China is changing
- 30 Apr 08, 03:12 PM GMT
The Chinese Communist Party has taken away my opening line. A month or two ago, when I thought about how I'd start this blog, this seemed like the best way to begin: "If you're reading these words, you're not in China." (a nice, pithy start that I was extremely proud of.) At the time, the Chinese government blocked access to this website - it had done so for years, for reasons that were never entirely explained.
But several weeks ago the English-language version of BBC News Online was quietly unblocked. So now anyone in China can read these words. I lost an opening line - but with luck this blog has gained a much bigger pool of readers. The unblocking of this website shows just how much China is changing - what you say on one day may be entirely out of date by the next day.
So, let's start ...
One hundred days to go before the Beijing Olympics get started (ask anyone in China how many days there are to go - and most will get it right. It's hard to get it wrong when there are giant countdown clocks in Beijing which remind you exactly how many days, hours, minutes and seconds there are before the games begin.) To say that the Olympics are important to China is a bit like saying that oxygen is important to life. The games are the biggest event that Communist China has ever staged. This country wants to get it right - with no room for any mistakes.
That's why it has been a bit stunned by the battered progress of the torch relay on its world tour. What China had in mind was a kind of lap of honour - legions of cheerful fans across the world cheering the torch along its way.
Instead, we've all seen the pictures of protests and disruptions. In China, many people take the torch relay demonstrations personally. One student from Beijing told me that the pro-Tibet protests in London and Paris had hurt his feelings. So, he has decided to organise a pro-China rally in Hong Kong when the torch relay gets going again on May 2nd.
I'll be in the crowds to tell you how the relay goes on Friday.
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites
I’m James Reynolds, the BBC’s Beijing correspondent.
This blog is where I’ll be sharing my thoughts on day-to-day life in China plus the big events
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I am very glad to see your blogs on China, James. Please tell us and tell the world more stories going on there.....and what u think as well :)
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Great first Beijing blog, James.
The Chinese do seem to have imbued their Olympics with a higher sense of honor than most countries would, emerging superpower or not. The thing is, if you set your expectations too high, you are bound to be disappointed when they aren't met. In the case of Chinese to the Olympics, the Chinese have set their expectations beyond geosynchronous orbit. Even without the protests, their expectations of a perfectly glorious Games was bound to be derailed by any number of factors.
That stated, far more than the anti-Chinese protests or (potentially) even the initial Tibetan riots, the Chinese themselves tarnished their own reputations far more by staging their 'pro-Chinese' counter protests. Or anti-anti-Chinese protests, rather.
In almost every single case, the Chinese have used their larger numbers to bully and intimidate the much smaller pro-Tibetan, pro-Darfur, pro-human rights crowds. And in some cases, the Chinese have resorted to violence or threats of violence. Even [url =http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7373717.stm#4]this[/url] apparently unrelated article about the internet (of all things) shows a mob-rule attitude where the opinion of the minority is too be crushed and overwhelmed by the majority. The Chinese are literally throwing the weight of their large population around.
Which is what China has been doing for quite a while now. Do you think the West would have opened up to China if China had the population of, say, Zimbabwe or Burma or Sudan or Belarus? Of course not. But China, China with its 1.3 billion people--now that's too big an opportunity to pass up. It was not about capitalism leading to democracy; it was about the bottom dollar, clear and simple.
And so China is developing at a rapid pace, and barring a major change in their development, it is quite reasonable to predict that China will become a superpower by mid-century.
Hopefully by that time the Chinese people will have become more tolerant of those who might not view their country in a good, or even flawless, light, and will come to view the use of threats, intimidation, bullying, and throwing around their weight as being the barbaric and uncivilized action that it is.
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China is changing indeed and how about your westerners bias towards China?? Fear,anxiety or something else??
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Good stuff. As a Brit in China for over 5 years I was "forced" into reading Australian news, so nice to be able to catch up with what everyone else is hearing.
I do feel that some of the BBC news is slightly biased against China, with some subtle use of photographs and words like "supress".
But at the end of the day, most of the problem with East vs West comes from misunderstanding, and whilst a decreasing number of people in the West think of China as still being in a cultural revolution, the Chinese themselves are appalling at communicating with the rest of the World.
They really need some lessons in good PR and diplomacy, along with the knowledge that outside of China their propoganda and hardline retoric sounds just like what it is.
Hopefully people will realise that China's nothing to be afraid of, and that rather than being "supressed" the Chinese are probably the happiest 20% of the population on the planet.
For the greater good!
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Good to learn that you have learnt not to predict in Latin America many years ago. But don't think you are doing it well so far. From the wording of your report whatsoever in China, there is much prediction, guess work and personal judement. Does that come from Cambridge or is a general British attitude? In China, arrogance won't get you anywhere..
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AnonymousCalifornian:
That is your understanding and it is common among people who has always had a negative impression on China. It may take you just one trip to China to change many of your understandings.
After all, it is the first time oversea Chinese have ever got their voices heard clearly. The protests are not staged, it is provoked and spontaneous. Most of us lack skills in protesting which did caused some negative feelings. However, one shouldn't generalize or stereotype China and Chinese.
I think James is in a better position to talk about China because he is actually there. It will take foreigners like you a long time to better understand China. China is quite different from other part of the world, indeed. However, China is definitely changing for good.
I am very glad to see this blog created. I hope this place can become another bridge for people from different cultures to understand each other.
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Greetings James:
As a Chinese-American, I am eagerly counting on your blog to help dispel the fear of bias that many Chinese currently have toward Western media. I ask you to always weigh heavily the facts that: (1) the Cultural Revolution ended only some 30 years ago, (2) the CCP is responsible for elevating over 300 million persons above the poverty line (according to the UN's WFP), and (3) 1/5 of the earth's population is going to be made very happy by a successful Beijing Olympic Games.
I'll be the first to tell you that the CCP is no saint. But I honestly believe that over-aggressive, high visibility, ambush tactics aimed at tarnishing the Games does a lot more harm than good. We can either, with tact, use the Olympics as a tool to further open up China and the Chinese people to international influences and standards, or we can burn hard-won bridges built in the 70's, help mint Chinese nationalists, and only act to further solidify CCP power.
In response to the Californian, I can only say that, for many Chinese, numbers is the only way they know how to assert themselves, against either perceived foreign threats or despotic local officials. Rule of law is the only thing that makes unacceptable majoritarianism (mobs) acceptable (democracy). As China works her way into the future to transfrom from a culture dominated by the capricious rule of man for thousands of years, to one rightfully governed by the good rule of law -- We in the West must ask ourselves: Shall we cheer China on, or shall we boo and hiss and hoot her every inevitable mis-step?
Beijing welcomes you. Good luck James.
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I find it interesting that you say "Communist China", while in reality China is more Capitalist nowadays than Communist.
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Ahh..., You are the one that were put on youtube for your big mouth. Have they not kicked you out of china yet?
Seriously, the blunder that you made has tarnished the BBC's image in China, and they let you stayed on? What a joke!
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This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.
The Chinese were indeed "stunned" at the world's protest for Tibet. Now they know what it is like to be a superpower - everything is your fault. They better get used to it because they already are a superpower ever if it is just by dint of population. They need to grow up and cool their emotional nationalism, broaden their world view and start thinking as individuals. You can say the same for all humans but they are a stark example of autocracy and group think.
Good luck with the blog.
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AnonymousCalifornian
One thing I would like to suggest you is that when you comment on 1.3 billion people, do not draw conclusion by just reading blogs or news. It seems to me, your comment is rather biased.
I'm one of the Chinese students who is studying in UK. I don't support everything my government does but for Olympics, I pour out all my passion for it. I think a lot of Chinese are the same as me.
I agree with you that we probably do have too much expectation for it. However, if you look at the Chinese modern history, you will probably find out the answer.
What kind of history do we have in last 100 years? Invasions, wars, Chinese killing Chinese, hungers, culture revolution, cold war and 1989....(Here I suggest do not confuse Chinese with Chinese government)
For me, I don't think using Olympics to show off is something wrong. Instead, I think Chinese people deserved it over the last hundred years.
Also, we don't view our country is good, or even flawless, light. We have lots of discussion inside the country which you probably don't see. However, we feel our country has hope in the future and we are moving towards that direction. We also have confidence in the new generations like me who has experienced democracy and being educated in a democratic country. We also study your language, read your books, and learn from your people. Have you done anything, or you are just too proud that there is nothing you can learn from us?We feel tired that people in developed countries always think we are enermies and always pick something up and make a big fuss about it. Plus what is wrong with being proud of your country?
One thing I would like to suggest is, instead of shouting at us, why not give us suggestions and methods to build up democracy in China? The media and some citizens in developed countries could accuse us for doing the wrong things, but they never give any solution of this mess. Too some extend, I think the UK government is far more mature than the media and some citizens bying giving minor pressure towards China and not hurt normal Chinese too much.
In the end, I want to say, you saw the pictures on BBC website that two pro-China protestors attack an anti-China protest. Have you seen other pictures of Chinese students were beaten in the demonstration and was lying on the floor bleeding? Or maybe you just think Chinese made up these pictures? While you accuse us for not being nice to Tibet, out government has urged us be reasonable and calm to face the demonstrators. Also one of the state media pointed out that "A big country can not make progress in cheers!"
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100 days + a month or so, (during the Olympics....) thats the time Tibet has to make its voice heard...
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James, no disrespect, you are obviously enjoying the life in China, but still holding a very biased tone of voice to please the main-stream western taste.
China is China, not communist China! Let's make it clear! Do you ever call the UK Capitalist Britain?!!
I have grown up in China until I came to the UK when I was 20, and I found the UK is far more 'socialist' than China. And there are certainly a lot of governmental dictatorship as well as propaganda in the west.
I appreciate your point of view, but by referring China every time as "Communist China", you are too biased and ignorant.
I'd love to have a real ideal communist country as Karl Marx has envisioned a century ago down in the British Library, but the fact is, China is no different than any other western countries in terms of social structure, economy and so on, it is just part of the "globalisation".
So, please respect this 7000 years old civilization and call China just China!
Thanks!
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It is the people in Beijing who host the Olympic games, not Chinese. China has 1.3 billion people, how do you know they all take Olympics as an chance to honour themsleves?I'm not a Beijing citizen but now studing in Beijing, I don't care about the Olympics, but I will care when you said Chinese can't wait to show off themselves in front of the world only to get embarrassed by the protests.
I've seen so many people talking about China with their imagination and prejudice. Do you really know China? Have you ever understood Chinese culture? You are not Chinese, how do you know what they are thinking about?
Come on, my country is poor. My country is far from perfect and no one think it's perfect. My country is developing with 0.9 billion poor educated farmers. We care about food, we care about economics, we care about environment, we care about the 71 dead in the train collision. That's more important than being a superpower.
Some of the comments above are really ridiculous. Everytime you mentioned the word "Chinese" showed how ignorant you were.
Who is the next target after Russia? China?
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Hello, James,
Thank you in advance for keeping us posted. I am not in either China or UK. However, BBC is a must for me.
Thank you again
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It would be nice to think that this is a turning point in the Chinese government's view towards human rights. But I fear not.
China already knows that it has world approval, so be it somewhat disguised by cheap labour and offering large profit to the world's manufacturers.
They don't and won't change their policies in regards to human rights just for the sake of the Olympics. It will be veiled just to weather the storm.
The only way to have any effect on the Chinese government is withhold trade. But since the world manufacturers are addicted to the profits gained by cheap labour, the possibility is nil.
Profit is far more powerful then human rights and the protection of the human resources that produces it.
If the world doesn't pull the plug on China then they will come away from the Olympics even stronger then before and be even more fervent in their activities of repression in the effort to achieve world economic power.
No, this Beijing Olympics marks the beginning of open repression against many of its own people, the end of the Tibetan culture and it's people in China and beginnning of world domination.
As we all enjoy the Olympics this year we can do so with the knowledge that our greed and desires have contributed to the lack of human rights and the rise of Red success demonstrated by the farce of these Chinese Olympics.
To that end we are all guilty.
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Oh James, I have pretty much watched every single report you had on China. I am afraid to say that 99% if not all are negative stuff. I feel like watching news about a country worse than Zimbabwe. You know this is not true. The main way that British people get to know what's happening at the other side of the world is probably watching BBC news. I am not saying China is perfect, but please be more objective.
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To be honest, after seeing how bias your company (BBC) was during the torch relay report in London, Paris, and San Francisco, I am curious to see how different you are as an employee of this company. The torch relay apparently passed 20 countries, and were welcomed by huge crowds in 18. Yet you only focused on those rioters and tried to cast an image that the torch was not welcomed anywhere.
As a Chinese living overseas for my entire adult life, I found it ironic that thousands Chinese came overseas thinking childishly that the western media is fair, only to find they are at most on the same level with the communist party propaganda, only in a more hidden way. I am very glad this olympics, and this torch relay woke up millions of Chinese who thought the western media is alway fair.
Now since you start writing, I hope you will do better than your employer. And I will keep my eye on it. And I hope you don't delete comments like your employer did on 'Have your say'. Until you prove yourself, I won't think you are any difference from your other colleagues.
btw I am really glad BBC is open to China now so the news will go through some real scrutiny.
best regards,
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I've heard so much about China that it is hard to really grasp what it all means. Since the 70's, 500 million people have moved above the poverty line. Many seem to say that this feat wasn't worth the cost.
Next month, I'll finally be taking my first trip to China with 45 students in tow. Hopefully I'll come away with a well rounded opinion about China?s many issues. For now I'll continue to struggle with the discrepancy between the BBC and the China Daily.
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Reynolds wrote " What China had in mind was a kind of lap of honour - legions of cheerful fans across the world cheering the torch along its way. "
Is this not a lie? Does he know what is China's mind? I am Chinese and do not know what is in China's mind. How does Reynolds, who I regard as mendacious, know what is in China's mind?
Pray tell us.
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I am current living aboard. If I?ve learn anything over the years living overseas, it is that the world would be a better place if we can have a better understanding and greater tolerance of the people seemingly different from us. I know news is thrived on death, destruction, the shocking value. But James, would you please get to know the ordinary Chinese and what they think between your chasing down Chairman Mao's grandson for an interview and using binoculars to pick out China's identically dressed leaders? Maybe, just maybe your effort will make a difference and it might just worth all the pollution you?ve choked down. Thank you.
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This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.
First, I commend James for actually being and living in Beijing while blogging, unlike some CNN bigots.
This is also a commentary on comment #2 by AnonymousCalifornian (AC).
First, I totally agree with AC's observation of Chinese's unrealistic expectation.
Second, I have never been a fan of Olympic, too political, too pretentious, pitting nation against nation instead of honoring the athletics as individuals. Why can't we celebrate their achievements without stringing them along national lines? Why can't they represent our humanity instead particular nations? Why are we still slaved to the political concept of a "nation" in order to cherish our diverse cultures?
Nationalism is not a product only made in China, and Chinese is not the first and won't be the last people brandishing it.
AC observed "some cases" of pro-China people resorting to mob attitude, but it is unfortunate that AC quickly jumped into fear-mongering of "The Chinese are literally throwing the weight of their large population around." How do "some cases" get translated into "the Chinese"? That is so typical of racial stereotype.
I share AC's hope that Chinese people will become more tolerant of different views, just as I hope for the US populace (yes, those who vote) truly, in their hearts, become more tolerant and respectful of other cultures and religions.
By the way, is the US populace really that tolerant? Just look at how Reverend Wright is now being bombarded from all directions as we speak. How tolerant is that? Why is Rev. Wright's protection comes only from the first amendment and not the hearts of US populace and media? Is tolerance in the western culture really a sincere one from the souls and hearts?
People become intolerant out of insecurity and fear. Tolerance is a luxury enjoyed by the powerful, and violence is the only tool available to the desperate and weak. Just look into the history to see how intolerant Christianity was until it dominated the world in terms of fire-power, economics, and the number of souls.
Why would the majority of Chinese people, both in China and abroad, feel desperate and weak? Well, one will get a glimpse of the reasons only after one understands the humiliation of being called the "Godless" land and people with 2000+ years of history , only after seeing one's own lands chopped up into "sphere of influences" by the colonial powers, and only after having experienced the past and present racial discrimination abroad.
Some argue that most of those events are the past, and Chinese should simply get over it and move on. I think that is a sound psychological advice. Yet, I have never heard any respectful individual asking the Jewish people to get over the Nazi atrocity. Is that difference racially based or just purely ignorant of what Chinese has suffered in the past (and even present in isolated cases)?
Oh by the way, is it just coincident that all countries where a torch-tour disruption had any impact also had a history of participating in imperialistic activities against China?
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Kishore Mahbubani was correct in BBC "hard talk": the world is changing but the Western haven't learnt how to listen.
The first impression of any Chinese people to your blog will be disappointing as you again tried to connect "China" to "Communists" to which you didn't say but still implying "evil".
If you the blog is mainly for entertaining white racists, there is nothing I can say. But if it is not, you are again prototyping China to your audience. Why can?t you wakeup and look at the millions people around you in Beijing, they are not rich, they are well educated and they work hard to make a change to the life as well as their country.
Regarding all the show around the torch relay, A few things BBC fail to motion in the program even knows it is true.
First, back to 1950s, the reason so called "Chinese invasion to Tibet" was to give hundreds of thousand of poor Tibetans the basic human rights. They were treated as slaves under Dalai Lama's regime.
Second, most of the pro-Chinese protester in San Francisco, Sydney and Japan will not be there if the pro-Tibet protester was peaceful as Dalai Lama told the Western media. The American/Australian/Japanese-Chinese tried hard to be part of the local community and they would be happier to watch TV at home rather than go on street waving flags. (No question BBC will say as per some unnamed person, the Chinese Embassy is behind all these). Give me a break; I would never go to the Embassy unless I need to change my passport. The Embassy would never know I lived here unless I was a wanted criminal in the list.
Third, yesterday a Tibetan policeman (the majority of local authority employee in Tibet are Tibetans, so it is normal the policemen is a Tibetan) was shot dead by the mob. His funeral was hold today. You know what, in a French media, the story become the Chinese Government admit opened fire and shot Tibetans. What can I say!!!
I have watched your program for quite a while. To be honest, it is very hard to say your reports are objective without bias. I can not expect you to change in a day. All I can expect from you is to realize there are millions of audiences are connected with one country or other, you better not to humiliate their country on a regular basis by selectively show stories or even making up stories. The audiences are far smarter and they know both sides of the story. You personal credit will be damaged if you do so.
Since you are staying in China now, when you are enjoying a half-dollar nice-cold beer with fantastic food in a restaurant or superb services from humble local driver, please slow down for one second and ask yourself how their feeling about your report are; are you showing any appreciation to them in your work.
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This is an amazing nation. She has 1.3 billion population, she choose her developing way as communist society, her people might complaint her gov. for untimely action on inflation, stocks and media war, but her people would surely union with the gov when the western attacks coming.
This is China, with long history, has been deeply hurt by world war II and now still has troubled relationship with her neighbour Japan. But what I want to say is, this is really hard working nation, the whole country go forward with high, stable speed day by day. She want to show the world a peaceful and homony Olympics.
Beijing is an old city with a lot of interesting stories, also, Beijing is an modern city, tens of thousands foreigners live a happy life there.
The world round torch relay is meaningful to our Chinese people, we have been out to see the western for long time but the western still have not known much better of what is happening in China in the past 50 years, it's a pity. And also we know who are our friends in diplomatic field based on the current profit, that's why i mean it's meaningful.
Welcome all the people from the world come to Beijing to join the Olympic party.
Beijing, China is telling the world- we are ready.
This is the voice from mainland, China.
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According to Paul Mason at Newsnight the Chinese have also stopped blocking the Mandarin language BBC News site, though sporadically and with no explanation.
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He also falsely reported on Chinese state media's reaction on the Olympic torch rely. It was first broadcasted on Sunday 6 April at 1900 BST. At the time he claims that no Chinese media had reported pro-Tibetan protests. He suggests that the Chinese state media tried to keep the news of the protests from the Chinese public. BBC "apologised" for the mistake in the Editor's blog (which I had to use the website search engine to locate the page) and in an edition of In the News on an early Saturday morning (who watches News on early Saturday mornings?). He barely got a slap on his wrist and kept reporting and now has his own blog. Why are we, the licence fee payers paying thousands of pounds for a biased reporter to go to China and all he came up with are news bashing China and humiliating the people of China. Surely the Chinese has their problems, but who are we to judge them. The worst is none of the western media can produce a fair and balanced view on China. Same with the Tibet history page here on the BBC. It fail to mention the Dalai lama was a dictator when he was in power. It fail to mention during the British "expedition" Colonel Younghusband killed thousands of Tibetans. It also failed to mention the what the Chinese had done to improve Tibet and abolition of slavery in Tibet. I hope BBC can be fair towards the Chinese government. At the end of the day, their economy is improving, people's lives are getting better (that's why we have more and more Chinese students each year to pay ridiculous university fees), and people can now read news from the BBC website. I would like to see his personal apology on this Blog about the report. Otherwise, I don't see what is point of listening to him any more, he is just another biased journalist
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Why there are so...many comments are awaiting moderation? The users' names indicate that they are put up here by Chinese? When you are accusing china 'no free media,no human rights',why don't you dare to show their comments?
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Don't 'cherry pick' the comments to show here! We want to see everyone's thought. Why our media can only tell 'half' the story?
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The Chinese do take the Olympic Games very seriously, but it is because it is a way to attract more people (especially those who think of China negatively) to come to China and see today's China by their own eyes. I am very disappointed to see that there are very few news that protrait China positively.
To me, the Olympic Games is an international sport event, I don't know since when it has become a political device. And since when trying to steal the torch has become a heroic act? I really think that it sets a very bad example. If the pro-tibetans are allowed to do this to the torch and not getting blamed, next time the terrorists could disrupt any event using violence and say, hey, it is allowed. Don't get me wrong, it is alright for the pro-tibetans to voice their opinion, but it should be in a peaceful way.
Moreover, I am quite puzzle by one comment I saw above saying that Chinese are using their large population advantage to suppress the pro-tibetan. I wonder, if the pro-tibetan have the right to voice their opinions of being independent, shouldn't the rest of the Chinese have the same right to annouce their objections?
By the way, I have been to Tibet recently, I saw through my own eyes that the tibetans are happy and content of their way of living(certainly not all, but most of them), and the tibetan heritage are well preseved. You don't have to believe me, you can always check it out yourself.
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James, and the BBC
I've been engaged in numerous arguments/discussions about China, the Tibet protests and the Olympics with Chinese friends in recent weeks, and I'm afraid to say you've become a hate figure for Chinese students in the UK.
I have no qualms in denying that you're in league with secretive forces seeking to halt China's development, or that you're a blatant liar, but perhaps the only point I agree with them on is that BBC coverage of China is almost totally negative (as is coverage by the majority of other western media organisations).
Yes China has many huge issues to solve, and the story of how the government goes about this task is of crucial importance, but would it not be a little fairer to intersperse the reports of corruption, environmental damage, social exclusion or repression of ethnic minorities with some positive stories? They do exist, as I'm sure you know.
Overwhelmingly negative coverage gives Chinese coming here the impression that British people are all implacably opposed to the rise of China and Chinese people, and I don't think this is the case. I believe it's possible to welcome China's rise out of poverty and constructively criticise aspects of the way China is run which we do not agree with.
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Hi James, I have lived in the UK for nine years. When watching your report of China in BBC, I get a feeling that nearly all report of China from you are negative. However, I went back to China for holiday every year, To me from my own eyes, China is getting better year after year. Why do not you tell a complete pic of China to British audience?
Yes, China had train collision, but Britain had as well. I also saw train system is far better than that in Britain. Yes, China has illegal childern "slaves", but British childern was abused and tortoured to death in the care home as well.
Please do not think you are superior than Chinese. What we need to do is to get our own stuff clean.
As you might be aware that you have made BBC a bad reputation in Chinese society. I guess BBC should get a new correspondent in China now, not you.
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This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.
In reply to the comments made by anonymouscalifornian
I dont think anybody wants a ruined Olympics anywhere. China is no different, some people may argue that China has
placed too much emphasis and expectation on the Olympics, but which country would not? The Olympics only occurs every four years, it has only been held for 104 years, which means less than 25 countries max have hosted the Olympics. Now needless to say how many countries there are in the world, this surely must a honour for any country, except for America perhaps since it has held at least 2 or 3 times already. (Is this balanced?)
The Pro-China protests organised at the torch relay in London, Paris and San fransico initiated by the chinese students themselves studying in their respective countries are for one purpose only, that is to show the world there is many voices in China that want to be heard.
Regarding the large population of China, I have to say that this is not an advantage to its people in any shape or form. This is an enormous burden for China, in terms of economy, living standards, education, etc. People cannot get well paid jobs or good living conditions NOT because of human rights, but because there are simply too many people competing for the same job! Education level in China is still very poor NOT because the government is refusing to help, but because there simply aren't enough teachers to teach so many children! Which is why class size is so big.
China is made of 56 ethnic minorities, while I agree these people should have their say, Chaos and violence cannot be good for anyone. You may argue that Chinese government's behaviours have been reckless, what you dont realise is
that not everybody that you meet in Tibet or in China listens to reason. Many of them cannot even read, how can you expect anyone to talk when you are faced with this kind of situation. I must stress, chinese people quite often resort to their emotions and can be extremely sensitive when it comes to the issue of race, pride of its heritage and patriotism. This is not because we want to be like that, this is the result of hundrends of years of oppression by rulers of one kind to another e.g. Emperors, European Colonialists, Dalai Lama in Tibet.
Some people may be symathetic to Dalai Lama, I can understand that if you've heard his speech or seen documentaries,
or simply believe in Buddhism. But, this is only one side of the story. It may shock people to know that while the present Dalai lama have lived under the spot light of the world media. the previous lama's have never been investigated. In fact, people simply assumed that all lama's believed in non-violence and forgiveness. This is just
not true, brutal, sometimes even cruel, torturing punishments were enacted to the subjects of Tibet less than 80 years ago. Skulls of victims were used as drinking bowls, subject's arm were chopped off if the Dalai lama wished. A whole person maybe sacrificed to the Buddhas in return for a good after-life. These have been well documented with pictures by the early historians who went to Tibet as expeditionaries.
Anonymouscalifornian is right about one thing, China will become a superpower that's for sure, but its people needs
time to adjust to this ever changng world too. Technology can be upgraded quickly, but for people this process may
take a long time.
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James, please be fair and objective in your reporting. The world is already full of prejudice and hatred. Please don't do what other media do: i.e stirring.
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As a Chinese myself, I think James is getting our current social psychology right.:)
I quite appreciate the comment from 'AnonymousCalifornian'.
I think Chinese people is becoming tolerant faster than people think. Thanks to the protests, which have stirred up a national debate about patriotism, democracy, human rights, tolerance, and many other issues. I believe the debates will do a lot of good to our society.
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I travel between London and China frequently for business. The bias and bile that western media reporting towards China is astonishing
James, maybe you could change tact from the previous two months and start balancing your -ve reporting from China, with more +ve stories...
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It sounds very funny you put word "communist" in front of every "China". Do you put "capitalist" in front of British every time?
I am very curious that why it is so important to let Chinese people to read your blog or for that matter, BBC in the first place? Do you and your BBC represent the truth and justice or what? I admit I am reading your blog elsewhere, but I don't see how important your posting is, except provoking more anger from Chinese people. Go check out how many maderation comments there are already.
Yes, Chinese were hurt, but please make no mistake the hurted one isn't the government but the Chinese people. They just don't understand how could the westerners think Chinese can get richer without their human rights improved. They don't understand why the westerners care so much about China's can't access English websites, can't vote for government leader while millions of Chinese people escaping from povety and getting rich faster than any of the western demoratic countries could.
Chinese people don't think there is anything wrong with the government crackdown the riot in Tibet. In fact, they turned to pro-government side when seeing those ridiculous "mistakes" from western media. To some people who still believe Tibet is or was a country, please do some research OK? otherwise, you'll have to go convince the UN and your presidents first.
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AnonymousCalifornian
Since Mar.08, there were more than 15 protests by the Chinese all over the world with more than 70,000 participants! ALL of them were very peaceful even with such a huge crowd! None of the other nationalities had ever done something like this with such a GRAND SCALE yet with no violence emerged but it's hard to believe every single of them will remain calm if everyone of them is as "branwashed" or "narrow-mind" as you would expect.
There are also several event that those protesters was getting threatened, intimidation, bullying by anti-China protesters but your media sadly will not tell you about that as i can see.
watch:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32yzWWIZGr8
"the barbaric and uncivilized action"? yet again from which side?
That's just what i call a classic "hypocrite".
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'What China had in mind was a kind of lap of honour - legions of cheerful fans across the world cheering the torch along its way.'
I think it is fair to say that this is your own assumption and interpretation and not from the mouth of the Chinese government.
Journalists should be very careful how they word their stories. Biased reporting just feeds prejudice into the 'Little Britain' that we live in.
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hi james.
i wonder if you have to leave the country in july. i have a few friends teaching in beijing right now, but they are being told that they must leave, that no foreigners are allowed in july. I wanted to go back this summer, and had a ticket for june, but saw no point in going for a few weeks then having to leave. i am surprised that nothing, as far as i've seen, has been said about this "policy" in western media sources. do you have any information? I find it a little ominious that China wishes to rid itself of foreign observers for a month. What is it that intend to do during that time? Any clues you have would relieve my consternation. thanks.
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''I've choked on pollution, had maggots for dinner, been humiliated at ping pong, used binoculars to pick out China's identically dressed leaders, been interrogated by policemen in dark glasses''
I lived in China for over a year and there's more to China than pollution, strange eating habits, ping pong and communism. Since this blog is to be read mainly by people who are not that familiar with China I recommend not exacerbating already established sterotypes and instead giving readers a fair and honest picture of modern China working towards the Olympics.
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In order to understand each other, respect from both sides is important. The Chinese should be tolerant to different voices from the outside world, especially the west. On the other hand, the west should be more modest on their attitude toward China. They should try to understand why the Chinese feel so proud about their country, and most of them are satisfied to the performance of their government although there still are problems. I think that is because of different culture, different values and different understanding about the priority on their lives from the west. It is difficult to simply judge which is right or wrong.
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After returning from China recently from my honeymoon I can see first hand the affect that the olympics is having on everyone. Their are shops and banners and displays put up everywhere. But one thing strikes me as a problem they haven't yet addresed. Chinese is a rather difficult language for the average person to speak so the world relies on English. It worrying then that very very few people in Beijing can speak English. Apart from Hotel staff take the new international (leaking) airport, the staff speak little to no English in all their massive duty free shops and don't even know the word souvenir. This and the constant grid lock of all their roads doesn't look like a great olympics to me! The venues are however stunning! I agree with AnonymousCalifornian about their bullying. Who knows when they'll wake up out of their cold war mentality.
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Do get out of Beijing more.
All the surrounding big cities hate Beijing City. Taiyuan resents the pollution that sends clean electric power to Beijing, and the Italian marble on the new Party HQ. ShijiaZhuang hates the traffic to Beijing, Shenyang resents the jobs that Beijing gets, Zhenzhou resents the money and water that Beijing gets, Tianjin doesn't care about Beijing at all.
But all hate Beijing because of the industrial restrictionsn to be put on the ring of provinces over the coming months to keep the circus of 2 weeks going.
Many will be shocked and amused by any protests that may happens. Serves'em right say the provinces.
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I will follow your blog with interest and look forward to the insight you are able to give us. I too believe that the Olympics will also be a coming of age for the Chinese in more ways than one and for them to allow free speech and accept it is a huge step for them. Your blog is one of many steps in the right direction and I hope the Chinese realise that this is a major positive to allow such freedoms that we take for granted.
All the best, Tom
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comments from china about the 'bias' and 'lies' of western media outlets need to be understood in context of the environment they come from.
the concept of public debate and scrutiny of news issues is utterly foreign to a population reared on a state media diet. i regularly look at various chinese media sites, and there really is only one point of view available to readers - and that point of view is invariably presented to readers as a fact. by extention, any view that varies from the chinese government's media message (ie, every non-chinese news source,) is seen as erroneous, misleading, and from a biased, ignorant or politically compromised point of view.
i think it is fantastic that chinese citizens can now read the bbc site, but it's fair to say there is much ground left to cover before the often polarising multiple viewpoints and rigorous public debate of the free and private western media can be digested by a chinese population accustomed to a state media monopoly.
i do recommend western readers of this blog have a look at china's state-controlled media sites. it really does help demonstrate the culture shock chinese people must be experiencing viewing the bbc site for the first time in their own country.
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Wah look at those comments awating moderation!!! Seems like the BBC is no better than Tianya forum...Oh sorry I forgot you cannot read chinese.
The CCP block access to websites like the BBC and CNN for many 'bad' reasons (as that's how you might judge them always). And after recent events, I do think a tiny part of the reasons must be to protect you unbiased media away from what you called us 'internet thugs' hahahaha!
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??????????????
We still welcome all the people around the world come to CHN.
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Hi James,
I might see you in the crowd in Hong Kong and can assure you that the Olympic Torch will be perceived as a ?peaceful and patriotic event?.
Unfortunately, as reported in the local newspapers in Hong Kong, people who are arriving at the airport in Hong Kong and are seen as protestors, unpatriotic or trouble makers are refused entry into Hong Kong. Just another example of China?s idea of freedom of speech.
It is amazing that the same organizations that kept South Africa out of the Olympics for 40 years because of Apartheid now claim we should not mix politics with sport. The sport sanctions imposed on South Africa contribute directly to democracy and Nelson Mandela?s release. What is happening not only in Tibet, but to the people such as Falun Gong in China www.CIPFG.org is far worse then anything the apartheid regime ever practiced.
Yet the International Olympic Committee, major sponsors and governments do not speak out against China?s human right and environmental abuses. Is this due to a sudden change in political policy or the power of the mighty Dollar and cheap Chinese labor?
Is the Dalai Lama not the Nelson Mandela of Tibet?
I will personally boycott any sponsor to the Olympics.
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Seriously, You again? I doubt all the things you have said, whatsoever! With all the biased reports about Tibet, Torth Relay.
You could always not agree with communism because it is not your way. However, all the reports which have been made, edited, reported by you are just a shame with the name of BBC, which was claimed as the largest, most objective agent in the world!
How much money did you get, mon?
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James Reynolds
Mate,You have lost all your credibilities as you are the man who "bury the head in the sand" LOL
Olympics is the biggest event that Chinese people expected,it is nothing but a show time.It just a message to the world-we are back on the stage once again.
I think Japanese were proud of being the host of Olympics 1964 for the same reason.
But it is just an event,by now I don't really think we need a show to be proud of ourselves.This is a chance to communicate with the world,with different cultures,with different people.
If the Olympics were ruined,we would just carry on like how our ancestors live on the land for thousands of years.
The media attack on China and Chinese people have generate a huge rise on nationalism in China.I really don't know what the consequences are,but it doesn't sound good at all.
Thanks to BBC,Thanks to James Reynolds
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To nonfamiliar:
two comments:
1. Your observation that "the concept of public debate and scrutiny of news issues is utterly foreign to a population reared on a state media diet" used to be correct untill recent years. If as you claimed you visit Chinese media sites regularly you would notice the change---the incidence of "Chinese tiger photos" is just one example.
2. Even if your claim were correct, Western media has no right (and it is immoral) to spin the "facts". Unfortunately, this is the common practice of western media when they report internationally under the assumtion that the ones they humiliate and denounce do not have the microphone to tell the truth (they do not dare to do that domestically and probably that is why you trust it so much). Just a couple of examples, "Mass-destruction weapons in Iraq"; "massacre" by Serbs (and not the other way around); ...
The "truths" are finally "found out" later? Alas, after tens of thousands of people have been killed?
Too bad, this time, they forgot there are too many Chinese observing in Western countries as well and are caught red-handed...
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James Reynolds wrote: "At the time, the Chinese government blocked access to this website - it had done so for years, for reasons that were never entirely explained."
Reynolds, you must be pretty thick if you have not understood why the BBC has been blocked. I shall have to tell then. It is because the BBC is the most biased broadcaster in the world. How do I know? I have been listening to the BBC, especially World Service, for at least 50 years and I have not heard or seen bias and prejudice any where else. For at least TWO decades, World Service broadcast everything and anything on Tibet that they could find and almost all of it from Robbie Barnet of Tibet Information Network, one of the Tibetan apologists in the West. One broadcast was that "tibetan boys left footprints in the ROCKS", which is something Jesus Christ never managed to do. As for BBC TV, it has always stereotyped the Chinese whilst boasting of its "pride in diversity". I know the BBC for at least twice as long as Reynolds and I used to listen all night everynight and I know the BBC has at least a touch of racism, at least. Will the BBC have the courage to publish this?
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I was astonished when I saw most of western media which I used to highly respect were lying. You cannot imagine what I was feeling at that time. I am really disappointed!
You can keep on cheating your English audience. Fortunately, I can read Chinese and I can compare what you said with other sources.
You cannot builder honour on prejudice and lying!
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Also, thanks for internet, no lies stay long these days.
James, as a British, one of the good characters should be honest.
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To be honest, you've told the some of the truth with a bit of personal feelings inside, I understand and I appreciate that. Afterall this is a blog where you are allowed to express your opinion as a person.
The news reports which you made on BBC weeks ago about the whole Olympics/Torch realy, however, were not so acceptable. The reasons being:
1) As a jourlist/reporter, you should ALWAYS report news/events WITHOUT your personal attitude/feelings. Your job is to present the WHOLE thing, including the up and downsides in front of the audience and leave the judgements to their OWN. NOT to influence them by willfully CHOOSE what to report.
Hence BBC/CNN/F2 had lost their ground as "media", especially "FAIR media" as they marked themselves to be, in reporting only the downsides of the torch-relay and 3/14 Tibet riot and none of the upsides (the situation changed later after so many chinese called and complained BBC about their biased report on 4/19 London torch relay, it was until then we started to see footage of supportors and the violent movements of some pro-Tibet protests).
2)As someone has said previously - China is a big country that's still recovering from wars/culture revolution, it's still developing, and developments TAKE TIME! The change can't be done in one day or year so STOP juding China by westernized oppinions. Do you have millions of poverty people to feed? Do you have 1.4 billion people to take care of?
China is changing, you have to admitted it, despite with a disdained tone. There're tonnes of mistakes and wrong things that the government has done, and still doing. But China is changing. The Chinese people are eager for freedom of speech and HR more than you think, BUT we know that it's not for YOU to bring the HR and democracy to us, it's for us to GAIN it. The results started to show, some regions are more democrated than others, and we DO curse/comment on the faults of government online/everyday life and sometimes even on CCTV.
Our culture is so different from western culture, we are very fond of nationalism, it's in our blood and it's nothing to do with CCP or the government. All BBC/CNN/F2 etc. are doing now is to TAKE AWAY the better days of democracy in China and tighten the grips of government on Chinese people EVEN MORE.
IS THAT WHAT YOU WANT TO SEE?
DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING?
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James, thanks for the posting. I was born and raised in China. Now I live in San Francisco. Here's some of my thought on the torch relay.
In the past few weeks, I've been inundated with messages regarding the Olympics torch relay. The media in San Francisco reported both voices, pro-China and anti-China, which I think is fair. China has a tight media control, has a poor record of humanrights, but it's progressing. Honestly, I don't personally care so much about the Olympics and I dislike the Chinese government for corruption and dictatorship (living overseas sometimes makes me forget what's like to be an intellectual in China. Or are there still many intellectuals with integrity and independent thinking left in China when the whole country is being brutally capitalized, commercialized?). But I think the Olympics would offer an opportunity for China to become more open, more democratic, more communicative with the world. (And the whole world would benefit from a more democratic China.) At least, the potential is there.
As for Tibet, it's such a complex issue and I don't feel I have enough knowledge to say much about it. (I have never been to Tibet and have never talkedwith a Tibetan. Also like all the Chinese in China, what I had read or heard about Tibet was from the state media, so it was really just propaganda).
I see the rising nationalism in China and honestly it sometimes worries me. (Let's face it. There's a lot of manipulation of the medial on both sides, the Chinese and the Western) Of course, as a Chinese who has spent her first 23 years in China, I want China to be strong and I understand the painful journey China and the Chinese people have gone throughin the past (most westerners have no idea about that), but on the other hand, I think a strong country should be multi-faceted, multi-cultured, and most importantly the one that allows and encourages debates and differences. (I don't agree with you, but I welcome your voice and I fight for your rights tospeak freely, as an ancient philosopher said. )If it's just one voice, then there's a serious problem there. The US's political system is far from being perfect and the Iraq war is a scandle, a shame, but at least you hear debates and you see protests.
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People in China may complain that information from outside world can not flow freely into mainland China resulted in the control of Chinese government. I?d choose not to hear rather than receive biased even untrue poisoned stories because that either way is equally not acceptable.
Believe what you see, hear and then give judgments WITH YOUR OWN EXPERIENCES. This is my suggestions to everyone who has tried/ is trying or will try to criticize about China. As a matter of fact, it can also be extend to improve your own daily life towards your closed friends, colleagues, and family members. Communicating and approaching the situation with a loving heart is the key to resolve any kinds of relationships and conflicts.
Unfortunately, to understand the whole world, we can not always be able to travel to each spot to discover the truth by ourselves, thus we rely on other sources, such as Journalists, who should be MORALLY and PROFESSIONALLY qualified to this role for the sake of a more peaceful world, otherwise it leads to a hatred and disaster situation.
James, I am looking forward to reading more of your blogs, which I sincerely hope it could bridge the East and West. Good Luck!
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Hi James,
I think you should consider handing over your notice to your line manager in BBC, who sent you to such a "terrible" place that you hate it entirely, I feel sorry for you ...
It doesn't matter how much you hate China and Chinese, we are destined to be stronger and stronger, we will disppoint you, I feel sorry for you again ...
Come back London, I will buy you a few beers in a nice pub, for your suffering days in China - binge drinking is the only enjoyable thing for most British anyway...
I feel sorry for you , oh yes, really ...
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when the Olympic torch was still in Europe I was on a nice sandy beach in Cuba, what I saw on CNN in my hotle room was just so one sided reporting. there was no torch relay to see, but just a whole lot of protesting anti-China western activists and a few pro-Tibetans pushing their way thru the security lines, and trying to go for the torch.
all the other EU news stations had the same coverage. now, how come?
even in Cuba you can get only one side of the story, the bad side and the same words were used. there were nothing on the news about the happy Chinese supporters in Europe and you can not see a thing on the pro-China supporters celebrating and dancing in the streets for the torch relay.
same news different news readers.
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Dear James,
Greetings from Cochabamba, Bolivia.
I enjoy your reporting very much and also to know that you were in Chile where I was also for 25 years during the time of pinochet.
You have quite a career behind you in being in Chile, the Middle east and now in China.
I will be reading with interest your blog on the happenings in China these coming months and also my concern for the People of Tibet.
Frank Dolphin - Cochabamba, Bolivia
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I saw many people have the opinion that BBC should not sent James Reynold to China or at least they should sent someone "know China better".
As a Chinese in the UK I don't agree with that somehow, James Reynold got a strong education background as well as tough experience back in the middleeast. His experience in China can best represent most western's view on China in my opinion.
From biased-report, mis-leading/edited picture to 'perdict' China won't report negtive news during torch relay that's exactly what most conflict and suprise comes from when west view confront east.
China itself however indeed got many problems from limited freedom of speech to policies still lived in 50th last century.
I do support BBC keeps James Reynold as China representitve as his experience can best represent all these years of change, misunderstanding, theory spark or conspiracy etc(whatever) happened in China from a classic western view point.
o BTW hope the comment system can support Chinese character since what you saw as many "?" is what exactly Chinese comments lost in translation :P
Hope to see more of your report from China James and keep up the work!
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I am neither pro nor anti Chinese ( China) but the Olympic Games is a great big joke. Since 1936 it has been politicised , the 'Olympic Ideals' have been breached many times at the games . In the past we have had professionals masquerading as amateurs, athletes of dubious gender , gamesmanship etc. Now the list of Olympic 'Sports' seems to include everything from hopscotch to tiddlywinks.
The Olympics are no longer games but a circus so it's Beijing's turn for the circus to come to town. Enjoy!.
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Hi James, maybe you know that already, you are very 'famous' now in China for your 'excellent' reports. I am very surprised to see that you are still there. Can you please first have some shame to apologize what you said on 6th of April about the torch relay disruption, which you predicted will not be shown on Chinese media? I can understand that as you have been in China for "only" two years, it is not easy for you to know too much about China yet. Maybe, I will forgive you. But if you keep doing stuff like this, I can only say that the god is watching, and you know the concequence.
"What China had in mind was a kind of lap of honour - legions of cheerful fans across the world cheering the torch along its way."
Very interesting, I strongly recommend you to read an acient Chinese book, "the art of war". Hope this can help you give some thoughtful comments.
Btw, have read two posts from you, it seems like you are the bravest Brit struggling to survive in China. To be honest, it just makes me laugh... What is wrong with the BBC's HR?
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canberraman, thanks for responding.
i do concede that china's media has changed recently. indeed, all of china has. it's amazing to watch - the first time i visited china was in the mid 90s. however, it's pretty simple to see a great many examples of china's 'state message' being reported as 'news' in the chinese media.
the western media is criticised in these chinese nationalist blogs for 'spinning the facts', but this sounds very biased if these blogs don't also look critically at their own media. the censorship of china's internet content surely has a part to play in that.
for a westerner, one of the key questions surrounding the issue is this - why should westerners trust the official chinese media story about events in tibet if the government won't let foreign journalists in to report to the world what's happening there? if the chinese state media is telling the 'truth' about this issue, why restrict international media access to the area? we as media consumers want these 'facts' verified by our own sources, and this all comes across as very dodgy indeed to a western observer. it can't be argued away by implying that we're all brainwashed by a deceptive and corrupt media.
it would be very foolish to expect a citizen of the west to trust the official chinese state position - we are dubious enough our own governments' state positions, and even the positions of our own media. yes, even the beloved bbc is read with a critical eye - that's something that comes along with freedom of speech.
so, maybe you are right about it being 'immoral' to 'spin the facts' of an issue. it's also something the chinese and western media do on a daily basis, for a range of reasons. but simply put, there are as many opinions as there are people on this planet, so having access to every major news source around the world allows me to navigate though the 'spin' and make up my own mind about an issue. this is very empowering for an individual, and one of the great things about the internet. it's also something very few chinese citizens are allowed to do.
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I have never imagined I could have a day to talk with inhabitants in China about such delicate problems through internet so easily. As you said it must tell a big and favorable change of China.
I have read No.14 Lightsout britain's comment with great interest. I totally agree with his opinion.
Anyway, I am looking forward to reading your report from Hong Kong.
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i'm torn between what i've read from western and eastern media. but i guess this is a process that I need to go through in order to grasp an idea about the country i was born in. looking forward to reading more of your entries.
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Contrary to the view suggested by many comments here that Chinese should be more tolerant, I think Chinese in general are too tolerant. Many Westerners criticise Chinese as being submissive, don't they? Which view should Chinese follow?
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Since about two years ago, I've always had access to BBC (and CNN and NYTimes) in China. I was surprised because living in the US as a Chinese American, I didn't doubt BBC its claim that it's blocked in China. I later emailed BBC about this, thinking they would correct their article to "BBC blocked in parts of China". But instead, I received a response basically saying that I probably just got lucky.
I was disappointed, and I could no longer completely trust BBC's reportings after that. Now, with more biased reporting on Tibet, I'm convinced that some reporters such as James Reynolds simply doesn't like China or the Chinese people. Look at the first two paragraphs of this article. It's got a really hostile tone, and that's just completely unnecessary.
James, I hope you get relocated to cover another country, because you don't sound like you are enjoying yourself in China at all. There are a lot of good things happening in China, and this you can ask any Westerner who's been in China for some time. But instead you only focus on the negatives, the bad things in China, and I'm saddened by this. I see problems with America too, like Iraq, etc, but I also see what makes America one of the greatest nations. The Western media only sees/reports the bad side of China, and this is unfortunate.
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A lot of the comments seem to have steered towards personal attacks against James Reynolds.... Stick to the issues, please! The idea of the blog is to discuss the issue, not provide a target board for you to shoot at the journalists.
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Dear Paul Danahar
I read your story "The challenges of reporting in China". Many thanks for you trying to tell me the truth.
But, please look at the pictures that show Jing Jing have been attacked in Paris, I wonder Why you didn't tell me the truth. I wonder why BBC never tell me what happened in the pictures? I have to think about it very carfully. Yes, in the end I understand you tell me the truth selectively, you tell me the truth that you want me know, and you tell me the 'truth' that is fake but you believe it is 'truth' on purposes. Please don't cite "I would sooner have you hate me for telling you the truth than adore me for telling you lies " that make you hypocritical.
Thank you and BBC again for teaching me the western double standards and western hypocritical human right.
Jack
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moringsuncc said " My country is developing with 0.9 billion poor educated farmers. We care about food, we care about economics, we care about environment, we care about the 71 dead in the train collision."
Care about the environment??? Have you ever been to China?? Beijing in low visibility due to smog (pollution) virtually everyday. Hong Kong suffers low visibility when the wind blow from the North because of Chinese pollution. Athletes worried about pollution. Factories to close for 2 weeks before the Olympics to reduce pollution, and the list go on.
Care about 72 killed in train collision? I guess you did not see much on the state controlled media of the plight of the millions of migrant workers that got stuck in railway stations during the Lunar New Year.
Amazing how many of the bloggers blog from outside their "wonderful and free country"
Yes Shanghaiied, living in China you would only see the good, that is the beauty of the system.
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TOLD YOU SO !!!!!
Told you it will be peaceful in Hong Kong. Nothing like controlling the masses. Long live brainwashing and intimidation in an autocratic system!
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I congratulate BBC, despite being in general negative in their reporting of Chinese issues, for opening a blog dedicated to China. One sugguestion, which I believe will do wonders to your credibility in the eyes of the Chinese people, would be to have contributions from a diverse range of writers, Westerners, Chinese, Hong Kongers, etc. This would hopefully ease any sense of subjectivity attributed to a "personal" blog.
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AfricanAsian
Your logic is: no protest in HK= state controlled and brainwashed? Protest in HK= freed socity everyone lives happily ever after?
It's weird.
What's more? there is actually some protest happening during the HK relay. If you watch carefully you can find it on BBC. Gladly those protesters didn't try to disrupt the relay or try to assult carrier.
About Chinese media don't cover social unrest and unfair. Actually you can find a lot of magazine, media report these things in China now and things like train accident you mentioned is been reported by CCTV.
well enough said i just think you won't watch or listen but at least i had my voice here.
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AC
judging from what you've written... three things i summarised for you
1. pick on a minor offence which will be commited by anyone on this planet if they have any national pride (dont even mention on national level, sometimes how some countries bullied others into agreements or wars)
2. you've deomonstrated a worrying attitude which will be picked by many people, DO YOU REALLY CARE ABOUT DEMONCRACY or LIVINGHOOD of CHINESE? the answer is probably no...
3. typical example of someone still has that COLD WAR mentality and is trying to apply that to a modern world....
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AA
surely you only have the ability to follow the news here...
train collison, one of the BIGGEST news in China at the moment, swift recue and recovery action by the government, premier even directly supervises the whole thing.
workers got stuck during Chinese New Year, again, another BIG headline everywhere, premier was directly involved. enormous amount of resources had been poured into the operation. the picture may not look glarmous, but problems are solved arent' they?
one thing i have to stress, everytime major disaster or accident happens, the Chinese army always plays a vital role in the recue operation... something media seems to stress only on the "crackdowns"
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Dear AsianAfrican
Have you not heard that people in Xiamen have already stopped the paraxylene project being built on their doorstep? Well the gov might not be doing much for the environment but I think chinese people do care a lot about it.
Also may I point out that as a chinese living in London, the only way I found out about those 100 thousand+ migrant workers got in railway stations and the serious conditions caused by the snow was from your so called 'state controled' media in China, but not from the BBC. I never expected much from the CCTV (oh yeah the Royal Channel) so I got my information from several major chinese websites, provincial TV channels and popular online forums like Tianya. The info I recieved from them is very comprehensive, and that include thousands and millions of messages (you know the size of Tianya heihei) strongly criticising the goverment and media's action in the event. But by your logic, in such a tightly controlled country I should not have got all these pieces of information at all!
On the other hand, I only saw very general reports about these events on the BBC. I do not blame it coz I consider as being a foreign media their main job is of course concentrating on their own domestic fairs rather than international ones. But that also brings another problem, what's the big fuzz about their websites being blocked in China? I mean I've been here for 7 years, nothing on China the BBC reported so far is sth I did not know of from tightly controlled chinses media. So what are the advantages the BBC and other westermedia have on reporting about China compare with our own domestic media bodies? Why are they so eager to let us see their reports about nothing that we have never heard of or even experienced in our own life? Just so to let us know about their views on problems like Darfur? I dont see them criticising their own gov for leaving the problem for the chinese gov to deal with.
I understand that only man bites dog makes good news. But if the Chinese are not the audience (at least not the main audience) the westernmedia want to serve, and they have no advantages on reporting and providing indepth analysis about current social events in China, then their job should be providing a general viewing window for the westerners to see a real China: through it you can see many ugly things going on, but dont forget there should be good things too!
I dont want to argue about freedom of information in China with you AsianAfrican, coz I'm on your side too! But I can see Chinese news papers and magazines like Southern Metropolis Daily constantly testing the limit on reporting in China, I consider that a progress and I hope recenct events can act as catalysts for the gov to release their control on info.
But seriously, AsianAfrican, can you just calm down before assessing the situation about these issues you raised more comprehensively? Or may I assume that you do no live in China neither just like the rest of us?
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now that I am back home, the news reports are still the same. everyday the news recycles and repeats the same stories from London, Paris and SF. and where are the party pictures? there were street parties all over the world, but all I've seen on TV is those activists and the talkinghead from the news.
Yo Africanasian, I agreed with you that's why I don't live in China anymore.
if you are in Hong Kong now, how can you live there it must be a bad place for you?
you should go to Afrika, may be to South Afrika where there is freedom and no pollution, matter of fact there is no nothing there.
go mon be free and stay home.
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Quote taobo33
?Your logic is: no protest in HK= state controlled and brainwashed?
Protest in HK= freed socity everyone lives happily ever after??
No, my logic, or rather argument, is that, apart from the small group of brave pro- democracy (the name says it all) protesters inside Hong Kong, there was nothing more then happy faces on route. Most protestors, the majority Chinese dissidents, were blocked at the border. Therefore the Torch Relay appeared picture perfect on international T.V. Just the way the masters like it.
Does not say much for freedom of speech.
Thus:
Protest in HK = Freedom of speech
At he same time as the Chinese Government promote the Olympic Torch as a sign of peace, a Chinese ship, loaded with Chinese weapons tried to unload on the Southern African coast, bound for the oppressive Zimbabwean government.
The Zimbabwean situation has all the trademarks of Tibet. No international press allowed etc. It is no coincidence that Robert Mugabe studied and trained in China.
I am with James Reynolds, as I have seen in Africa that ?quiet diplomacy? does not work.
Only speaking up, and keeping pressure on the powers to be will bring change.
I cannot blame anyone for being a patriot, we all want a sense of belonging, but don't let patriotism override sober judgment, or deny he facts, that's called brainwashed.
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ever been ouside the States, AA?
ever been to China, AA?
the Chinese are not into protesting like most westerners, there are some Chinese activists but they are brave only with western support.
as you can see in Hong Kong.
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I am an American born to Chinese mother and American father, as far as I am concerned that it is natural for the west to bash and make fun of others under the cover so called 'free press' or 'balanced media' or 'freedom of speech'. This is just part of their nature. They are 'nice' to you as long as you are under them. They are 'polite' to you as long as you listen to them. The rising of China is just something they just don't feel comfortable about it. China is largest country of the east where as US is the largest and most powerful country of the west. They just cannot watch the rising China without change its political structure. With the fast development happening in China, it is seen, to the west, as a threat to many of the western countries leading by the US. These western countries, no matter how the US is acting differently on some international issues, they are still closer allies than they are to China, no matter how China changes its political structure or how China wants to be close to them. They never question if US is too powerful or if Japan is too powerful for that matter. Of course not. They are using Japan and India to watch China. No one said anything when US was the biggest polluter in the world. USA is the largest arm supplier in the world in fact US and Russia are the biggest suppliers of arms to Darfur and US accuses China. US have the largest prison system in relation to its population in the world and still has death penalty. No one boycott anything US does even it illegally invaded Iraq under fabricated reason and false statements. When 9/11 happened, they consider it as terrorist attack. When the Tibet riots is considered as peaceful protest. When Chinese army were there to restore the social order is considered as government oppression or crack down. When Israel air bomb and missiles attack Palestinian is considered anti-terrorist. When China builds railway to Tibet, open schools, open shops to open up Tibet to the outside world , get non-Tibetan connected to Tibetan people and culture, raise education level and standard of living are considered threat to Tibetan culture. When Israel build walls to isolate Palestinian and gun-point at Palestinians at checkpoint on a daily basis are acceptable. For all these facts, the west is still expecting no complains or different opinions from normal Chinese people (which has nothing to do with what the Chinese government thinks or does) about the biased press of the west. They love you when you bashing China even baselessly but they label the normal Chinese who praise the rising of China and love for their country as brainwashed or the Chinese government is doing the propaganda. Is the west blinded about all these facts? Of course they are not blinded. Instead, they are fully aware of everything. They just do what's best for them and not necessary for others. In conclusion, I don't give much hope for a balanced and justified press from the west about China ever as long as China proudly keeps its own identity just like others do. This is just too bad and too sad. China is not perfect and far from it. China needs improvement but no by imposing force from others. China in fact has improved drastically and should be recognized or criticized constructively rather than bashed baselessly and constantly. . China needs to open up more. This is the only way for the Chinese people to be able to play a big part in the international stage.
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I have to say AfricanAsian know very little if not zero about Tibet and DaLai Lama.
Your comparison between IOC's decision on Beijing and South Africa doesn't have any justification if I may say.
Let me tell you something: do you know if there is any discrimination between Tibetan and the rest people in the country by law? The answer is NO. It is actually the other way around: as a minority ethic, Tibetans are given privilege from the day they were born. The family can have more children, educational allowances from young, priority of enrolling into college and get a job in government. Did the white people give any priority to the black in the old days of South Africa?
I don?t want to comment too much on the present Dalai Lama, please read some Tibet history and if possible, go there to see by your own eyes. To be honest, some of his predecessors are much more romantic, legendary and worth to be remembered. This one is interested in please Americans more than anything else. It is not a secret the US congress and CIA has providing money and weapon to him for half a century. Check Wiki.... I don't think he actually did anything or interested in doing anything to improve life for the average Tibetans.
Nelson Mandela wasn't very lucky to attract world's attention at his early time. He was fighting for something the blacks are still fighting for in US today: equality. My birth day is the same with Mandela and I respect him since young. I was a little bit disappointed after he became president, but it was not a easy job anyway.
I disagree with the comparison between Medela and DaLai.
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What kind of free media is this when comments are pre-moderated, and this is not controlled media? Whatever the reason for pre-moderations is, I know as you know, it is the tool to filter our comments that is unfavorable to you, your people and your country. It is pathetic how western media manipulate the minds of their own people. Using phrases such as "state run news" and ?communist china? as hints to discredit China?s media and to stigmatize china and its people as evil. So, your ?pre-moderation? is not controlling media? Ask yourself, what really is your wish for china and its people? For sure, you don?t wish china and Chinese people to be more successful than your country and your people. Post this comment if you have any creditability
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Why Chinese government needs to apologise for violence in Korea??
Regarding Violence during torch relay in Korea, if Chinese government is required to say sorry, then Metro police in London needs to apologise for letting torcher being attacked by violent pro-tibetan-in-exile. Same applies to Paris and San Fan. police depart. Same logic applies to dalai lama for violence in tibet on and after 14 march.
To conclude, Chinese government needs not apologise at all.
Next time, please do not sensationise your report from China.
Finally, was you, James, used the tibet riot picture which shown an ambulance carrying wounded and interpreted as police car. If you know Chinese language, wouldn't be stupid like that?
BBC was not allowed in Llhase, but does it mean automatically BBC can, therefore, mis-intrepret, lie, manipulate unconfirmed reports and publish them to public and mislead them. I don't think so.
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hey hey hey........one of the house rules for commenting is no websites posts, look at comment # 52. if this is not anti-china, i don't know what is.
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To nonfamiliar
Thank you for the response, too.
1. I agree that everybody has his/her own views about things. Eveybody can interpret things as they like, but it is never right to forge a "fact", fexample, this time, the use of false or cut photos by CNN and BBC. It is not just "spinning" any more, it is simply lying. Do not tell me that is only a "technical mistake". Because, as you said, western citizens tend to believe your their media, the misleading report by the media is so damaging---not only to the image of China and Chinese, but also to the understanding between China/chinese and western people.
You said that you enjoy the world media. Good on you, but how often you are able to tell your media is lying and make your correct judgement on something that happens at a place you never heard of to someone you have no idea who they are? And how often you expect most of people read more papers than their local Herald/Times/...? Media are capable leading countries into wars---US-Spanish war was caused by a purposely forged "news"...
What you are saying is that since everyboday is spining, then there is no moral problem, especially when they are dealing with the disliked Chinese, and then we the jungle's rule applies again---the one who successfully spins people prevails (mighty is right).
2. You label the Chinese blogs as nationalist, probably the same for those tens of thousands who demonstrated in the western cities, but did you think for a second why those people are so emortional? If you call that nationalism, I am happy to see that. Just look at what happens in US after 911---did you dare to say at the time that the government policy towad middle east may cause that? Did you know that they renamed "french fries" to "freedom fries" in the parliament canteen? Ask yourself what you would do if your country and identity is attacked and humiliated.
Compared to other enthic groups, Chinese have always been apathic to political and are tamed people in western countries. If I am correct, these are the largeset ever demonstrations by Chinese in most of the western cities. Can you simply argue it away by they are just brainwashed "thugs"? Or they are not as intelligent animals as you are to tell the truth? One thing is true, if one is not respecting others, he/she cannot expect respect from others.
I guess, how people react to others normally depends upon the perceived intension of the other party. Hardly any Chinese believes the west is of goodwill on the Tibetan issue to China. As to why western medias are not invited to Tibet. In China, there is a saying--if you come as a friend, you are welcomed, but if you come as a foe ... The intension of western media is quite clear and their "impartialism" is well understood by the Chinese. I am not sure not inviting western media is the best stragety, but it is the Chinese way.
3. One good by product, though---Chinese have never been so foolish to expected western citizens to trust Chinese media more than their own. On the contrary, because they were so critical on their own media, they had been so naive to beleive western media more. Fortunately, this time, they are wakened.
4. For what happened in Tibet, I never suspect for a moment that Chinese government arrested a lot of people and use of force to certain extent, but isn't it normal in such cases? ---just look at what the corresponding governments did toward the riots in Paris, Los Angeles, South Sydney, and so on... But the tunes of the media ... Again, it is just a matter of what you would like to hear or interpret.
5. I never expect Chinese and western people can convince each other on many issues, but more communication is always good for mutual understnading and respect.
So I am glad you browse Chinese news so often. Keep doing so.
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can someone tell meylanglin what totalitarian is?
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Canberraman:
1 ? I wouldn't call that a technical mistake, no. It's a media organisation cropping a photo in a way that puts across their version of events. In the absence the option of sending their photographers into the region, the BBC/CNN/whoever had to work with the small amount of resources they did have. Obviously it is misleading to crop the rioters out of the photo, I'm not going to deny that. But does the Western media deny there was a riot? Absolutely not. Did they hide the fact that ethnic Tibetans burnt Han Chinese shops, schools and other infrastructure during that riot? No. These are established facts on which the Western and Chinese media both agree. The photo cropping is a red herring, jumped on by people who want to prove that the West is filled with people who willingly lap up the bunch of lies their corrupt media dishes out.
Now I would like you to consider a number of assertions made by the Chinese state media. They claim the Dalai Lama wants Tibet to be a separate state. This is not true, he has consistently called for Tibet's greater autonomy as part of China, and said he opposes total independence for Tibet. They claim that he is responsible for the riots, that he gave orders for the Tibetans to riot. The fact is, the Dalai Lama received a Nobel Peace Prize for his commitment to non-violence. The most likely culprits for organising the riots are the Tibetan Youth Congress, a group who actually do openly call for full Tibetan independence. Has the Dalai Lama been put in front of the Chinese courts to establish that he called for, or even inadvertently condoned, the violence? No? Then it's an unsubstantiated claim, presented to the Chinese people as a fact. So let's not throw around accusations of lying. The Chinese media is far from fair and impartial.
2 - I don't 'label' the Chinese blogs nationalist, I refer to those Chinese blogs that ARE Nationalist. It's not an insult, the word is not qualitative, it's just a classification of a type of thought. You should be aware that the western media as a general rule (although I must again stress it doesn't speak with just one voice,) has been critical of decisions the US and UK administrations have made, critical of the United Nations, critical of Israel, critical of the Palestinian leadership, the Burmese Junta, critical of the policies of the Japanese, the Australians, the Canadans, the list goes on. So it seems strange to me a criticism of the Chinese government need result in a deep insult to the whole Chinese people. Should I be personally insulted because the BBC condemns the Australian government's policy on Aboriginal health? I'm certainly not insulted, in fact I generally agree with and support such views. I also believe that I can be a patriot and still criticise my government ? i believe often that's the most patriotic thing one can do.
When a British MP calls a Chinese flame attendant a 'thug' for his violence towards protesters in London, how can you imply that he called ALL Chinese 'thugs'? This is untrue, unfair, misleading and a complete deviation from the issue at hand. It is interesting to note that very few in the West begrudge Chinese their right to protest against Western media bias. Could the same be said for a bunch of Westerners protesting the Chinese media's bias in the middle of Beijing? Surely they would be imprisoned or expelled from China, or at the very least denounced in the state media.
3 ? Are you saying that the Chinese used to trust the Western media over Chinese state media before they cropped Tibetan rioters out of a photo? This confuses me ? I thought until recently they didn't have access to the foreign media at all. Perhaps you'd like to clarify this.
4 ? Yes, the Chinese government is justified in ensuring the rule of law exists in their country. If I remember correctly, the Redfern riots injured several police and caused superficial damage to the outside of a train station. It's hardly comparable to something like the 'June Fourth Incident' (which the rest of the world calls the Tiananmen Square Massacre.) Maybe westerners are a little anxious the Lhasa rioters were suppressed with the kind of force the world saw during those events in 1989, where the Chinese army slaughtered thousands of Chinese students who were calling for democratic reform. This wasn't a riot, mind you - this was a non-violent protest. Maybe you deny it ever happened - perhaps it was fabricated by the Western media to make us hate the Chinese? If you do accept it happened, maybe then you'll understand why we're suspicious of treating the Chinese State media's version of events as reliable news. It's interesting to note the Chinese also banned foreign press from the country in the aftermath of this event and that Hu Yaobang, whose death sparked the 1989 protests, himself called for greater Tibetan autonomy.
I certainly intend to continue pay very keen attention to what is published in the Chinese media, especially during the Olympics. As most Chinese do, I hope the Olympics proves to be something that brings China and the West together, and prompts real western and Chinese people to communicate with each other in the interests of respect and mutual understanding. As you can see, there is much to discuss.
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Hi Jame,
You are definitely right to say China is changing.
The problem is ?Have you changed??
If you are not ready, please don?t waste your time in Beijing.
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Here we are talking about a government that send in their soldiers to occupy another country, detaining people without charge and murder innocent civilians. Yup that's the UK and USA in Iraq...
On the contrary, Tibet is conquered by Kublai Khan, the grandson of Genghis Khan founder of Yuan Dynasty over 1000 years ago. He even conquered Iraq and Iran. James Reynolds, please please study Chinese history before you report your so called "facts".
Their soldiers are not there to occupy Tibet, they are there to protect properties being destroyed and control the disorder. My pro-Beijing friends were in the torch relay in London and they were met by the supposedly "pro -Tibet" protestors who were wearing and carrying Tibet Independence flag and yelled "FREE JAPAN"! "CHINA HAS NO RIGHTS IN JAPAN" Dont see the media pick that one up. They probably think that Tibet is a place that share a border with Australia and America or something like that.
Let's us start a campaign to free Wales, Ireland and Scotland!
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To Davidachilton,
It seemed you did not have a great honeymoon in China. I genuinely hope China did not ruin your most important time in your life. Next time when you have honeymoon, you?d better choose somewhere else to avoid any unpleasant experiences!
According to you, ?Chinese is a rather difficult language for the average person to speak?. Is it true? What is your criterion for being an 'average person'? I know quite a number of non-native Chinese speakers who can communicate in the Chinese language perfectly well. Some of them are also able to read and write the Chinese characters. Are you above or below the average? Reading between lines, I guess the answer is the latter!
You complained that very few Chinese people spoke English in China except the hotel staff. But were you aware where you were? You were in CHINA, mate, not in England! Are you implying speaking English is a must anywhere in the world? Do you mean any other languages except English should be forbidden on the planet?
You also grumbled that the staff in the duty free shops could only speak a little English and they even didn?t know the word ?souvenir?. But have you ever re-read your own posting? I don?t think your English is that great either even it is your mother tongue! I had to read more than three times to work out what you really meant! Guess even the native English speakers find it difficult to understand what you were talking about!
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Hi, James
Arrogance doesn't help one's career. In fact it does not help with anything.
Recently I am astonished to find out how bias the British medias are toward China and Chinese people. And this bias from the media lead British people to have even more bias views toward China.
If you are interested in China - I guess you do at least because of your job, I suggest you ask a colleague who can read Chinese to check websites such as www.powerapple.com, www.wenxuecity.com, www.anti-cnn.com, and even www.zaobao.com (Singapore newspaper), to find out what Chinese people think.
Like lots of other Chinese I'm not comfortable about you calling the country Communist China. We don't call your country Capitalist Britain, or if you prefer, Capitalist England, as I understand lots of people don't like to be called 'British'. They rather like to be called 'English'. I guess partly because your immigration problems. Anyway, by calling it Communist China you already put China in the opposite site. You took yourself back to the Cold War period. I feel lots of British or English still take China as your enemy. Starting from this point you've already made yourself bias.
Regarding the torch relay, your cameras focused only on so called Tibetan protesters, although lots of them are hired and do not even know where Tibet is. Thousands of Chinese were also there protesting against Dalai's followers lying about Tibet situation, and media distortion. They were rarely mentioned on your news. Why, it that because you don't care what Chinese people think? In your media you kept talking about human right in China. I guess you do care about Chinese people. Do you? But why you are not interested to hear our voice? To be honest with you we Chinese do not need westners who know and care little about China to tell us how to run our country.
One thing I'd like to tell you is that BBC has damaged it's reputation within Chinese community both in China and overseas. So I suggest you to report the fact next time you go to China, rather than just have some good time there and use your imagination write something that you think entertaining.
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James:
It's good news, that China is changing!!
~Dennis Junior~
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From my experience in China (5 years), it seems to be changing (the way older people and younger people respond to things is very different), but personally I rather prefer the older style, the younger seems to be too 'self-centered'. About China being Communist, the problem is that it has become a rather odd mixture, nominally Communist but really very money-centred. The youjng chinese are nice, but seem (I talk about the educated ones, because I was only in contact with them) rather naive (being raised specifically in schools where all the stuff was 'academic' only, without time to find outmore about the 'outside world' (outside school, that is). Many received a really bad shock whe they got out of education......
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You westerners always claim yourself being human-rights and individual development-oriented,but how do you explain for your cruel and slaughterous invasion for China 1 hundred yrs ago?I always wonder what would you English or French think of your ancestors as when you wander about in Beijing's Forbidden City watching the desolate palaces,rivers and antient historic relics which were originally ruined them.
We should ask some whys.Why did your grandparents fly over tens of thousands of miles to invade a quiet and peaceful country?Why did Christopher Columbus try to kill and slaughter the aborigines in America while about 600 hundred yrs ago before Columbus the Chinese navigator Zhenghe had brought peace and prosperity instead of gunpowder?Why?When we China were poor and weak,you bring gunpwder and opium!When we get stronger and well off again,you imbue "The Threat of China"!Hundreds of yrs ago when China was the only superpower of the world,it did never invaded any other country besides protecting its own interest.
I think we just need more communication,mutual understanding and trust to solve the problems.
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China is not changing,it is still what it used to be!Those ones who say that China has changed a lot pls go back to learn some chinese histry.
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