Cut Loose at Fifty: Chapter Eight – "Take it easy Chris, just take it easy"
By Chris Clancy
web posted November 28, 2011
When I got the job at Zhongnan University of Economics and Law (ZUEL) there were a few things I did not fully appreciate. The first was just how prestigious the accounting department was. The second was the calibre of the students I would be teaching. And third, most importantly, just how difficult the job was going to be.
During the two months before teaching began the first two things became very clear. The department was indeed very famous in China and its students were only accepted if their high school leaving exam results were well above average.
To get, "well above average" in China, is quite an achievement.
Back in the UK, if anyone happens to mention China or the Chinese, someone, almost inevitably, will chime in with, "Damn clever those Chinese", or just, "Damn clever!" I'm not sure where this saying came from but I have to say, in my experience, it's no joke - it's the damned truth.
Why? Who knows?
Maybe it has something to do with the language itself - with the difficulty involved in learning Chinese script when they first go to school. In the West the kids have to master twenty six characters. In China it's hundreds!
But whatever the reason, couple this level of intelligence with an unbelievable work ethic and you end up with a very potent mix.
I really don't think that people in the West know what they're up against.
Napoleon Bonaparte once famously said of China, "Let her sleep, for when she wakes, she will shake the world".
Well, it's happened.
In just thirty years China has moved from a centrally planned disaster to become the second most powerful economy on the planet.
The only thing that can stop this juggernaut is China itself. Beneath the surface there's a great deal of unreported frustration and unrest.
When things brim to the surface the government is very quick to act.
There are good reasons why China maintains the world's largest standing army and it would be naive to think it existed solely to deter threats from without.
As for the West, its greatest threat will be that when recovery does arrive it will be a "jobless" recovery. The jobs that have gone to countries like China are are not coming back - and we'd better get used to it.
It not just a matter of lower labour costs. The fact is that people in China not only work for a lot less than their counterparts in the West – but that they also work a lot harder and a lot longer.
The USA, in particular, must find ways of meeting this challenge. If new real jobs are to be generated then it must be in those industries where they have the expertise, the technology and a competitive advantage – in other words, luxury and hi-tech goods and services
And there's no choice here — Margaret Thatcher said it all back in the 1980s — if you cannot compete in a market you have to get out!
And that's where we are now and have been for many years.
I had the opportunity to meet a few groups of students during the summer, before the teaching began, and discuss these and other issues. They were pretty well informed and I was impressed with the quality of their English - especially bearing in mind that they were not English majors – in fact, on balance, their English was better than most English majors!
My job was to teach them a course called "Modern Accounting" which, in plain language, meant financial accounting at intermediate level.
This was an elective English course taught previously by Chinese teachers. The problem was that the teachers used both Chinese and English. Not surprisingly, the students tended to turn off during the English bits and wait for the Chinese.
In short, it didn't work.
At the end of the semester the teachers had to all but give students the exam paper in advance – if not, very few, if any, would have passed.
Someone then suggested that the course be taught by a native English speaker who had little or no command of the Chinese language. The idea was that this would force the students to learn the English.
Hence my appointment.
I began preparing my teaching notes well in advance. It didn't take me long to realize that the course textbook, from the student's point of view, was practically un-usable.
It was a very large book written by three highly experienced and accomplished American accountants – they even managed to sneak some humour in here and there – which, I must say, is quite an achievement with this subject.
But there was a problem.
It was written for native English speakers.
I knew that after a few pages Chinese students would give up on it – no matter how bright they were. The language was just too difficult, especially when it included technical accounting jargon.
Fortunately, the book came with a PPT presentation which summarized each chapter.
I felt that if I combined the PPT with plenty of "chalk and talk" and kept technical words to a minimum, that I would be OK.
Unfortunately, this was not how things turned out.
Hindsight, as we all know, is a perfect science. But looking back I just wish I had given the thing a bit more thought. The job would still have been more difficult than I had anticipated, but not quite as difficult as I would make it.
For my first class I was told to expect about ninety students. In the event there was well over a hundred – the extra people had turned up out of interest – as the first Western teacher in the department I suppose I was some kind of novelty.
I started by giving a brief introduction about myself – basically I was just chatting to them - this went well. By and large they understood what I was saying – they must have done – they laughed at the right parts and there was a little bit of interaction.
I then went on talk about the things which we would cover on the course. However, when I started to use a few technical words things did not go well at all. In fact, I could tell from their body language and facial expressions that nobody knew what I was talking about – even when I wrote these words up on the board.
It reminded me of my first class in DJK – but the problem here was very different and far more serious.
The students had already mastered the subject in Chinese.
In order to do the same in English they had to learn the "language" of accounting in English.
This went beyond "conversational" English.
What I mean is that every profession has its own "language" – for example the medical and legal professions – and the accounting profession, of course, is no different.
Instead of gradually developing and building this "language" into my lectures I had made the mistake of jumping straight into the subject.
It was a big mistake.
I managed to fumble my way through – as I did with my other classes that week
Throughout, I have to say, the students were incredibly polite and patient.
I spent the entire weekend trying to re-structure the course and re-write my notes for the following week. There wasn't enough time to do it properly and I wasn't happy with the result
I didn't sleep well. I'd started to get myself into a bit of a state about the whole thing.
In what seemed no time at all it was Monday morning and I was back in front of that first class. The numbers had held up. They were all back.
I stood at the teacher's desk which stood on a dias almost large enough to be called a stage. Everything was ready – the microphone, the computer, the PPT projector, the screen, the class – everything, that is, except me
I started to feel extremely nervous.
"Oh no", I thought.
Something horrible was starting to happen. It had happened to me twice before in my career. I recognized the signs
The onset of stage-fright?
Oh yes.
Ohhh … bloody 'ell!
I looked down at my notes. I pretended to re-arrange them.
Shuffle … shuffle, shuffle.
"I can't freeze now", I thought to myself, "I just can't … "
I was afraid to look up.
So many people – idle chatter – my hands started to shake.
I started to sweat.
More shuffling
Oh God!
Then, just as I thought I was going to lose it, something happened.
A girl appeared in front of my lecturn.
I raised my eyes but not my head.
She looked me directly in the face and then, in perfect English, said, "Take it easy Chris, just take it easy."
That said she quietly returned to her seat – slightly apart from the other students – front left.
I glanced around the class. I thought everyone had watched her approach me. But, as far as I could see, no-one had even noticed. They were still just chatting with each other.
It seems remarkable now, but I think she was the only student there who saw that I was about to have some kind of panic attack!
I remember feeling myself coming down.
Relaxing.
I stopped sweating and the shaking subsided.
I switched on the microphone and began speaking.
xxx
The next time I met her was at the beginning of the second semester. Her English name was Michelle. I mentioned the incident and we both laughed about it – even though I didn't find it very funny at the time!
We made friends and kept in touch over the years – followed each other's ups and downs – even after I left China.
I was never quite sure what had prompted her action.
Whether it was an act of kindness or just pity?
I like to think it was the former, but, just in case, I never asked her.
xxx
I managed to wing it through the rest of the month. Then there was a holiday for the October golden week.
This was most welcome.
A chance to learn from mistakes, to re-group, to plan and to gather my thoughts.
It was also a chance to wonder what would have happened if a single student had not taken it upon herself to leave her seat and speak to me.
To say those few words:
"Take it easy Chris, just take it easy."
Maybe I would have raced from the lecture theatre in blind terror … screaming!
I just don't know.
But if so, where in the hell would I be now?
Could life really be as random as this? 
Chris Clancy lived in China for seven years. Most of this time was spent as associate professor of financial accounting at Zhongnan University of Economics and Law in Wuhan City, Hubei Province. He now lives in Thailand where he spends his time reading, writing, lecturing and, whenever he gets the chance, doing his level best to spread Austrian economics.