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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsNobody Knows Anything About China
As a foreigner in China, you get used to hearing the retort You dont know China! spat at you by locals. Its usually a knee-jerk reaction to some uncomfortable modern issue or in defense of one of the many historical myths children in the mainland are taught as unshakeable facts about the world. But its also true. We dont know China. Nor, however, do the Chinese not even the government.
We dont know China because, in ways that have generally not been acknowledged, virtually every piece of information issued from or about the country is unreliable, partial, or distorted. The sheer scale of the country, mixed with a regime of ever-growing censorship and a pervasive paranoia about sharing information, has crippled our ability to know China. Official data is repeatedly smoothed for both propaganda purposes and individual career ambitions. That goes as much for Chinese as it does for foreigners; access may sometimes be easier for Chinese citizens, but the costs of going after information can be even higher.
https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/03/21/nobody-knows-anything-about-china/
dameatball
(7,396 posts)FarCenter
(19,429 posts)We know how much US companies produce in China and how much it costs them to produce there.
beachbum bob
(10,437 posts)how do I know? My close friends have spent years in China and interact with the chinese people. Just like the Soviet Union of 50 years ago...what is said at the "official level"...is known to be bullshit by the people