Many people in China probably thought most Westerners were out to harm them in the last few months especially with the way Western media portrays China in light of the Olympics Torch and Tibet. We would like to remind them that while the media paints such a picture, Western media do not represent Westerner's feelings and sentiments toward China and the Chinese people.
In our previous post, we urged our readers to pay attention to evidence of goodwill towards China from around the world. We have come across quite a few instances of that and would simply like to list them here.
- Japanese parties, companies give donation to China over quake
- Japan (government) provides some $ 5 mln in aid to China
- Germany announces aid to China over earthquake
- U.S. offers aid to China for earthquake relief
- Hong Kong makes voluntary donations for Sichuan earthquake relief
- Arab League offers condolences to China over quake
- Russia to send humanitarian aid for quake-hit China
- Australian PM offers assistance, sympathy to China
- Britain expresses condolences over deadly earthquake in China
- Taiwan leaders convey condolences to quake victims, offer help
- Singapore PM extends condolences to Premier Wen
- Malaysians making donations to quake-hit areas in China
- EU says ready to provide aid to earthquake-hit China added May 14, 2008
- More countries, int'l organizations offer condolences to China over earthquake added May 14, 2008
- Int'l community extends condolences to China over deadly earthquake added May 14, 2008
- Chinese mainland thanks Taiwan for support in quake added May 14, 2008
10 comments:
I notice that USA offers very insincere aid to China. 500 000 $ only.
I hope things will be fine. I send my condolence to the victims.
relax,
Ha. $500,000 is peanuts. But the gesture counts more. :) Its also up to China to request more and looks like US's position is that it is willing to help more if asked.
Don't forget too the individual American citizens donations to help with this disaster.
U.S. also offered personnel - but China has so far pushed back because roads are not cleared and there's not enough logistics to accomodate more helpers.
Don't forget that China is criticised for Myanmar's mishandling of the recent disaster aids. China is bashed for things it does and things it does not do. That's the western media.
I agree that USA's gesture shows its insincerity. Why did it give a peanut in a major disaster? That is more like an insult. It is better to help sincerely.
There are many individuals donating to China now. Jackie Chan has donated quite a lot to this emergency situation.
Hi relax,
Your point is taken.
Being critical to the US, like some Western media is towards China, means becoming like those media.
Maybe its a bit more fair to simply just acknowledge the help provided? The USA doesn't need to offer any aid if it so chooses. Nevertheless it does.
To Relax,
Material donation is only one thing we need at this hard time. What we need most, however, is the spiritual support from hearts. Notice President Bush had been talking with Hu Jingtaio twice on the earthquake relief after the earthquake struck. Many American people around me also expressed their concerns and condolence to people who suffered. It is their concerns in their hearts make us strong to face the tragedy.
We appreciate all helps in any forms provided by any governments and individuals.
C. Liang
more news
http://www.jackiechan.com/news_view?cid=1061
Jackie Chan is a great person. He makes a good ambassador for China too.
"Western media do not represent Westerner's feelings and sentiments toward China and the Chinese people."
Sometimes it does - sometimes unfairly negative news is taken in by Westerners.
Sometimes positive news is reported and it also reflects feelings of ''westerners''.
Better to say, "views expressed in the western media do not represent the feelings of everyone in the west."
While by no means perfect, i think this says it better. This is a very interesting blog! Can we have a discussion of what we mean by Western? I know many people who include Singapore, Japan and Korea in with "Westerners with western ways". And some people say that countries such as Poland and Russia are not 'Western'. I'm curious what others say, as i think, on the whole, the label "Western Media" is too vague.
You are so right, Michelle, "views expressed in the western media do not represent the feelings of everyone in the west."
We like your line of thinking. There are actually a lot of English-language media that's decidely not "Western" - for example Al Jazeera's English edition offers Mid East's view of the world. We know this is also your point.
To us, "Western" means USA, Canada, UK, Australia, and EU member countries.
Maybe the Chinese Century blog is too obssessed with this "Western" concept? The average Canadian thinks very differently than an average American on many issues.
Let us know if you have ideas on how we treat this concept within the context of this blog.
It's a tough call I think, but Western is one of those blanket terms which really do need to be clarified. Of course one way to do this is instead of saying "Western Media", target those which are truely biased. But it's funny, I've lived all over Asia, and people have different ideas. I've heard (not only in China) that Japan is 'western' because such and such, Korea is western because such and such, Vietnam, Singapore, Korea, the list goes on. I've heard Serbia isn't western but Croatia is... It's an old "us vs them"ism in which definitions shift to suit the argument one is trying to make. Same thing for a term like democracy and freedom of speech - try to get two people to agree on what they mean, and yet we all take it for granted that we know, for sure, what it is.
Sorry for my long windedness :) I guess, like many things, a good discussion amoung people about it would be best. ??
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