Although I probably won't go to all these countries, and don't know how much time I will spend, I now have approval to visit these countries for my project. Okay, Taiwan isn't a country. Sorry Taiwan!
I crossed New Zealand off the list. I feel like I just got another Watson with this important approval. The Watson Fellowship is largely about independence and flexibility -- an acknowledgement that plans change and that as a fellow with few outside requirements, I must constantly re-evaluate the trajectory of my project.
All in all, I'm very happy about this change. The only reservation is I am only allowed two weeks in mainland China -- having spent six months in Beijing before, I am not supposed to return to a country I have spent time in before. This policy is a result of the Fellowship philosophy of having new experiences and thrusting oneself into unknown territories. Indeed, I will be spending my time in Taishan county, the county that I have often written about -- the hometown of my maternal grandfather.
*There's an interesting topic in what exactly counts as a country. Is Taiwan a country? Well, not really, but it is enough of a country to be counted separately from China. More controversially, I once was browsing through past Watson Fellows project abstracts -- which list their initial country list. Someone listed "Tibet" as a project country. Of course, I do not support China's current Tibet policy, and believe everybody would be better off if Tibet had real autonomy. But nobody recognizes Tibet as a country, not even the Vatican City/Holy See, which doesn't recognize mainland China diplomatically (and is under no economic pressure to do so, unlike many small countries...) , not even Taiwan, not even India, which hosts Tibet's government in exile.
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