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Sign up with Google Sign up with FacebookQ: Why don't you just pay a visit here before making a judgement?
One of my husband's best friend is visiting us now and he has been to Shanghai,Suzhou,Xian and now in Guangzhou. when he told his friends in OZ that he's going to visit China,They all said,OH NO,why China,China sucks and you would be so regret to visit there something like that. we met yesterday and he talked to me a lot about how much he enjoys visiting China and he's going to encourge all his friends to come. I am just so glad that he did not listen to his friends there but gave himself a try.
I'd appreciate it if you pay a visit first before making a judgement about things here.
good stuff or bad stuff about China as long as it's the truth,I would be happy to hear.
It's a great sentiment maggie, but unfortunately the press in our home nations are just as good at propaganda as the CPC, China is rarely portrayed positively and very frequently is portrayed negatively. My view is often that is due to fear, many in the 'west' are scared of what China is going to become and so do all they can to instill fear in the population. This then becomes 'accepted' as the truth and rarely questioned, you see it here frequently in many of the posts. The trouble is in 'the west' there are many people who believe because the press is free it always tells the truth and that is patently false.
nevermind:
What a load of crap. Western media reports on what the problems in China are. Are you saying they don't exist? It also reports on the problems in Western countries.
Sidi:
To be honest the west only reports on the negatives. But to be more honest it is because those negatives tend to 'outshine' the positives especially in issues of human rights etc. Expats live in a very very comfortable bubble here in China, the people suffer, it's just that their hard work ethic saves them. Of course and then the people themselves we see everyday how they operate... Fair coverage comes when there is an almost balance between the positives and negatives.
nevermind:
Sidi, the media doesn't portray any country as "good." The media's job is to focus on problems. Let's look at CBC's newspage today. http://www.cbc.ca/bc/
Stories on the front page about CANADA are:
- Fluff about the NHL lockout
- Man complaining the country's EI doesn't help cancer patients
- Six people charged in sex assualt
- Federal government screwed up and lost sensitive information for 500,000 people
- Computer virus hacks thousands
- Protests in the streets of Vancouver by natives
NONE of these stories are about how great Canada is. Does this mean the CBC is showing Canada in a negative light? PUHLEESE. China's problem is that it's too sensitive and doesn't want to be held to scrutiny like the rest of the world. Time to grow up.
MrTibbles:
It's FACE. Saying anything that is not positive about China causes the Chinese people to "lose face", which is why we get people saying things like "Norway hurt the feelings of the Chinese people."
Hugh.G.Rection:
nevermind, your point would be valid if those negative articles in the Canadian press about Canada were actually about China or another nation.
What I was pointing out was that the vast majority of stories in the 'western' press about China are negative. You and many others would be all over this site complaining and pointing out the hypocrisy if Chinese press carried so many negative stories about Canada / USA / (insert home nation). My second point was the amount of sheeple in the 'west' who believe all they read in the press (be it about China or anything), this colours their perception and leads to negative images and often they are false.
For some reason I liked my time in China, I can have fun any where, but there are so many things the Chinese do that in any other country, they'd get punched for doing. Not to mention the spitting, thieving, lying, cheating, totally inconsiderate road manners.
TedDBayer:
I'm pretty easy going, but there were so many times I really,really, really wanted to kick the crap out of some guy and didn't. The closest I came was when I felt a guys hand in my empty pocket and I was wound to just to hammer him, when I turned there was a cop standing behind him, so I did nothing. I now think that was just a security guard not a cop, gonna have to learn the difference. The guys trying to read my phone translator over my shoulder, how many times should you push a guy away, which any where else would cause a fight, guys trying to force their foot ahead of me in lines. I did see Chinese get in fights with line cutters.
Okay, but you promise to tell your Chinese friends to leave China before they start talking smack about other countries. This is a fair trade.
mArtiAn:
A fair comment that none could argue with, as well as proof positive that two wrongs do in fact make a right. Which, as i've heard, is exactly what is left when all else has been done wrong. Right?
I totally agree, that should apply for every country to be traveled in the world. Although I live in China and not only do Chinese people stereotype countries too, they stereotype people as well...(refer to the question posted 'why do Chinese judge by appearance'), the sad part is when they stereotype you when you are proof of the opposite right in front of them...
I have enjoyed and still do enjoy my stay in China. But.......little things start getting you annoyed and you get this build up. Try to focus on the positives of being here and just why you are here, as difficult as that is sometimes. Some colleagues bitch and moan continually and for them it's probably time to leave. Stuff I read about China in my country's newspapers didn't even enter my head when I decided to come here and I still like to form my own opinions. When the negatives outscore the positives it will be time to move on unless I marry here.
But like nevermind wrote, Chinese folk need to travel to other countries before they offer ridiculous opinions on them and their people. I find them poorly informed on most things outside of their own country.
There is an old adage in business that the best advertising is word of mouth. For the most part, people can only decide if they actually WANT to go and see China based on what others tell them, including the media.
Unfortunately, China does little to portray itself in a positive light. And it's treatment of foreign media, with visas withheld, restrictive travel, blocking VPNs, censorship, direct and indirect threats and even physical attacks, does little to endear China to the media.
If China wants good press in the west, it needs to sell itself to the western media, not alienate itself at every possible opportunity. If China wants those that have visited China to give good reports to their friends, then it needs to earn those good reports.
Most people are not going to spend thousands of dollars to travel to a place they have heard mostly bad reports about, just to "see for themselves what it is like." They will spend their hard earned money going somewhere they hear good things about. Like Australia...
I think if China would do better on the PR front if they used some of their TV adds that we see on CCTV9 in other country's
My folks were watching our Sat Tv one day and now are more interested in seeing China
If People are shown things in a positive light they will be more willing to see for themselves
You have to admit the only things we see on TV in our home countries are indecencies , curiosities or what they try to smuggle into the country
nevermind:
True, but as a news editor once said to me: "Tell the asshole if he doesn't like all the bad press, stop being a dick."
I've been here 2 years and have had few complaints other than culture shock. I am enjoying my time more now that I know I will be leaving in 6 months though.
There is nothing that pisses me off more than someone who know nothing about a subject and has very strong opinions on that subject. People that say who wants to go to China. Of course they have not been there. I have been to 36 different countries and China is my number one place to visit. I love China. They have the most beautiful girls in the world and everything is so different to the West. As Rick Steves says Keep on traveling. You might learn something. It must have been a real eye opener for our dumbest president George Bush Jr when he went to the Chinese Olympics.Franck3
Traveler:
Watching CCTV documentaries doesn't count as actually visiting the countries.
But maggie, almost everyone on the board is living or has lived in China.
Mr_spoon, sorry, I can't comment for some reason.
Most do, but not everyone does. Some of us were there and left, some come to the board to ask questions before coming to China.