As for trying to please people by learning Chinese in China, quite frankly, I can't think of a better reason to learn the language; otherwise, what do we do with the language when learned; upset as many Chinese as we can with out newly learned abilities; swear in Chinese at them maybe?

I moved on to another country and have been working on the language steadfastly for months. I find knowing the language helps one access the culture, navigate by oneself, be more independent, and makes the whole experience of living in the other country/culture more rich and rewarding. In fact I love learning languages, but Chinese stuck to me like water to Teflon. I just couldn't get past a certain plateau. Anyway, I guess some other posters are objecting to the notion of learning Chinese in order to please the "leaders". Honestly, I resent the whole "leader" mentality. If anything they are mostly subservient and bitter functionaries, spineless followers, and anything but "leaders." They are just clerks, mid-level managers, administrators, and the like.

In "Apocalypse Now" Willard (Martin Sheen) goes to assassinate Colonel Kurtz. Here's the dialogue:

Kurtz was right. These "leaders" are just like the "grocery clerks" he spoke of. But they believe they are our "leaders." I believe we don't use the term "leaders" for such roles in the West because it's actually insulting. It implies the rest of us are followers. We save the term for actually stunning moral examples, not corrupt individuals who wield power like weapon. Even the Chines, when they are honest, which quite a lot are (and surprisingly unguarded in things they'd say to me), hate "leaders".

I avoided leaders. That's it. I wanted nothing to do with them. At first I was nice and all, and treated them with respect, but over time, and with their repeated demonstrations of petty abuse of power, I lost respect for them and saw them as impediments to student's education rather than guardians or enhancers of it. What is most important to the "leaders" is their image and ego, and they are willing to sacrifice teachers and students to appear to themselves or others as more noble or strong (and end up looking like assholes, and also quite literally like "turtle faces").

So, once one has had more than enough of "leaders," the idea of trying to appeal to them by speaking their language starts to seem as appetizing as trying to learn to dance to entertain a dictator. Truth is I'd make a good court jester, but I sure as hell wouldn't do it unless I had no other choice.

I explained to a coworker who told me the English Department thought I was "arrogant" that in the West we respect people who do things well, and we don't respect arbitrary shows of power, or automatically worship anyone in a higher position. Respect is earned in the West, not shoved down our throats, and the more it hurts the more we should respect the "leader."

We also have a notion of mutual respect, and we don't respect people who disrespect us. This was the critical flaw of "leaders" in the English Department at my last job. They trivialized the foreign teachers, played little mind games with us, and in so doing lost our respect.

What a rant!