotism, and Internet trolling. Now, many in China ask, has Yang Shuping’s speech humiliated China? And how should we understand the concepts of freedom of speech and patriotism?
Yang, a Chinese graduate of the university, was slammed by netizens after her speech at a graduation ceremony.
In the speech, Yang mentioned the fresh and sweet air and the right to speak freely in the United States, which triggered opposing voices in China.
During the CGTN’s Dialogue program, Rick Dunham, visiting scholar at Beijing-based Tingshua University, expressed the idea that the commencement speech is unnecessarily made too much of.
“I think she has every right to be young and immature. As a journalist, I don’t think you have a right to be inaccurate. You should be accurate at what you are saying. But I think her feeling is what it was about.”
“You can love your country, and be critical about your country.”
“I really worry about the trolls and cyber bullying that came afterwards. I think she does realize she went too far, but I don’t think we should make too much of it.”
After the speech was widely spread, particularly in China, students of Maryland University launched a campaign named ‘Proud of China’. One of the organizers also spoke to Dialogue, demonstrating the ideas of the other Chinese students in Maryland.
“Personally, I wouldn’t use ‘humiliating to describe this speech. Some students feel a bit uncomfortable as it seems not very objective. But the violence on the Internet is something we don’t support. And that’s part of the reason why we start the campaign ‘Proud of China’.’
Speaking of patriotism, guest Flora Liu, alumna from Medill school of Journalism believes the ides of patriotism need to be seen in the context of speaker’s intention.
“In terms of patriotism, you have different ways of expressing it. Criticizing one’s country with hope to make the problem seen and fixed is also a way to show patriotism. So I guess it all depends on the intention of Ms. Yang’s speech. Is she intending to criticizing China because she wants to help improve the society or because she simply please the American students, that’s questionable.”
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