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As one who respects both @chinaheritage& #39;s & Hessler& #39;s work, I find this sad. Both viewpoints have validity--because China is simply too big & complex to be captured in a single story. People experience & respond to life under authoritarianism in hugely varied ways. Thread: https://twitter.com/mikeygow/status/1300779966683062273">https://twitter.com/mikeygow/...
I think about this as someone who, every year, looks at a syllabus & thinks about what constellation of pieces adequately captures modern China for my students. It& #39;s tough to do in a collection of 30 readings, let alone one long-form journalism piece. So what do I do? /2
Answer: find pieces that speak to each other. I& #39;ve said before I don& #39;t think Hessler& #39;s piece is really about "how China beat coronavirus." Bad headline. It& #39;s about where state (authoritarian) response to the virus was & wasn& #39;t visible to citizens. Which is fascinating. /3
It speaks to a theoretical question we don& #39;t understand well enough: why do some authoritarian regimes maintain a degree of popular support? ( @jessicacweiss& #39;s work notwithstanding, there& #39;s more to it than nationalism.) Hessler& #39;s article, to me, helps us think about that. /4
But I wouldn& #39;t assign it alone! I& #39;d assign it alongside, for ex, this @Lingling_Wei @JNBPage story about the failures of the Chinese CDC, & perhaps my own piece w/ @JulianGewirtz on China& #39;s blending public health & security: /5 https://www.wsj.com/articles/chinas-cdc-built-to-stop-pandemics-stumbled-when-it-mattered-most-11597675108?tesla=y">https://www.wsj.com/articles/...
Similarly, if I was teaching about tech & the Executive Order banning WeChat, I& #39;d pair pieces that have different takes, like this suggestion from @NeysunM : /6 https://twitter.com/NeysunM/status/1294836302991568898?s=20">https://twitter.com/NeysunM/s...
Similarly, when I teach nationalism, I assign news clips/readings that suggest:
a) CCP is afraid of protests;
b) CCP is diverting attn from domestic issues;
c) CCP is using protests for bargaining in foreign policy (the point made by @jessicacweiss& #39; excellent book). /7
a) CCP is afraid of protests;
b) CCP is diverting attn from domestic issues;
c) CCP is using protests for bargaining in foreign policy (the point made by @jessicacweiss& #39; excellent book). /7
In other words: China is a symphony, not a solo. There is not a single "China story"; there are at least 1.3 billion of them. And in my view, writing on China should reflect that.
