Walking in Beijing Shoes

A lot of people are preoccupied with the idea of Chinese media as a propaganda device. (I understand that the Chinese character for information and propaganda are the same.) It is certainly true that the media in China is biased; however the western media is also at fault (if that’s the right word) here in their coverage of government-machinations behind the scenes at the Olympics. You would have to talk to these kids and see the general attitude on the streets to see that to them being a smiling face in Beijing is not propaganda. The question I am most often asked is why the western press can’t give China a compliment without qualifying it with some problem.

I disagree with those who criticize Bush’s visit as “making nice” and not addressing the “real” issues. There is a time and place for everything. His appearance here was a great honor and one that will create a lot of good will. It has been mentioned by everyone we visit: students, businessmen, and friends (who generally tell us what they really feel.) From a positive psychology point of view, I think that creating respect between countries will go a long way to overcome the fundamental distrust between the countries.

Chinese culture and sensibility are very different from ours in ways I don’t even come close to understanding. They have made extraordinary changes in the last 30 years. Certainly the Communist Party would like to stay in power. (But so would the Republicans and Democrats, hence their political rhetoric.) One that totally knocks me out is how, in spite of the cultural revolution, the people have totally re-embraced their historical and cultural heritage. It makes sense to me, of course, but what about all the people my age who were actually in the Red Guard? How do they deal with the cognitive dissonance from those wide changes? And none of this addresses the progress economically – the standard of living and opportunities for jobs, education, medical care that weren’t here 10 years ago. (Yes, there are downsides to the economic growth, too, but many people would take pollution over starvation.)

The purpose of my research is to examine the villianization of a culture through the media and how that impacts how we form judgments about our world and others (in this case, China.) My husband John often quotes Checkov, who said (somewhere) that to know Bulgarians you have to go to Bulgaria. The media gives us the illusion of being in Bulgaria, but not the experience. I think as a country and culture, we have to be aware of our own biases and sense of “we do it the right way” that come from a position of power and relative wealth and careful to not make judgments without “walking a mile in another man’s shoes.” (and certainly not from what we read in the paper.)