Social Skills is a monthly column featuring community groups where you can meet new people through exercise or other enjoyable activities.
“Is the Trump presidency good for the world?” “Is a higher education degree still worth it?” These are the kinds of questions posed by Shenzhen’s Big Debates club, which has no intention of backing away from polarizing topics.
Once a month, Big Debates members meet to discuss a “motion” put forth by the community in a format resembling a high school debate club, but with audience participation. A few bold members volunteer to lead the debate as “front-line debaters,” who pick a side and take the stage to argue either for or against the motion. Whichever side changes the most minds in the audience by the end of the meeting wins the debate.
Big Debates originally began in Shanghai, but after meeting the founder of the events online, organizer Greg Curtin decided to bring the concept to Shenzhen in late 2017. “I think Shenzhen is the best city for the Big Debates in China,” he says, “because the vast majority of people here are not locals. So already they’ve had to deal with coming into a new situation, with different opinions than the people around them.”
According to Curtin, the event’s ultimate goal is to give people from all kinds of backgrounds a fair chance to share their ideas, even if they diverge from the consensus of their community. “I feel that in a lot of places, that’s not the case,” he says. “You’re pushed into a corner and expected to feel a certain way, whether that’s conservative or progressive, so this is a place where both views are allowed.”
Meetings take place once a month at various venues around the city. Tickets are RMB30 prepaid via WeChat, RMB40 at the door. Add Curtin on WeChat (ID ‘curtin9’) to RSVP for the next debate.
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[Images via Big Debates]
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