Prejudice impedes understanding of real China

A number of emerging powers have risen after the Cold War, and China is the most prominent one. The rise of China has caused all kinds of speculation as there are quite few people who have real understanding of China among the total 7 billion people around the world. Most people tend to compare China with the previous great powers in history. In their mind, every power became strong by means of aggression and expansion, and China would not be an exception.

The Western countries’ worry about China is inseparable from their situation.

The rise of a country with 1.3 billion people is unprecedented. The rise of China, a country with such a huge population and area scale, will certainly break the existing pattern of interests, and of course, arise various complex feelings.

Global mainstream media still lies in the hands of Western countries that hold deep prejudices against China’s social system and the Communist Party’s leadership. Such prejudices may affect media’s reports about China and the Western understanding of China.

Recently, I chaired a lecture entitled “discussions about how to understand China” in the Second Nishan Forum on World Civilizations. There were four guests participated in the discussion, namely Zhao Qizheng, director of NPC foreign affairs committee; Valérie Terranova, former cultural adviser of former French President Jacques Chirac; Michael Kahn—Ackermann, former director of Goethe Institute; and Stewart Brown who is originally from the United States and is current head of Divinity School of the University of Edinburgh.

Zhao said that the most urgent need is to let the world know a real China. Ackerman said the same as Zhao. Professor Brown said opening up to outside is the most important prerequisite to this end. Well, Valérie Terranova call a spade a spade that the most important precondition is to be more self-confident.

Zhao also said that to make the world know a real China, we must make great efforts to strengthen public diplomacy, in which not only government, but also all walks of life and the public may get involved.



Read the Chinese version: 偏见妨碍认识真实中国, source: People's Daily Overseas Edition , author: Wu Jianmin