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Beware of bias China-themed reading material
I love to read books about China. However, I always have to ask whether the book I pick up is China praising or China bashing (panda hugging versus dragon slaying). Nowadays it’s not easy to get China related books that offer balanced point of view.
Last year (2008) National Geographic published a special edition magazine focusing on China. You know what’s inside this magazine? There are tons of pictures showing poverty, factory workers, pollution, and all sorts of “dark” side of China. More than 90 percent of the pictures put China in negative light. Those who have visited China and seen the country for themselves will find the pictures in this magazine misleading.
It’s misleading because a country has both positive and negative aspects. When you show only dark side without stating the bright side of the story, you’re unfair and bias. It’s sad that a reputable media like National Geographic does something like this, as if the China hating fanatics are running the editorial board.
Last time I saw a heap of China themed books at a book store. I randomly picked up a book and read its back cover. It says something like this, “The high oil price is caused by huge demand in China and India.” The (China bashing) book was published before the recent economy crisis. We know it isn’t true because the oil price plunged deeply during the recent crisis. The price fluctuation is due to commodity speculation. Yet, the book blamed China for it. Come to think of it, they’ll blame everything they can think of on China (and never on themselves). I’m not surprise if they point finger at China when their pet goldfish dies.
It’s great that there are still good China-themed books to read. One such example is The China Road by Rob Gifford. It’s a travelogue, where the author used his travelling experience to discuss about the lives of the Chinese and the progress of China. It shows both negative and positive aspects of the country. I think the author is great by giving a voice to the local people. He wrote down his conversation with the Chinese so that the readers also know what the Chinese people think about their nation.
A Year Without “Made in China” by Sara Bongiorni is also a good read. It’s about an American family’s struggle to boycott “Made in China” products for a year. Interestingly, they do this as a curious experiment just to see if it’s feasible. Their boycott is rather neutral and not driven by other anti-China causes like human rights, separatism, anti-communism, local job losses etc. It’s a break from the usual China bashing.
So what’s the moral of the story?
Number 1
Media should be fair by providing balanced and neutral point of view.
Number 2
Blindly demonizing the whole nation will only bring more tension and cause more trouble. People of different nations will end up suspicious of each other and it’ll hamper the dream of unity in humanity.
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