BEIJING — In an exhortation to the power of the individual and the "moral" imperative of economic growth, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Wednesday urged students at a premier Chinese university to change the very nature of their tightly controlled country.
The California governor's 18-minute speech at Qinghua University, on the third day of his weeklong mission to stimulate trade, was designed to give an oblique nod to democratic ideals and economic freedom. The message has been heard here many times before, made by more powerful Americans, but Schwarzenegger provided his own special celebrity touch.
"America is a nation that believes in the power of the individual and what the individual can accomplish -- no matter what color, no matter the religion, no matter the economic background of that individual," the governor said to about 400 students at this science and engineering school known as the Chinese equivalent of MIT. With 32,000 students, the school regularly welcomes prominent foreigners for question-and-answer sessions. It was established in 1911 as a prep school for Chinese students heading to universities in the U.S., and its graduates include Chinese President Hu Jintao.
Schwarzenegger repeatedly used the word "individual," telling the students at one point: "Imagine what can be accomplished if the dreams of China's 1.3 billion individuals could be unleashed."
Schwarzenegger began his address by describing his first efforts at bodybuilding while a young man in Austria. He said that after one intense workout he was so tired he fell off his bicycle while riding home, his legs limp like noodles. He was unable to comb his hair, but "I soon learned that pain meant progress."
"If I could change my body I could also change anything else I wanted," the governor said. "I could change my habits, my intelligence, my attitude, my future, my life.... I think that lesson applies to people and to countries. You can change. China can change."
In his most overt reference to human rights, the governor invoked the memory of Rosa Parks, the Alabama seamstress whose "simple refusal to move to the back of the bus put into motion events that led to my country's great civil rights movement."
The 58-year-old governor encouraged his young audience to "now go and do it for yourselves." Again drawing from his own life experience, he said, "The bodybuilding gave me the confidence, the movies gave me the money and public service gave me a purpose larger than myself."
