Open Email Conversation
> Hi,
> I came across your website http://chinachannel.hk/,
> and I’m just curious as to a few things.
> 1) Why are you so interested in China’s affairs to the extent that you
> have to create this website?
> 2) Don’t you think that it’s none of your business to comment on other
> countries’ affairs when every country is run in its own way and has
> its own unique circumstances?
> 3) Who do you think you are to criticize how another country is being
> run when you probably have not even truly experienced life in that
> country, and have most likely only read biased Western media reports
> about that country?
>
> As a Chinese person, I am very proud of the accomplishments my country
> has made in recent years, both economic-wise and politically. No
> doubt, China still has many problems to deal with. BUT, China is a
> large country with 4 times the population of the US, and governing
> such a large, developing country has its many many difficulties. It’s
> like saying leading a team of 10 vs a team of 40 — a lot more rules
> and procedures have to be established when directing a larger group.
>
> In early 20th Century Germany, was human rights a big feature of your
> government? Weren’t the two World Wars both started by your
> government, leading to thousands of deaths, rapes, and mutilations.
> What about the Holocaust, the propaganda, the SS and military police.
> Let me assure you that China is today nowhere close to anything your
> German government has ever done. I have lived in China for years and
> live there is almost just as normal as any Western country.
>
> If you have ever been to mainland China, you would have probably
> noticed that local Chinese people are generally VERY friendly and
> genuinely kind to foreigners like yourself. Contrary to what the media
> portrays Chinese as being hostile, evil, or cunning, we are actually
> very nice towards Westerners, and genuinely so. I’m appalled that you
> guys reciprocate us with such hostile attitudes.
>
> As for your website, I do applaud you for your IT capabilities.
>
> Regards,
> Jonathan
__________________________________________________________
hi jonathan,
thx for your detailed email and critisism.
i ve been in shangahi last october for 10 days and this was the most
interesting trip i did in the last years. i enjoyed it a lot. yes,
your people are very friendly. yes, you should be proud about the
accomplishments and yes the west has a lot of prejudice about china,
very true. there is a lot to learn about china and i recommended everybody to go there
https://arambartholl.com/blog/2008/10/take-trip-to-china.html
we a re not judging on the whole country and on everybody. there is
also cristisism on western companies on our page. it s not about
comparing who is better.
yes, germany has a dark history. we are quite aware of that and we are
not hiding that. but i hope we learned a lot from that history. and
exactly cause of that it is so important to take care of human rights,
freedom of speech and democracy. we are living in a globilized and
digitized era. its good to be interested in other countries affairs. it
s good to have constructive critisim on each other. because of the fact
that china does so well and is so big (and yes you guys definately doing
a good job in getting 1,4 billion people organized) it also gains a lot of
attention. when you are famous and well known a lot of people talk about
you and look very exactly at what you do. (same for USA). i think china
has to get used to that to some extend. critisism does not mean you are
bad! but i think there is also a big cultural difference in this
point and west is not quite aware of that.
on the other hand this whole project is an awareness campaign on how
important free internet is for the west. a lot of countries do censor the
internet (and china just became the best example). in europe
and especially in germany right now there are groups in politics
and currents who are trying to censor the internet, too. a free internet
is very crucial for getting things improved anywhere. the uncensored net is not
saving the world just by being there but it is a basic layer in the
digital age. we have to learn a lot on how to deal with the new
connectedness and there are fundamental changes going on in many fields.
maybe you wanna also take a look at the project i did in shanghai and
what my thoughts were then.
https://arambartholl.com/blog/labels/jumpnrun.html
i hope my response did made clear that we are not on a hostile mission
at all. i hope that western media becomes less snobish and prejudiced on
china. i hope the best for your country and all your people.
congrats! your english is much better than mine.
best regards
ARAM
