Comments and corrections are requested.
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I have learned English for many years and to create an English language environment for myself, I often watch English movies and listen to talk shows on radios, such as Fox News, BBC, NPR, etc. And I get the first-hand understanding of how they view the world, including China.
A few months ago, I heard a guest at a talk show mentioned China as "Communist China". That shocked me. Communist China? Are you kidding? Presumably, these people are college graduates. But are they still lving in the Cold War age, in the past? Ignorance was the word coming to my mind at that moment.
In China, I can register a private company, hire some workers and start my own factory. After paying the wages and taxes, I keep the profit which I can spend however I want to. Isn't that exactly the "Surplus Value" Karl Marx referred to in describing Capitalism in the West? And you call China Communist?
Also in China, we can visit websites Chinese or foreign, we can join discussions at various forums. It's true that Youtube and Facebook are blocked here. So we do enjoy only restricted freedom of speech. But you know what, where there is a will, there is a way --- many people visit those sites in their own way. Then how far are we behind you? Many years ago Bill Clinton commented that the Internet would bring revolutionary changes to China. He was right.
So what do you know about China? What do you know about the rest of the world? How do you get to know them? I was disappointed to find that labelling onto China as I had thought that people living in the "free world" should have a better understanding of China. Personally, I don't care what labels you assign to China. What worries me is that some people seem to live in a world they choose to believe. Well, the more twisted view you have of the world, the more harm you will do to it and each and everyone of us is part of that world. Don't get us hurt.
So, come to visit China, see the developed coastal regions and check out the underdeveloped inland provinces as well. Vist city families and be a guest at some countryside homes too. Talk with the probably conservative old people and the radical youth. The more you see in China, the closer your understanding will be to the reality.
Today, the world more than ever before, needs direct contact and communication.
P.S. I wrote an article two hours ago but it disappeared due to net connection failure. This is the second writing with similar ideas.