America has always been the land of high hopes and dreams for the people of other countries and every year millions of students from all over the world flock this land for higher education, and among which the number of Chinese students are the highest. However, with the recent Boston marathon bombing which injured almost 170 people and killed three including a 23 year old Chinese student named Lu Lingzi, media speculation have arisen predicting the decrease of Chinese students enrolling themselves with various American Universities.
However, contrary to the media conjecture after the Boston blast, it seems that most of the Chinese parents are still not discouraged at sending their sons and daughters to America for higher education. For instance, a father of an only son studying at the elite Yucai Northeast High School says that if given the chance, he is willing to send his son right away to America for education. Another mother named Dong Lu, who also works as health products sales woman proudly claims that her 16 year old daughter has a great chance of ending up studying in one of the top universities of America.
So, despite the portrayal of the United States as an ocean of terror and violence, the Chinese parents with their kids studying in America still has their hopes on America as intact as it was before the Boston bombing. Referring to Lu’s death in the blast as a highly unfortunate event, most of the parents of the school going Chinese kids still trust the safety and security promised by the US government. However, after the bombing, the US authorities are going to be extra careful in protecting their citizens and might also result in beefing up security personnel to areas which were earlier assumed as safe.
So, it seems that besides enhancing the security system in public events, the terror attacks in the US are not going to affect their political relationship with the government of any other countries. As Wang Qiong, who is presently working at Rockfeller University for her doctorate, says that she enjoys living in the US because of the lack of bureaucracy and total transparency. She first arrived in the US in the year 2003, the post 911 period, for higher education and has lived there ever since without ever experiencing any life threatening violent situations. She says that when she will return to China, it won’t because of any kind of safety concerns for her life but because of her own decision.
