In fact, these changes were not necessarily aimed at research cooperation
per se. While the shallow yet beneficial novelty of being a
foreigner in China is not as strong as it once was, even in the late
1990s and early 2000s, being a foreigner could result in a number of
advantages. Initially, this climate was the result of at least three factors
working together. First, as is well known, there was a major
amount of pent-up demand during the early years of reform and
opening up as scholars and students moved to make up for the time
and opportunities lost before and during the Cultural Revolution.
Second, fundamentally, “opening up” conveyed a significant measure
of internationalisation. Third, there was an overall sort of naiveté in
that most Chinese researchers had little experience working with
international scholars, which meant they were often less sophisticated
and more overeager. This was true also of Foreign Affairs Offices
(FAOs). Tasked with both regulating and facilitating exchange, their
crude mechanisms for the former were easily surmounted in favour
of the latter.