An executive order signed in July has indefinitely ended the Fulbright program in China and Hong Kong. What happened in the lead-up to the program’s cancellation, and where does the closure fit into the larger context of deteriorating U.S.-China relations? For answers, Sophie Lu (a Fulbrighter herself) convened a panel of scholarship recipients, who shared their Fulbright experiences and the importance of their research. They also discuss the fallout of losing such an avenue for educational and cultural exchange between China and the United States.

Guests: Megha Rajagopalan, international correspondent at BuzzFeed News; Hai-Ching Yang, senior corporate counsel for Coursera; and Julia Fan, co-chair of the Coalition for Adolescent Girls.  

You can sign a Change.org petition to support the Fulbright program in China and Hong Kong here, and share infographics through social media here. 

Recommended reading:

• The danger of a single story, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie 
• The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration, by Isabel Wilkerson 
• A podcast, Seeing White 
• The cost of ending Fulbright in China, by Eleanor Albert  
• Donald Trump’s ending of the Fulbright programme in Hong Kong and China damages US soft power, by Scott Laderman
• Bring back Fulbright exchange programme with Hong Kong and China that Trump seeks to end, South China Morning Post
• Barring Fulbright scholars in Hong Kong and China will only hurt U.S. interests, by Amanda H. Schmidt
• Cutting off Fulbright exchange program further shrinks our world, by Denise Glover
• The Fulbright U.S. Student Program website

This podcast was edited and produced by Jason MacRonald.

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