Hopefully, we all see value in experience. 'Street smarts' come from...the street. There are posters here who live in China, work in China (as I have occasionally)...and a fairly universal thread of experiencing China, and having our eyes opened by it. I weigh all that experience against my own observations, China and otherwise. And heres the thing: CFL consistently has at least a few posters on any topic more astute than the national liberal press----who, one would have thought, are getting paid to report what they see. Hardly. Reading the local liberal rag---The Oregonian, I have finally figured it out. First, employ green, mostly white reporters, send to China, file stories----which are then worked over by editors---who love (and summer in) liberal Europe---but have never been closer to Asia than the beach at Seaside, and out comes the sunrise edition, featuring the 'truth' about China... specially tailored not to offend any of the O's oh, so sensitive (and diminishing) readership. CFLers need to give each other more credit. Collectively, we are all 'Old China Hands' compared to this slop.
