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Shanghai Diaries - June 20th




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National 'clamp-downs' on dissidents might mean jail time where you're from, but here it involves the words 'disappeared', 'suicide' and 'detained'. A look at how bad the summer pollution in Beijing already is, small victory for the Western Media being able to film in a certain square and protesters saying that Jack Black's new movie is like 'robbing the earthquake victims'...oh boy.
aricsqueen

16 responses // Shanghai Diaries - June 20th

  • Well, in today's newspaper (yes, the printed version, SJ Mercury News) I see one olympic story about Chinese athletes pushing themselves to the point of injury and beyond for a shot of the gold. There is also one story about heavy rain storms in the earthquake region of China. Overall, I agree that recently, there has been more Sichuan earthquake coverage than Olympic coverage.
    JamesTheron
  • I'm wondering why that is - I mean, we get the 'gritty' stories here, but the big ones (pollution, exodus of foreigners, etc) seem to not make the paper.

    Is China still a niche interest?
    aricsqueen
  • I agree with Sarah; the coverage has been about the floods and earthquake. The Olympics haven't been publicized much, it's been more about the elections. It's the typical TV and newspaper coverage that has virtually nothing about the rest of the world. I get virtually all my news from the net.

    Rounding up the dissidents seems pretty typical. Everytime there is a major event in China, these people are put under house arrest for awhile but 'suicide'? Now that's scary! It reminds me of the dark days in Taiwan when opposition leaders or someone in their family would die by 'accident' or just disappear.

    Good point about the meaning of "the west". I've noticed that same thing in the past; this monolithic idea of the west that is against the rise of China. My guess is it's part of the nationalistic fervor encouraged by the government.

    You're so right about the way they treat the international media... the tougher they are, the worse the stories written. When a Chinese person complains about the negative coverage of their country, the first thing that should be pointed out to them is that the government virtually creates that sort of coverage by their behaviour. You can't film in a certain place? Then we'll write a negative article about that place, etc.

    I've never had good luck with Beijing weather. I always seem to get the smoggy days.

    Kung Fu Panda is exploiting China's national treasure? Now that's funny!!
    SDSteve
  • agreed - we, especially us 'Westerners' don't like being told what to do...and, as you can see, there's always an easy web 2.0 portal for us to express that, ha ha.
    aricsqueen
  • I heard this movie came out...but who watches that kinda stuff... and how on earth does this...forget it! But at least we have something to laugh about ^_^
    excuter
  • ...moment how comes she don´t watch this?
    excuter
  • James Theron brought up an interesting subject, how athletes are picked and trained. A friend of mine in Shanghai (Aric, the one you met) told me that when she was young, they measured all the children and if your legs were long in proportion to your torso, you had to join the track team but because hers were in exact proportion to her torso, she had a choice. (she didn't join) If her legs had been shorter than her torso, they would not have let her join.

    I read that same article James mentions and the pressure on these athletes to train and compete even when injured is tremendous. One of their best divers has had detached retinas in both eyes yet still competes, risking permanent eye damage. For many of these athletes, winning a gold medal or world championship gives them lifetime security, but anything less and they'll have to struggle once they retire. So for them, permanent injury is a price they are willing to pay.

    I guess you can compare it to athletes using steroids; win now but pay a high price later.
    SDSteve
  • (I love your random beginning, but you do look younger like that, lol.)

    I totally agree with Sarah, all thats on TV has been about the floods and earthquake, and a little about the Olympics. Its the main reason why I've been watching your show for the "real" China news, its just the same old American crap coverage that has virtually nothing to do with the rest of the planet.
    I have to say the best "news" show on TV is "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart", no joke.

    I have heard some of what you have said because of the news digging I do on my own, but its not easy to find.

    Another funny thing, all my Chinese friends (and I don't mean ABC) really want to see "kung fu panda." :P
    kesirui
  • Tiger Woods is now out for the rest of the season because he recently participated against his doctor's orders and won the US Open. It's amazing what some people will risk. Still, it's not quite the same as with the child athletes, which can be unbelievable.
    JamesTheron
  • SDSteve - good point; in fact, I think if one looks hard enough, they could find parallels between Chinese athletes (or, most for that matter) and China with the Olympics. f*ck the repercussions, this is the one shot they have to showcase themselves and no matter who gets hurt, they will come out victorious...ok, maybe that's a bit out of left field, but you can see what I mean.

    kesirui - agreed. 'The Daily Show' is the finest news source we have.
    aricsqueen
  • My favourite Jon Stewart moment wasn't even on his show but here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFQFB5YpDZE

    In fifteen minutes, he not only destroyed Crossfire (it was cancelled a couple of weeks later) but effectively ended Tucker Carlson's career. (good riddance)
    SDSteve
  • I see a lot of the stories you bring up in the Danish internet media but always a couple of days after you've talked about them.

    (That's why I love watching your show. Knowing things before everyone else makes me seem smarter. ;-) )

    Some of them also show up on tv but usually not in the most popular news programs or at the most popular hours. The thing is, it's very hard for me to judge what other people actually get to know because I don't really watch the news on tv that much. Like Steve I get most of my information on the internet.

    I think most of the information is available if you go looking for it but most people don't bother and I really don't blame them. It's a problem for democracy if people don't have enough information to make up their own mind but on the other hand we get so much new information all the time. It takes a lot of effort to separate the important stuff from the less important stuff. (Do we really need to know so much about Brangelina?)

    And don't forget. Most of the stuff you see on tv, is only there to fill out the breaks between the commercials...
    Lunetta
  • Quite honestly, being a Westerner myself and only recently coming to China, I can tell you that The West is quite preoccupied with their own 'issues'. Not that it's right or even makes sense when we live in a world that is more globally focused nowadays than ever before. I agree with all above 100% that The Daily Show is only source for real news in the US...hell, I don't subscribe to most news. If so, only to know where the smoking mirrors are today. "Don't look at the man behind the curtain", ya know? Yes, that is a Wiz of Oz reference...and no, we're so not in Kansas anymore.

    Aric - love what you're doing here. I have only been in China about a week and I gotta tell you, I have learned more about China in a week than I ever before. The parrallels and perpendiculars are clearer now that I see with my own eyes and hear it from my friends here on the ground (my proverbial horses mouths) for months or years now. I'll be checking in with you. Rock on, brutha!
    TravIsland
  • SDSteve - you and me both, I even blogged about it a few months back:

    http://www.aricwithana.com/?p=44

    Lunetta - such a good point; more people know about said power couple than things actually going on.

    Travisland - really kind of you man, I appreciate the support. where you at in China?
    aricsqueen
    1 response to this
  • We've been talking about western perceptions about China recently, and today I came across this article on ESPN: http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/news/story?id=3453777&...

    I have a feeling this is the type of article we'll be seeing as the games approach, what I guess you could call the "Lost in Translation" approach to writing. Columnist comes to Beijing with no background in China and writes article about how different and amazing everything is!

    Would you like scorpion or seahorse with your donkey?
    SDSteve

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