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Reader's Letter: Unwise to Continue Distorting China's Image
BEIJING, October 11 -- Psychologists believe it is a natural response
for a person, after being put in an alien culture, to seek his "physical
cues" to alleviate the culture shocks he is likely to suffer
during the early days of adapting to the new environment.
A family photo album, a favourite folk music cassette, a letter
from home or anything related to his cultural background can serve
as a source of comfort.
In my case, it was news from China.
Since I came to the United States, which boasts the world's most
powerful press, I have found it extremely convenient to obtain all
kinds of information, including those about my home country, either
from newspapers, magazines, or wire services.
Yet the more news I got, the more confused I became. News from
China has given me more distress than comfort.
It is not because I am not used to bad news. I come from a country
where good news often dominates the official media. Bad news about
China reported by Western press was always there: the Chinese Government
trying to influence US elections by funneling money to the Democrats;
China portrayed as the biggest thief of US nuclear weapon technologies;
China as a major arms supplier to rogue countries.
It is only when I am thousands of miles away from China do I begin
to feel differently about such sort of news. Desperate for news
from home, I have become dispirited, disturbed and disgusted by
the day-by-day exposure of a gloomy, and sometimes ugly, picture
of my once familiar homeland.
Floods, accidents, forced abortion, violent crimes and executions
of criminals "with a bullet to the back of the head" never
cease to be popular topics in the US media.
The economy is getting worse, beset by rising unemployment, falling
competitiveness and weakening foreign investment.
Political freedom is tightly restricted, featured by on-and-off
arrests of dissidents seeking to set up opposition parties.
The potentials for social unrest is played up, epitomized by the
recent nationwide crackdown on the Falun Gong cult _ "a mishmash
of breathing exercises, meditation, Buddhism and Taoism." Its
members are those "disillusioned by the growing corruption
and other ills in Chinese society."
Neutron bombs, which China recently declared to possess, are supposed
to target Taiwanese compatriots in a bid to scare the island away
from seeking independence after Taiwan "president" Lee
Teng-hui's call for statehood for the island.
And amid all these troubles, the Chinese leaders are sparing no
effort to "rally public loyalty by whipping up nationalism."
Apart from some pieces about giant pandas or archaeological discoveries,
these are mostly what I have read about my country in the past several
months.
"We report bad news. You report good news. So what's the fuss?"
some may argue.
No doubt about that.
Sensational stories about sex scandals of the US president, or
the huge pictures of white supremacists who killed ethnic people
in shooting sprees can hit front pages of the US newspapers, despite
some readers' complaints that "the good things in life are
so often ignored."
But the point is American readers, reared in their familiar cultural
background, can rather easily come to a relatively accurate conclusion
about what is going on in their own country.
When it comes to a foreign country, with which readers have no
life experience or historical context or only a limited knowledge
on which to base their judgments, the reporting can be misleading.
Now I understand why a lot of my American friends tell me that
China, in their eyes, is still a psychologically distant, unpredictable
and even mysterious country, even when the world today is getting
much smaller with the fast development of communications technology.
After following news about China for just three months, I have
begun to feel a little bit estranged with the country I lived in
for 30 years.
That's the power of the press. It has been affecting people's thinking
and the way they act to an increasingly large extent, especially
in the United States.
It is by no means difficult to discern the changes in China. And
given China's history of 5,000 years, changes within such a short
time are tremendous.
The economy, though affected by the Southeast Asian financial crisis,
is keeping a steady 7 per cent growth, providing solid ground for
China not to devalue its currency, which helps its crisis-hit neighbours
to recover.
The rule of law has been written into the newly amended Constitution,
a breakthrough in China's efforts to build up its legal system.
Grass-roots democracy has emerged, as village-level elections are
carried out all across the country.
It is not unreasonable to say that Chinese people enjoy a better
human rights situation nowadays than at any other time in Chinese
history.
Partial reporting of the country tends to strengthen anti-China
bias not only among ordinary people, but also among politicians
who decide on whether to "engage" or "contain"
this rising power, a policy that will eventually have a bearing
on the national interest of the United States itself.
Unfortunately, there is still a vast gap between the conventional
Western perception of China as a totalitarian state and the reality
of a booming, vibrant, increasingly open and more loosely controlled
society.
The press should help narrow, instead of widening, that gap.
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