"Americans have a limited knowledge of China" (#285, Topic S)

Initiating a US-China Economic Summit, which begins today in Beijing, Treasury secretary Henry Paulson assembled a delegation that includes four other cabinet-level members (Commerce, Carlos Gutierrez; Labor, Elaine Chao; EPA administrator, Stephen Johnson; Trade representative, Susan Schwab), not to mention Fed chairman Ben Bernanke. In its honor, I set up a new topic, S, for Sino-US relations. This morning at 9, CNBC's reporter, beaming from Beijing, summarized today's activities (Beijing is 12 hours ahead of DC; 9 am Beijing time = 8 pm EST). Though mainly ceremonial, Wu Yi, China Vice Premier, nevertheless set the tone for China. She said (and quoted repeatedly by CNBC): "we have the genuine feeling that some American friends are not only having limited knowledge -- but harboring much misunderstanding -- about the reality in China." Well said. In my view, this limited -- distorted would be much more descriptive --knowledge is mainly the result of American educational system. Last year, I joined a Library of Congress sponsored tour group to China to celebrate the 600th anniversary of Zheng He's first overseas voyage in 1405. In Shanghai, I can understand that they were in awe with skyscrappers -- I was too, after an absence of but a few years . But they were not equipped to seeing that there are 4 times as many skyscrappers in Shanghai as NYC -- or seeing a 5-year-old financial district (in Pudong) having more skyscappers than Manhattan. In Nanjing, where the tour group visited the building where the Unequal Treaties were signed, tour members who are natives of USA professed complete ignorance -- this was/is never taught in US schools. I can understand that too -- with USA first participating in the opium trade in China and later joining the other western powers to extract excessive indemnity from her, keeping this sorry event mum is the best policy. Ditto for the Rape of Nanjing Museum -- after all, with Japan being USA's best friend in Asia, why bother with historical inconveniences. This reminds me of an incident. Last year, during the 65-year memorial of Pearl Harbor, high-school children were asked: Who did that? Even that "infamy" (using President Roosevelt's word at the time) was shielded in the name of geopolitics of the 21st century. "China?" many of these next-generation leaders responded. Bravo. At the moment, there is a very interesting TV commercial by FedEx. It shows three managers standing in front of a world map and watching a young man trying to put a pin to show where China is. After the young man's first attempt, one of the managers says: "This is Russia." The young man makes another gallant attempt; this time, it is Greenland. Another manager then says: "You really don't know where China is. Don't you?" Not wanting to be further embarrassed, this young man simply tears the map, which is mounted on a wall, down. The implication, it seems to me, is that one can hide one's ignorance by simply not facing reality. "Americans have a limited knowledge of China" -- this TV ad captures it fully.