Recent Graduate Receives Fulbright

Recent Gallatin alumna Lily Liang (BA ’06) enjoys a challenge. The latest Gallatin graduate to win a Fulbright Grant, she is ardently pursuing studies in a subject matter close to her heart: family relations in China. Originally from Guangdong, China, Liang created her Gallatin concentration in Sociology and East Asian Studies, which she fulfilled by combining Gallatin classes with course work in anthropology, East Asian studies, and sociology at NYU’s College of Arts and Science. She took advantage of the opportunity to study abroad in her junior year and attended Peking University—an experience that convinced her that she needed to reconnect further with her home country. Liang received the Fulbright in 2007 and has been studying in Beijing since September, but had a few moments to catch up with Gallatin.

Your Fulbright research is on the social behaviors of Chinese university students—how they are shaped by culture and economics, and how this affects Chinese family life. What was your impetus for creating this project?

LL: I thought I knew all about Chinese family dynamics because I’m Chinese and grew up in a rather traditional Chinese family. [I thought] that every Chinese child with some gumption would flee from the iron house Family at the first chance he or she gets, not unlike the hero in Ba Jin’s novel Family. Then I studied abroad in China and learned from my Chinese friends that my ideas were too melodramatic and out of fashion.

I’ve learned that filial piety in contemporary China, the subject of my Fulbright research, is more than cultural. The filial equation involves some of the most pressing economic concerns and social issues that the Chinese now face. In particular, I am examining how recent institutional changes in China are translated into family expectations and responsibilities for Chinese university students.

The students are generally winners in the developing China. Their potential earning power climbs as their retirement-age parents’ rate of savings dwindles. Further, the flimsy social safety net now in place signals a return of the responsibility of old-age care to the household. But the Chinese household has been reduced in size and changed in dynamics (the child is now the new emperor or empress) under the one-child policy. This raises the question: to what extent will the coping strategies of these children affirm or deviate from the Chinese moral standard?

Have you always been interested in this subject matter?

LL: I think family expectations and responsibilities are an obsession, acknowledged or otherwise, of Chinese children or children of Chinese descent. In school I studied mostly Chinese philosophy and ancient Chinese culture. [Since graduating from Gallatin] I shifted my focus to contemporary China and have recently read works on reform and institutional changes by Martin Whyte and Minxin Pei.

Did any Gallatin courses in particular have an effect on you?

LL: Jack Tchen’s Chinatown and the American Imagination. Jack’s committed interest in Asian-American history piqued mine. Also, Nina Cornyetz’s Behind the Mask: it challenged my Westernized understanding of intellectual development.

Jack Tchen was also your Gallatin adviser. What did he provide as a mentor?

LL: Jack is tough and great. One of his mantras is to be self-critical but never be self-defeating. I could go to him and complain about the challenges of being Chinese and afterward not wallow in self-pity. He also taught me to be resourceful and to take initiative; he encouraged me to do independent studies when I couldn’t find large courses that covered my China interests in depth. [Gallatin Professor] Laura Slatkin, in her gentle ways, was also a wonderful mentor. I took two of her courses. When I expressed my concern about the complacency of students of Western philosophy, instead of a curt dismissal she had me write a detailed memo on Confucian wisdom for her Wisdom class.

What are some of your interests outside of your studies?

LL: Photography and watching foreign films. I’m also involved with the Chinatown Voter Education Alliance and the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund on promoting equal voting rights for Asian Americans.

Do you have any ultimate career aspirations or goals?

LL: At the moment I only have five-year plans!

So where do you see yourself in the next five years?

LL: After the Fulbright, I plan to pursue a Ph.D. in sociology.