College Record 2013

Cross-cultural collaboration with China
by Professor James Crabbe (MCR 1977-79, JRF 1979-
82, RF 1982-87, SF 1988-).
Wolfson College is truly international; indeed a friend of mine once said that you
could fly the UN flag over the College. Cross-cultural sensitivity and exchange is at
the core of a global system of higher education, where we can understand, respect,
and learn from the strengths of other nations. As Executive Dean of Creative Arts,
Technologies and Science at the University of Bedfordshire, my collaboration with
leading institutions in China over the last four years has made me sensitive to
cultural differences, innovation in ideas of communication, and growing partnership
networks.
China is trying to develop its own pedagogy, free from Russian and Western models.
In doing so, it needs to embrace new forms of creativity and critical thinking. In
2009, after I had given a lecture on creativity to staff and students at the China
University of Communications in Beijing, the Head of Department said to me: ‘We
have a different definition of creativity; it is not the same as yours.’
This difference is underpinned by a major cultural distinction. We in the West
tend to be task-oriented, and the Chinese to be culture-oriented. There have been
many attempts by writers and researchers in the West to embrace Chinese culture,
but one example may illustrate the pitfalls. In 1820 Robert Morrison published
his Dictionary of the Chinese Language. In trying to introduce Chinese culture to
Westerners, he adopted a culture-oriented approach, incorporating information
from selected Chinese works. However, despite his excellent intentions, there were
three important factors he could not disguise: his Protestant mission, his view of
cross-cultural communication between China and the West, and the patronage of
the East India Company which printed his book.
It is very difficult, perhaps impossible, for Westerners to embrace Chinese culture
completely. It is not for nothing that ‘Propriety, Righteousness, Integrity, and a
Sense of Shame’ is carved in Chinese on the gate to Chinatown, Boston (Mass.).
Confucianism values shame as an emotion which promotes self-examination and
motivates one toward toward socially and morally desirable change. It does not
share the Western assumption that shame is harmful to one’s health.
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