22 November 2008
Treading a tightrope of Beijing Chinglish
1 September 2006
Commentary by Emma Moore: Te Waha Nui Online
Between the “poultries” pages and taboo topics, the vagaries of the Chinese news media are frustrating, challenging – and yet surreal enough to be rewarding for a Kiwi “foreign expert”.
 |
|
BEIJING: I work for the Chinese government as a “foreign expert”. While it’s gratifying to be called an expert, the reality is rather prosaic.
From March 2006, I spent three months at Chinadaily.com on an internship organised through AUT University’s School of Communication Studies. In theory I was a sub-editor, but in the harsh neon-lit reality of the Beijing offices, I often felt more like a glorified English teacher.
Most of my time at the website – which was upgraded and relaunched shortly after I arrived - was spent “polishing” poorly written or translated English copy.
“Polishing” makes it sound as though all the stories needed was a light going over with some Mr Sheen.
The reality was that story after story needed “demolition and reconstruction” rather than polishing.
The Paris-based international media watchdog Reporters Without Borders - whose website is inaccessible within China - routinely rates China as among the world’s worst countries in terms of press freedom.
Despite far more state tolerance of information dissemination than ever before, mainland Chinese journalists and editors are frequently arrested, demoted, fired, questioned and imprisoned for writing or publishing things the Chinese government prefers to keep quiet.
But you wouldn’t guess this with a casual flick through any of the state-run English language press here.
At first glance, the China Daily - China’s most read English language mainland Chinese daily looks much like any other newspaper, except for a lack of advertising which is not needed to boost profits.
However, a closer reading often reveals gaps in stories, a lack of balance, sources who are not fully identified and sometimes outright slander and exaggerations. But, as I say, this isn’t always immediately evident.
Issue of sources
Soon after I started, my Canadian colleague and I decided to raise the issue of unidentifiable sources and unattributed quotes after hearing expansive talk about striving to provide dependable and reliable news.
Naively, we thought improving credibility through adopting the standard journalistic practice of fully identifying sources would be a good step forward.
The response from on high was that the company is government-run so anyone questioning this for any reason would effectively be up against the state.
I’m still here - five months after being welcomed by freezing temperatures, dust storms and menus featuring delicacies such as (I’m not making this up) “Sliver Crap”.
Ah, the power of the written word.
It’s amazing how a couple of inverted letters can turn sensitive diners right off carp and over to the “poultries” pages.
But Chinglish (the scrambled result of unskilled translation and the estranged cousin of Japlish) has an intriguing appeal of its own. And so, in a way, do the vagaries of the Chinese media.
Taboo topics
Several areas are essentially off-limits to writers at Chinese state-run media. Of course they’re taboo to all the country’s media, but in the controlled media the ban is strongly enforced.
Published stories may not criticise the government except in a minor, indulgent way - “the government should continue to do its best”.
Don’t mention the three untouchable Ts: Tibetan and Taiwanese independence or the Tiananmen Square “incident” .
Nor is praise for democracy or the Chinese system of imperial rule (ended in 1911) permitted.
Despite the constrictions and frustrations of working for the Chinese media and the daily hassles of not being able to understand the language, I decided to stay on after my internship period.
Now I’m a sub-editor/writer at 21st Century – an educational magazine for Chinese university students studying English and published by the parent company China Daily.
And my Chinese has progressed to the level when I can now say “I’m sorry I don’t understand, could you speak slower?” instead of having to just shake my head.
While my job may not be a dream come true, life in Beijing is surreal enough to make up for it.
* Emma Moore joined the Chinadaily.com with a Graduate Diploma in Journalism earlier this year and is the second graduate from AUT University to work with the Chinese website. The Asia NZ Foundation is later this year sponsoring a new internship programme in partnership with AUT University – to both the China Daily and Jakarta Post. Check with Diversity and Publications Coordinator for more information.
Links:
AUT international journalism internships:
- AUT- Asia NZ Foundation internship criteria (331KB pdf)
- Application for the internship (158KB pdf)
- Practical information handbook about the internships (970KB Word doc)
- Chinadaily.com
- Jakarta Post
- Asia NZ Foundation
- China reporting resources
- Indonesia reporting resources
- New China media curbs condemned
- Emma Moore: China - Just a pile of stats? (scoop.co.nz)
- Emma Moore: The great Chinese rip-off
