Richard & Li

Good points Dave & Jay. Maybe I see China through rose colored glasses. But, all my personal experiences there have been good. Additionally, I have many friends from China here and, of course, Li and all of the family in China. No different than most of us. But, I guess I get defensive (and after 7 months away from Li, admittedly irritable). With me that can result in cynicism that may be (as Dave points out) unfair. (I need to consider the charge of inaccurate before I admit to that). When I listen to the news in China, I don't hear a lot about America, but I don't recall hearing rhetoric that seemed to be inflammatory or derogatory. When I encounter it here, in our news, I don¡¯t like it. Like Jay says: We tend see things differently and in my case, I probably see more of it because I actively look for news about China. What I see in America¡¯s news and policy toward China is implied enmity. I don¡¯t see that in China directed toward America. Maybe my ¡®vision¡¯ is skewed (I¡¯m no expert on these things), but I would like to see the relationship between America and China (and the rest of world for that matter) immensely improved.

It's American foreign policy and the degradation of our country's reputation among other nations and people that I find depressing. I could really go on a tirade. But, I have to go to work in a few minutes. We can expect China to continue to take hits on several fronts in the American press. When's the last time anything good was in the U.S. news regarding China? Is it possible that in the land of 'Freedom of the Press' that the news is being used to sway the population to a desired point of view? Just who's POV are we being swayed toward???

Li is from a part of China that has no tourism and rarely has 'non-Asian' visitors. I get the same thing (to an extreme). E.g., people literally hanging out of bus windows to get a chance to shout 'hello' to me. I don't get the feeling that the Communist Party is actively watching me. Just that people are seeing something very unusual. That is something that I've never become accustomed to. (I'm glad I'm not a movie-star, I can return to America and be thankfully ignored.) I can understand how it makes you feel uncomfortable. All of my encounters with uniformed officials in any capacity in China were pleasant experiences. They were all polite, accommodating, helpful, and tried with pretty good success to communicate with me in English. The most I've been scrutinized was applying for a visa extension. They took me to the most luxurious office in the building, asked me typical questions (how long will you be in China, where will you stay, etc.), took my picture, and ultimately gave me an extension two months longer than I asked for. BTW: Li tells me almost the same thing...