Speaker addresses American misconceptions of China

Jeff Wasserstrom, a professor and Chinese scholar from the University of California-Irvine gave a presentation at UT's International House on Feb. 11 that explained how and why the Western media misrepresents the "real" China to the American public.

Wasserstrom starts by explaining the dilemma. The truth is that most people don't know what to think about China because there is no clear prediction about the future of the superpower. Consequently, we get mixed messages from the media about the overall condition of the Chinese state.

For example, in 2001 an American spy plane crashed on Chinese soil, and the crew was detained for 10 days. The American public began to speculate about China's threat to the United States. In contrast, leading up to the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, there is a sentiment of good feeling toward the Chinese and high hopes that they are making progress toward freedom and democracy.

The American media simplifies Chinese current events to answer the bottom line question: can China become as wealthy, prosperous and free as the United States? Or, will China forever remain a country full of government corruption, human rights violations and censorship? Jeff Wasserstrom

Wasserstrom illustrates the current climate of Chinese portrayal. The American media simplifies Chinese current events to answer the bottom line question: can China become as wealthy, prosperous and free as the United States? Or, will China forever remain a country full of government corruption, human rights violations and censorship? Clearly this is a false dilemma, but what can be done to correct people's misconceptions?

Wasserstrom has made it his mission to educate the public about the "real" China, not the China portrayed in the media. He published the book, "China's Brave New World: And Other Tales for Global Times" to address the current uncertainty of the Chinese future.

This book contains personal stories and lessons from Wasserstrom's visits to China, so that people would have a more accurate picture of Chinese society. With this book, he presents scholarly insight through colorful stories that people will enjoy reading, while learning more about Chinese society.

In his lecture, Wasserstrom explained the cultural roots of America-Chinese misconception. In 1899, a group of peasants called the Boxers led an anti-American attack against American railroad workers and Christian missionaries. This movement, called the Boxer Rebellion, was a reaction against American imperialism and influence in Chinese culture. Isolated events like the Boxer Rebellion have perpetuated a mistrust of the Chinese that is still present today, no matter how outdated the notion is.

Today, Wasserstrom urges Americans not to look at China as a homogenous country of over 1.3 billion people, but instead to look at the country as a collection of individual people and local cultures each with a unique identity.

He suggests trying to compare New York to China. New York City culture and attitudes are very different from the culture of Los Angeles, which are very different from Knoxville culture. The same applies to China. The residents of political center, Beijing, have an entirely different attitude and culture than the financial capital, Shanghai, both of which contrast very sharply with rural China. Only with this basis of understanding can Americans start to understand the real China.

While Wasserstrom was hesitant to make strong predictions about the future of China, he did touch on some important thoughts. He said that if China continues to develop as projected, the global community would face a "moral quandary" like nothing else in history.

Most Americans hope that China will develop into a fully capitalistic, consumer-driven and modernized nation like the United States. However, the reality is that there are not enough resources on the planet to support two superpowers who guzzle gasoline and pollute the air like the U.S. and China.

We are either going to have to institute careful and deliberate worldwide environmental and economic regulations, or the U.S. and China are going to deplete the world's resources in an instant without ever knowing what happened.