Comments on: China’s Singular Story

By: Dan

Dan — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 15:08:03 +0000

Your #4 reminds me of a time many years ago when Japan was seen as dominating the US economy and I that day had just returned from a long trip to China and Korea and had to attend a party for my wife’s work. Some guy there kept talking about Japan to me as though it was the same thing as Korea and China. Finally, I pointed out to him that they were three VERY distinct countries and his view was basically, “whatever.” He clearly did not want to hear a thing that might alter his rock solid worldview. Fortunately, I think the overwhelming majority of people would prefer to learn.

By: Leslie Forman

Leslie Forman — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 15:14:19 +0000

Thanks Rich for this piece. Like many times before, you gave me a complete and very successful lesson for one of the students I tutor (though I did do a bit of editing… hehe)

I didn’t know much about China when I first arrived here. I guess my stereotype about China at that point was of studious people whose parents pressured them to do well in school. At this point I see that this was not wrong, but definitely incomplete.

I think James Fallows’ recent book Postcards from Tomorrow Square does an excellent job of capturing the many stories of modern China.

Thanks again for providing another side of the story!

By: Rich

Rich — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 05:34:31 +0000

@ Joseph.

Thanks for the encouragement, but actually I would argue that I rarely provide the full picture myself… however, there are two ways in which I hope All Roads is providing a perspective that is needed.. or at least different … to give a more complete picture:

1) I often take the common “report” and provide my analysis. In recent times, that means taking a UBS report and providing a more operational view to it.

2) Comments from readers. this is where I think the real ability to provide a “complete” picture can come from. You. Readers are all seeing different things, and seeing comments that offer those different views are really in a sense the only way that any level of “completeness” can be achieved.

So, with that. I hope to see more of your comments in the future!

By: Joseph

Joseph — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 04:59:17 +0000

yes without your articles we dont get the complete picture

By: Rich

Rich — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 14:43:55 +0000

@ Dan

so, I guess we need to keep writing then.

By: Rich

Rich — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 14:43:25 +0000

@ Ian.. yeah.. I remember when I once took a trip through Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore. I told a family member about the trip, and they thought those were all Japanese cities.

erg..

By: Joseph

Joseph — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 23:10:07 +0000

wow . good article. that’s why people like you are important
because you understand both cultures.

By: Dan Harris

Dan Harris — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 15:44:21 +0000

I love the quote about how stereotypes are not necessarily wrong, just incomplete. How true. The problem with telling the whole story though is that it would take years to do so.

By: ian channing

ian channing — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 12:37:57 +0000

All East Asian countries suffer from this, but I think the biggest victim of superficial, stereotyped or just plain ignorant reporting is not China but South Korea. China actually gets quite a good run in the Englishlanguage media, with both the good and bad discussed knowledgeably and in depth, partly due I think to websites such as yours. Yet when you mention South Korea, the greatest development success story in history IMHO, rising from the ruins of war to first world prosperity and prestige in two generations, nine people out of ten in my part of the world say ‘they eat dogs, don’t they?’ If you’re lucky, they might also lob an insult about Kia and Hyundai cars. Other than that, Korea is no more than the name of a war. To rub salt into the wound, a lot of people in England, and that includes a few electronics store clerks, think Samsung and LG are Japanese brands. I suppose, though, any Chinese company would be only too happy for that to happen to them.