Covering coverage

As a first rate consumer of news on China and a current resident of this great nation (throwing the censors a bone there,  see: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/27/world/asia/china-imposes-new-limits-on-entertainment-and-bloggers.html?emc=eta1 ) I thought I’d talk about how the media coverage of China can make one’s head spin. I do not claim that this coverage is somehow false or misguided (though it certainly can be), merely that the bipolarity of the coverage paints a confusing portrait. Fair enough; it’s a confusing country.

One minute China is our soon-to-be overlord, the next they are a nation bereft of prerequisite [fill-in-the-blank] to become a modern superpower (http://www.economist.com/blogs/banyan/2011/10/chinas-communist-party). One minute they are the world’s banker, owning X% of US currency and recently throwing a life preserver to Europe, the next they are an amoral bunch of knockoff artists and simple machine operators, lacking the ingenuity to foster a sustainable free market economy (http://www.economist.com/node/21534812). One minute they are exacerbating the rifts in US/Pakistani relations or poking at Taiwan, the next they are the indispensible partner in handling North Korea’s rogue state (http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/10/03/the_top_ten_unicorns_of_china_policy).

The truth is all of these things are realities in modern China. It is a massive nation whose traits, peoples, and behaviors cannot, and should not, be summed up so readily. Writing articles that cast bold predictions on the inevitable supremacy or collapse (depending on the latest news story) of China seems like a practice in modern day prophecy, and perhaps it is. I read these articles because ultimately, China matters more than it ever has and with ~1/5^th of the world’s population, it receives plenty of coverage. And maybe hoping for a more intelligible story on this country is asking for too much on my part. However, I would prefer  if such certitude wasn’t so prevalent in much of the writing (the chosen articles don't necessarily embody this certitude, but they do hold true to some of the aforementioned qualities of journalism on China; good reads nonetheless).

I know I’m way out of my league by opining on this topic, but considering that I cannot help but consume these articles (The Economist knows me too well, put a picture of a panda, dragon, or big red flag next to the article, and I will click it; some Pavlovian response I’ve developed) and I have a little (I strongly want to acknowledge and emphasize the little here) experience with my feet on the ground here in China, I thought I would give my two cents. What?!?! The impending trade war with China has raised the price of opinions to 3.5 cents? God damnit. 

I was hanging out with a bunch of German artists last night (a story for another time, ja), and I snapped a picture of Alexej (Russian transplant to Berlin) who made a mask. I call this piece "Jack-o-lantern in Russian, One". What serendipitous timing. Happy Halloween!