我给你说 I'll tell you something...

Dear BBC…

Sent this to the Beeb.  Not sure it adequately expresses my concerns or gives enough evidence for them, and I’m pretty sure it will be completely ignored but I’m putting it out there anyway.  Let me know if anyone agrees/disagrees/cares:

I have been worried for a year or so now about the reporting on China by the BBC.  In the interests of being unbiased, I understand that the BBC has an obligation to show both sides of the coin, and so presenting both positive and negative stories is, in theory, absolutely appropriate.  However there is such an obvious structure to the way China stories are presented that the BBC’s bias towards wrongly portraying China in a resolutely negative way is all too apparent.  Every positive story is followed by a negative.  Straight away.  Even if the negative is completely unrelated to the context of the piece. Even if the negative story has to be blown up in scale in order to eclipse the positive before it.

What’s more is your correspondants don’t seem to do much looking around. The article  I’ve linked to below crowbars in a reference to a recent story about the release of the iPhone 4S in Beijing. Although this was news likely to have been spread on weibo and does involve hand-held internet devices, it doesn’t really have much of a baring on the main thrust of the story, which is about the increase in Weibo users.  It seems to be there just to promote the fact that some people were unhappy enough to start a small scuffle somewhere in China. Nevermind that they were unhappy with Apple and not the Government.  And nevermind that the vast majority of these people, who had indeed waited overnight for their iPhones, were in fact organised squads employed by scalpers, out to make sure they bought up the store’s stock of iPhones so that they could then resell them at a huge mark up.  If your correspondent had spoken to any of the many ex-pats living in the area they would have told them as much.  Even if the BBC had no direct evidence of this, it would have been nice to mention the rumour, as it might explain the reasons for Police prescence at the event (beyond the size of the crowd, which would have been easy to illustrate with a photo) and why some of the crowd were unruly.
Instead, by linking it in with a story featuring Government censorship, the BBC has used it to help maintain the presence of the words “uprising”, “riot”, and “unrest” in the social conscious around China.
I have heard recently that International news agencies remove correspondants from countries after 4-5 years just in case they become “too local”.  On this evidence I would suggest your current correspondant is not anywhere near local enough - are they even learning the language? Or is it the editor back in England that is making sure the BBC bias is maintained?  Either way I am disapointed.

ADDED LINKS: Beijinger Pre-Release Article and Post Release Article

found this on reddit - not mine, but can relate!!!!

“Because China” is the only way to put it.

Last week I was in an elevator at 3pm with some nice people, patiently going downwards, stopping at every other floor for no reason because when most people in Guiyang want to call an elevator they hit both up and down regardless of which way they want to go (because China). Then the elevator suddenly dropped a foot or so (felt like way farther, but couldn’t have been more than that), then shot to the 26th floor, then shot down to floor 1. We exited, confused and frightened, and a nice repairman explained that he assumed it was empty and was just about to do some repairs. Why would he assume that? Because China.

I went to a Pizza Hut with some friends a few days ago. (The Pizza Hut in Guiyang is one of the nicest restaurants in the city, partially because Chinese Pizza Huts are really nice places, and partially because Guiyang is a wasteland, which I say in an endearing way.) We ask if we can get a large pizza that’s half one thing and half another. Nope, they don’t do that. Okay, sure. We ordered a large pizza. Nope, they’re out of large pizzas. Okay, that actually doesn’t make any sense, but sure, we’ll take a medium vegetable garden and a medium pepperoni, and a pitcher of pepsi. We can’t give you a pizza with only pepperoni on it. Bullshit, yes, you can. Nope. Okay, whatever, not in the mood, give me the meat pizza. We get a small cup of pepsi and a medium pizza, half of which is vegetable garden and half of which is meat. I check the receipt. The receipt reflects what we ordered, both in English and Chinese. The waitress is at a loss to explain the theoretically impossible and utterly incorrect pizza. Why did they serve us that? Because China. (The previous time we went, we were served seven identical pizzas, having ordered three and paid for three, again because China.)

In the last month, I have been asked by different cab drivers, (1) how much whores are in America, (2) whether military service is compulsory in America, (3) if my parents are upset that I am 26 and unmarried, and (4) if I’ve got a big dick, or maybe if we (Americans) have big dicks, I’m not sure. But why do they think these are good questions to ask a guy who is trying to get to work? Because China.

A couple weeks ago, in the middle of the road I saw a twenty-five-foot-or-so ladder, being held upright by two men. It was unsupported by anything else. At the top was another man, working on a power line, with nothing to brace him, bolster him, or hold him but the ladder being held by two dudes. Cars were swerving all around them. Nobody found this exceptional. Because, again, China.

It’s not a land in which the foreigner suffers. It is not a hostile land or a wild land. It is, rather, a land of pointless minor absurdities and wholly unnecessary inconveniences, which coalesce to infuriate the ill-tempered and delight the rest. When I first arrived, I was informed by a nice older gentleman, “FIRSTNAME, do not ever ask ‘why’ here. You can ask yourself any other question, and the answers will enlighten you. But do not ask ‘why,’ because here, there is no ‘why.’” And he was right. The answer—the only answer—to “why” is “because China.”

(Source: reddit.com)

Things I Have Learned #02

If you don’t like smoke and people smoking, don’t work in a chinese office

Too much relaxation is extra-ordinarily boring. But when you’ve paid for it…

Chinese porridge is not that bad really, once you’ve had it a couple of times

Thousand year old eggs are really, really bad if not eaten as an ingredient in a chinese porridge

The feeling of satisfaction at not having caught a close loved-one’s cold after a week of exposure can drain away very quickly once the sniffles kick-in (more of a reminder rather than a lesson this one)

What I am Seeing RIGHT NOW #01

Currently I am seeing office workers across the street from me rehersing dance moves whilst carrying golden glitter pompoms.  The girls are better than the middle aged men and the swivel chairs keep getting in the way.

Would upload a pic if I could