The Australian (media's) perspective of China

Just like the rest of the world, Australia's eyes are on China. During the boom of the Chinese economy, many Australians and Australian companies have greatly benefited from increased trade-relations from China over the past 10 years. China is in the news everyday. Our image of this country is shaped in large by what we hear and what we read care of the Australian media. One of the positive aspects we hear repeatedly about China is its booming growth, on which Australian's can benefit through increased trading opportunities. Yesterday, I wrote an entry touching on this aspect (while simultaneous taking the opportunity to link to a bikini model), but for the bulk of Australians, experience of China and the Chinese way of life remains a mystery. Myself knowing little about China and the Chinese way of life before expatriating to SH, I experienced a perspective shift that reset my preconceptions about this city, China and Chinese people. Each day, I continue to witness these shifts when new expats and visitors lodge with us in SH. There's quite a lot that people outside of China don't know about China! So let's look at this a little more by scanning the press (well, in this case, the Australian press).

With an eye to the 2008 Olympic games in Beijing, I have started to see an increase posting of stories about Australia's sporting teams and their likelihood of success in China. Here's just a few links I've come across in the last few days that have some interesting insights into Australia's (well, the fourth estate's) opinions and perspectives of what could be in store in 2008 in Beijing.

The Australian -Sports - Steroid School Escapes Penalty
A follow-up story regarding the news that broke earlier this year when it an anti-doping raid revealed that the Anshan Athletics School in north-east China allegedly had implemented a systematic doping program in its schools. With the headmaster missing, no progress or charges have been laid on those organising the ring - except for punishment of the children caught up in the middle of it.

The Australian -Sports - Beijing road test runs out of puff
First glance at this title suggests the Aussies will be hard at it in Beijing. Sailing grounds without wind? Bring your own perhaps? Or just lose 10% of your body mass to get that extra edge? The adverse anthropological environmental conditions of Beijing might throw out our athlete's preparations. So might the food. But one thing comes through, that a few Olympic venues & support appear to be awesome (besides lack wind), and they're ready and waiting.

When you hold the Olympics, there's a lot of eyes on you. If there's an association with Australian sport, then there's going to be a little more attention thrown your way from us. Added to this, when you're as big and dominant as China is, those sets of eyes will be trained on you long and hard. Here's a few from the recent past.

AU.Yahoo News - World - Yao calls on China to be more courteous for 2008 Olympics
Yao must understand what it means to be stared at and shouted at a lot.

The SMH - World - Beijing Chief To Target Air Pollution
Same vein as the above story, but highlighting some positive announcements from the top of China's government.

News Limited - World - Vendor Fights To Sell 'World Cup' Air
Striking out on the Olympic Air Rights, Li Jie takes the next obvious step.

News Limited - World - Boxing Roo Show Is A Cruel Blow
Shanghai's hosting of the 'Animal Olympics' gets another thumbs-down when Skippy jumps into the ring.

NineMSN - World - Olympic Boycott Call Over Organ Claims
Regardless of the call for a boycott, this concept is head-shakingly horrifying. Could this really be?

News Limited - World - Ethnic Games Blighted By Cross-Dressing Cheats
Australian tend to think that their sporting champions dressing up like women is high-brow comedy, but on the sporting field? That's where we draw the line. And so does China. This is weird.

For me, these stories represent snippets of life from what I've seen from my time in China but just stories from the peaks and the troughs. A long list of weird, striking, abhorrent, and not-so wonderful things about China from the Australian perspective. Yes, information like this has influenced the way I see China on a daily basis. But one thing I have come to learn as an expat in China is that there's a lot of other stories, information and life that goes on between these snippets. So what are the key reasons for such gloss? One of my favourite China bloggers, Imagethief, has just written an eloquent, incisive and well-thought entry that explores the poor relationship between foreign and Chinese media, and lays the problem down an an inherent mistrust of State-controlled media coverage with an element of stodgy, sloganised delivery thrown in. But what I can take from this is although the information may be filtered to foreign press agencies, it is still there. Information is accessible to foreign media using their myriad of news wire sources, people on the ground, foreign correspondents, and dare I even say it, talking to people on the ground. The way is there, but it is rarely utilised. So what's going on? Is too hard to nut out that story? Will it sell papers? Is it easy & convenient to keep stories in the stereotypical Chinese story basket? Or do we really don't care about China as a nation to look beyond the sensational?

Please just remember when reading about China in your morning paper or listening to some talking head on the telly, that for each one of these reports, there are thousands of others ranging from daily life, to local events, community news, disasters, corruption scandals, success and failures that won't even rate a mention. Yeah, China is different from back home, but there is a whole lot of normality to be found here too.