US Reactions to China (Media Analysis + American Interest Groups’ Views on Rivalry)
Author: Tyler Crown
Objective of the activity
Learning goals: Students will acquaint themselves with US discourses on China and evaluate claims and tropes common to this discourse. Students will further relate prevailing perspectives on China to defined interest groups (e.g., labor, manufacturers, farmers, Wall Street, the foreign policy elite, etc.). Students will finally explain how these perspectives relate to the recent history of globalization.
Pre-class activities
Prerequisites: Students should be familiar with basic concepts like capitalism, class, imperialism, populism, and deindustrialization/ postindustrialism by this point in the semester. Pre-class activities Reading: Hung (2022) Ch. 1 “Political Sociology of Global Conflict”, and Ch. 5 ”Interimperial Rivalry Redux”. Recommended Reading: Kennedy and Mazzocco (2022) “The China Shock: Reevaluating the Debate”; Wang and U, “Students or spies? The young Chinese caught in Trump’s crosshairs” (29 May 2025, BBC); Knox, “Attacks on Chinese Students Could Wreak Havoc on Higher Ed” (30 May 2025, Inside Higher Ed)
In-class activities
First, after introducing Hung’s critique of the “New Cold War” discourse regarding the US-China relationship, count off to assign each student a number 1-3. Students will be informed that they are preparing to analyze a political campaign ad. Each student will think and work independently for 10 minutes until a later class discussion, but each number will correspond to a different task: Group 1: Look up the candidate in the video. Who is he? What office, and in what state was he running? What party does he belong to? Who was his opponent? Are there any other relevant details that might help us understand the purposes of rhetoric employed in the campaign ad? Group 2: Identify at least one key claim in the ad and briefly evaluate it in light of our readings, and previous class discussions. (E.g., “It is us versus China, and instead of taking the on, Washington is wasting our time with stupid fights.” Or “It’s us versus them. Capitalism versus communism.”) Group 3: Besides the candidate, who else appears in the ad? What does this tell us about its intended appeal? What is the relevance of China to these people in particular? Second, view an object-lesson in US political rhetoric on the subject: Tim Ryan for Ohio, “One Word” (YouTube). After the video, allow 10 minutes for students to think and complete the tasks outlined above. (Another video/object-lesson may be chosen according to the instructors’ preference.) Third, resume class discussion, and elicit student responses in order. (First Group 1, 2, then 3.) Not every student must respond since some will likely arrive at similar responses, but be sure to get responses from several students in each group.
After Class Activities
Post-class activities and assessments (summative) After highlighting Hung’s (2022) analysis of the variable dispositions of certain interest groups in the US toward China (labor, Wall Street, foreign policy elite) in the lecture, students will complete a short (take-home) written assignment dealing with the reactions of US-based interest groups (labor, manufacturers, universities, foreign policy elite, etc.) to (1) Trump’s (2025) trade war with China and (2) Trump’s attacks on Chinese students. Students will choose two interest groups to track, and they will be tasked with doing some modest research into how representative organizations (e.g., UAW, or, alternatively, the NAM) have responded to (or perhaps influenced) US escalations with China. The reading that students will have done before class will have focused, for instance, on Wall Street and the foreign policy elite—which refers specifically to “military-intelligence-diplomatic officials, think tank scholars, and elected officials with foreign policy interests.” However, students may choose to analyze labor, manufacturers associations, farmers and agricultural interests, etc. Instructions: Choose two interest groups and research their reactions to Trump’s recent escalations with China—particularly (1) the trade war, and (2) attacks on Chinese international students. First, evaluate to what extent Trump’s policies are in continuity with US policy towards China, and to what extent they mark a departure. Then, report on the reactions of two interest groups to Trump’s policies. Analyze these reactions in light of course readings. Finally, answer the question: How do US politicians and interest groups shape Americans’ understanding of China?
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