the morningside post

“Anti-Chinese” is Propaganda

By Thomas R Lansner

Tom Lansner is adjunct associate professor at Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs, specializing in international media and communications. He covered conflicts in many countries over a decade as correspondent for the London Observer and other publications. His three-part e-seminar on war reporting is available at Columbia Interactive.

“Anti-Chinese” is Propaganda
Naming is Powerful: Opposing repressive regimes is supporting people suffering their misrule

With this year’s summer Olympiad finally underway, it is for now athletes and not politics that are the focus of global media reporting from Beijing. But any new demonstrations in China will certainly be widely covered. And how they are described is essential to how they are perceived around the world. Widespread media reports of “anti-Chinese” protests in many countries this year quite falsely imply an unyielding antipathy to people or things Chinese as their cause and core.

Journalists and editors are keenly aware — or certainly should be — that naming is power. Their choice of words may inspire or confound or provoke or incite. Intentionally or otherwise, media descriptions of events and issues and ideas shape public perceptions and often political realities.

Postcard from Beichuan, China

By Scott Wong
MIA 2010

I have just returned from an emotional trip to Sichuan Province, the main epicenter of the recent May earthquake in China. I was invited by a close local Chinese friend of mine to see the earthquake damaged areas and to assist him in a few days of volunteering. He has been stationed there for over a month, overseeing a daily series of "outward bound" style programs and activities for the earthquake affected youth.

A friend and I met up with Jia Guo Peng in Mianyang after flying 3 hours from Beijing. It took about 1.5 hours by car to reach Beichuan, not including the amount of time to switch to a locally hired van who is unrestricted to enter the quake area. Beichuan is a remote area in Sichuan that became well known after the earthquake for being one of the most heavily damaged counties. As we approached the neighboring villages, it became clear from the roadside refugee camps and leftover landslides that two months after the earthquake, the infrastructure had yet to see any improvement. Before reaching the actual villages, we stopped at some of the refugee camps where thousands of families were living in less than ideal temporary tents.

A Ring Too Far: Selling China's Dictatorship

By Tom Lansner

Tom Lansner is adjunct associate professor at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs, specializing in international media and communications. He covered conflicts in many countries over a decade as correspondent for the London Observer and other publications. His three-part e-seminar on war reporting is available at Columbia Interactive.

News that China’s communist rulers are reaching out to British and American PR agencies to help defuse global dismay over ongoing repression in Tibet should be surprising only in that it has taken so long for Beijing’s senior leadership to buy mercenary marketing skills so clearly superior to their own. But trying to sell China’s dictatorship as a regime of reason at home and a good global citizen abroad may be reaching for a ring too far.

Green Dragon Perspectives: Hope from Hvistendahl – China’s Environmental Movement 2.0

By Kerstin Ahlgren
MIA 2009

To a foreigner who has lived in China, Mara Hvistendahl (who spoke at a talk sponsored by Green Dragon on February 18th, 2008) set a familiar scene in her presentation on China’s Environmental Movement 2.0.  She talked about the “China cold,” symptoms of which include hacking, excess flem, spitting, and congestion.  Hvistendahl, however, has gone further than simply living with and complaining about the China cold and has consistently sought out those who are changing China’s environmental reality.  In doing so, she has become a clear voice of nuance and hope among the many China naysayers.

Interview with WEAI Director Myron Cohen

By Kerstin Ahlgren
MIA 2009

This is an interview with Weatherhead East Asian Institute Director Myron L. Cohen, originally published in the most recent issue of Asian Pacific Affairs Council journal.

KA:  How did you become interested in China and Taiwan?

MC:  When I was an undergraduate I majored in anthropology. At that time, I became
attracted to China because for much of the past 2000 years it had been world's largest
society and for me the question was what in its culture and polity held it together?

Global Elections: Potential Setbacks and Gains Foreseen Across Diverse Regions

By Tanya Domi
Adjunct Professor

As the U.S. Presidential election grinds out primaries and caucuses from coast to coast seeking a nominative head of each party’s ticket, other global elections around the world will be held over the next six to eights weeks with potential to: rebuke President Pervez Musharraf’s autocratic hand in Pakistan’s parliamentary elections following the assassination of Benazir Bhutto in December 2007; coronate Vladimir Putin’s hand picked successor Dmitry Medvedev in Russia; repudiate Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the hard line Islamist President of Iran in parliamentary elections, as the public rejects his apparent poor management of its increasing weak economy and; to ease the tension abounding in the Taiwan Straits, albeit somewhat deescalated following the Kuomintang’s (KMT) sweeping victory in Taiwan’s parliamentary elections this past weekend. KMT’s robust victory seems to give it momentum going into the Presidential election in March.                                                                                                                                                                  

While some things have changed in the small Balkan Republic of Montenegro, its transcendent and ubiquitous politician Milo Djukanovic will soon return to power as Prime Minister, which is likely to lead to a Djukanovic decision reminiscent of Putin, as he will likely pick the future Montenegrin presidential candidate who he will surely dominate in its small political space.  Highlights follow.

The Debate on China's Future: A WEAI Brown Bag Lecture by Wang Hui

By Matthew Fulco
MIA, 2009

Professor Wang Hui’s November 13th lecture focused on the ongoing debates in Chinese intellectual circles about the achievements and failures of China’s economic reforms. In particular, he spoke of the struggle of the Chinese state to maintain its legitimacy in the face of rapid market reforms and the feasibility of democratic institutions developing in the PRC.

US-Sino Relations: Plausable, and Inevitable Path

By Patrick Ddiba
MIA 2009

I must admit, this piece will discuss what I consider a plausible but nonetheless very unlikely course of events. The troubled antiquity of US-Sino relations is well documented. In fact, todays' Financial Times confirms China's belligerent orientation. China blocked another US warship and a military cargo aircraft from gaining access to Hong Kong in the latest in a string of refusals that threatens to jeopardize the recent improvement in military relations between the two countries. Such minor international incidents are likely to graduate to major-frequent probes as China continue to aggressively challenge the United States dominance; in space and modern maritime and air weapon systems.

Green Dragon Perspectives: The Real Cost of China's Environmental Crisis

By Kerstin Ahlgren
MIA 2009

David McCann from the Clinton Climate Initiative, Kyle Meng from Environmental Defense, and Jennifer Holdaway from the Social Science Research Council, share a vision for China:  to make addressing global climate change economically feasible and necessary. For McCann, this can be done by retrofitting public buildings, and for Meng by ensuring that the price of carbon is embedded in the economy. For Holdaway, advocacy and research (inherent in which is the collective treatment of environmental and health issues) is necessary to convince government institutions that death and disease stemming from environmental issues are causing a huge drain on the Chinese economy. Some estimates translate this loss to 5.8% of GDP, a vast underestimation according to Holdaway, and much of it is a direct result of individual poverty.

What's Up in China?

Curious?  Check out Professor Wang Hui, a visiting Professor at NYU from China's Tsinghua University.   

Professor Wang Hui's lecture will focus on how contemporary Chinese intellectuals have engaged in public discussions about the past and future of China since the 1990s. Reflections on China's socialist experiments in the past and ongoing critiques of the current economic reforms characterize some of the high-profile public debates. Reverberating through these wide-ranging discussions of economic development, political reform, social differentiation, environmental crisis as well as institutional renovations is a shared and deep-seated anxiety about China's identity and its future. In his talk, Professor Wang Hui will identify some critical issues from recent Chinese history to help map out the contemporary intellectual landscape in China.

November 13, 2007 from 12:00 pm to 1:30 pm
International Affairs Building, Room 918

Can't make it?  Check back here after the event-- TMP will have some blog coverage.