Is China misunderstood?

Question

Most expats who have lived for years in China say a lot of good things about China, the people and its governance but people of the West who only hear about China through their bias media and can't even afford to travel think they know everything about China and protest and act CLEAN as if they're guilt-less, casting stones.

Answer 1

I dont know.  Alot of people in the Chinese community here protest about their former govt.  The Chinese media is biased, COMPLETELY, isnt it?  Cant go by what they say either.  We do know this, it's not a democracy.

Answer 2

it's the same everywhere. we think they're evil oppresed commies and they think we are hairy barbarians who like to rape and kill everything. There is a reason people think these things about you but they are exaggerated and often used for political purposes. Expats in china complain about american policy, that's why they left thier home country cause for whatever reason they were unhappy, it usually has more to do with your personal life than anything some faceless govt does. Do thier policies really effect your daily life. If you didn't think about them, would you ever know? probably not. it's rhetoric and game theory.

Answer 3

Well why is it that Chinese Americans that go back to China get tired of it so fast, and why do they keep coming to America it its so much better than the media presents it ? Im not saying I dont like them but dont lash out witout knowledge, thats how we fight the ignorant.

Answer 4

First, our media is not the only biased media in the world.  But you do have a point.  The problem is, most people I know (and myself included) are not fond of communism (we're capitalists).  I have met many Chinese people here in the US and I have only had positive experiences.  They seem really sweet, hard-working, and friendly.  But the people who immigrate here from China don't exactly speak highly of the Chinese government either.  I'm not sure, but I can say that I do like the people of China, and from what I do see in my biased media is that it is a very pretty and geographically diverse land.

Answer 5

Well, the US Media IS biased (as is the British media from what I have observed) towards China and that has a lot to do with the Cold War. Since the US was allied with Chiang Kai-shek and his Guomintang during WWII, his subsequent ousting by the Maoists fostered much bad blood between the US and China. Combine this with the fact that the US was (and still is) staunchly anti-Communist and you have the seeds of anti-Sino sentiment that is still largely perpetuated today. While relations between the nations today are certainly better than they have ever been, the opposing government ideologies are still a major hang-up when it comes to being on "good" diplomatic terms.

Furthermore, I believe that the differences in cultural aesthetics between the US and China also tends to exacerbate the misconceptions of these countries to the citizenry of the other. Despite this, there are many people in both countries that are curious about the customs and cultural traditions of the other. Depending on how motivated an individual is, this curiosity can allow people to see past the biases and interpret things for themselves.

The handful of Chinese immigrants that I have encountered have markedly different views of the way their homeland is governed, and that in itself is intriguing. I'm of the opinion that how things are run in foreign countries is really their own business, so I am not condemning of anyone really (well, except countries where the citizens are massacred for government opposition).

While there is a LOT of hypocrisy in the US government (and in the US news media which is inherently not government run, but government influenced), I would venture to guess that the governments of China, the UK, Russia, and every other intensively active "former" Cold-War state share this flaw. I believe that this is more becuase of the morally derisive nature of political power than because of any specific cultural failing.

In a nutshell, China is as misunderstood as every other nation that is victimized by media bias, including the US.