
“Panda-hugger” and “dragon-slayer” have become popular terms in recent years for describing two different kinds of China-watchers. Rob Gifford defines the terms as follows: “A panda-hugger is someone who says that almost everything going on in China is good, that China’s progress is a great thing for the world, and that any problems are peripheral. A dragon-slayer is someone who says the situation in China is terrible, that China is a threat to the world, and that any positive developments are just window-dressing.”
A large focus of our course will be how we can avoid these two extremes of the China-loving “panda-huggers” and China-bashing “dragon-slayers” as we teach students about China. After watching Eric X. Li’s Ted Talk, “A Tale of Two Political Systems,” please share your thoughts on one, two, or all of the following questions: