"Being a journalist in China is not easy because many data sources are unreliable. People who support the government often have no clear data sources, so their support is not credible; People who oppose government practices can't produce data to prove their views. Because the information is opaque, is their criticism reasonable? " The Englishman Shi Bin hurriedly put down his bag. He has just finished an interview with a government department in China.
Shi Bin, the China correspondent of the Daily Telegraph, Britain's most serious newspaper, is not a serious person. Many of his reports have been translated into Chinese newspapers, mostly praising China. But Shi Bin said, "No, more often, it's not a real translation."
For example, his report entitled "Learning from Lei Feng in China" was published in a China newspaper with the title "Lei Feng spirit will live forever in China".
Lei Feng has been endowed with many meanings in different historical periods.
In March this year, Shi Bin published a report on China learning from Lei Feng in the Daily Telegraph. Shi Bin believes that this model figure of China "has become a folk hero in China, with some religious overtones." He said, I don't know if Lei Feng really exists, and I'm not sure if what he did really exists, but the significance of Lei Feng lies in providing a specimen for the government and the people.
"In different historical periods, Lei Feng has been endowed with different spiritual connotations." Shi Bin believes that since the late 1970s, Lei Feng's spirit has been dim for a time, which seems to be quite incompatible with the slogan of "getting rich and glorious" advocated by Deng Xiaoping. But in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Lei Feng's spirit was once again taken seriously by people, especially among students. At present, there are more than 100 websites in China * * * all related to Lei Feng. With the free market economy bringing many western wealth concepts, Lei Feng's spirit seems to be once again forgotten. However, with the deepening of reform and the widening gap between the rich and the poor, the spirit of Lei Feng is still valued by the China government. "Because the new generation of collective leadership strongly advocates a hard and simple political atmosphere, and announced that it will give more government assistance to those low-income social groups."
China's hero models are all Gao Daquan.
"In Britain, hero model figures are often moral figures, but they often have various shortcomings, and some are bad children." Shi Bin said that China and Britain have different views on hero models. China's hero model has no shortcomings, and he is a man who is good at everything.
Shi Bin said that Robin Hood is a hero model in the eyes of the British. It is illegal for him to rob the rich and help the poor, but people respect him very much. "What he has done reflects that a system is so corrupt and decadent that you have to uphold justice illegally." Even today, Shi Bin believes that British folk heroes and model figures are multifaceted. "They have both advantages and disadvantages. Such as Beckham. "
"China's folk heroes are all good. They won't make mistakes and can't be criticized." Spencer said that Lei Feng "all his thoughts and spirits are embodied in a diary".
"It is puzzling that the China government can't admit that its pacesetters will make mistakes." Shi Bin said that last spring, when SARS broke out, the media reported a lot about nurses and doctors. "The state media portrayed them as patriots, but they aroused the suspicion of ordinary people." Shi Bin went to the hospital for an interview and found that some doctors were actually working, but many doctors had a two-week holiday, so it would be unfair to regard them as role models. "When the government is creating a perfect image, China people usually have two ideas. On the one hand, they feel that they are really good people, on the other hand, they feel that the government still has a lot to tell me. "
"In fact, the government's example of setting such a high standard is a blow to others. The former Soviet Union once faced the same problem and set high standards, such as Pavel Colta King. " Shi Bin thinks this is a dangerous tendency. "Everyone should have a balance, which is the need of culture. When a person gets a large bonus, should he buy a car or donate it to the society? There is no fixed answer. Many people often have a serious psychological burden when facing moral role models. "