Entries: John Paul

China: A Look Back

As the eldest student on the Destination China adventure, I didn’t anticipate the trip would have the significant impact on me that it did.  Sure, I expected to see and experience many things--new food, new culture, architecture, history.  I didn’t realize that I’d feel so differently about my perspective on China.  In fact to me, the bottom line of this adventure and course has been that most Americans don’t see China for what it really is--a growing, vibrant and historic country with interesting people and places that is definitely finding its way in the new world. 

I fear China is underappreciated.  Far too many Americans see it as backward, communist supressed-nation with a Great Wall and slow economy.  Indeed, there is a Great Wall and communist leaders still rule, but there is little evidence of that regime to a visitor.  The economy is definitely not slow and the people are not as backward or slow as many might think.  China may be considered a developing nation and economy, but it is finding its way quickly. 

Like most of us on the trip, we were anxious to return to Illinois to our families and friends and more familiar food and faces.  However, I think we’d also agree China has a great many stories to tell to the world.  During our two week visit, we saw just a tiny part of this gigantic, heavily populated country.  Parts of all of us wanted to stay in Shanghai and Beijing to explore the big cities more, to meet more people, to tell more stories. 

Three places I visited had a great impact on me:  The Bund in Shanghai and its magnificent view of the Pudong district; the Great Wall of course; and journalstically, the NBC News Bureau in Beijing. 

Busy producers and researchers at the NBC News bureau in Beijing, China

NBC News Beijing

Several of us toured the NBC News Beijing bureau on our last full day in China.  The bureau is located on the diplomatic compound in the heart of the city.  Eric Baculinao has been the bureau chief since the early 1980s. He oversees two producers, one correspondent and three or four researchers.  Correspondent Mark Mullen spent a good half hour with us, talking about covering China and the rest of Asia and a little bit about the News division plans for the 2008 Olympics.  Mullen told us the bureau feeds most stories back to the states via a broadband connection, not satellite.  Using a satellite requires use of the nearby CCTV facilities, which are state run.  Mullen produces pieces for the Today Show, NBC Nightly News, CNBC and MSNBC.  He said China recently approved press freedoms opening many previously closed doors for international journalists.  For example, foreign journalists previously had to seek permission or approval for some interviews and to travel within the country. 

UI students at NBC News bureau in Beijing. L-R, Sam Unger, Ted Land, NBC News correspondent Mark Mullen, John Paul, Tom Rogers of WILL-AM 580, Liz Murray and Bureau chief Eric Baculinao.

China: 30 More Years of Growth

One of China’s leading economists is projecting another 30 to 40 years of dramatic growth in a country already enjoying the world’s most improved economy.  David Li heads the Center of China in the World Economy at Tsinghua University.  He says China is driven by a strong human desire to improve living standards through hard work. “The typical Chinese worker now sees the possibility of a much better life,” said Li.  “They are willing to work hard to improve themselves.”

China’s gross domestic product—the total of all goods and services—in 2006 grew by a remarkable 10.6%.  Global domestic growth is at just 3.5%.  China’s 1.3 billion people have helped make China is the fourth biggest economy in the world.

Professor Li expects the double digit growth of recent years to slow to about the five or six percent range, but he says China is still on track to grow until perhaps 2040.  He says the only thing that might slow economic growth in China is major political problems.

The average Chinese worker currently makes less than $2,000 per year.  Li says he anticipated that may rise to $6000 per year.  Two Chinese workers at a American factory in Suzhou, China told me they can see their economic status is better than their parents. 

Interpreting China

One of the biggest keys to reporting from an international destination is understanding the language.  In China, that’s not easy.  Chinese is a complex language to speak and to read.  At our stops in Shanghai, and now in Beijing, we’ve been paired with a group of Chinese interpreters.  In Beijing, most of our interpreters are journalism students from Peking University.  We’ve also gotten help from nearby Tsinghua University.  They accompany us to many of our interviews, guide us in getting around town and even help direct taxi drivers to our destinations.  You might call ‘em lifesavers.  In Shanghai, we had interpreters from several places, but two of them were UIUC graduate students.  Jessie Chen, a Shanghai native, is a PhD student in educational psychology.  Zhu Chen is a UIUC graduate student in journalism and native of China. 

UIUC PhD student Jessie Chen, Shanghai native, with John Paul on The Bund

The Awesome Great Wall

We walked the Great Wall of China Sunday and it was awesome.  We traveled, by taxi, about an hour and a half north of Beijing to Mutianyu, where we saw the wall high atop a mountain.  Everyone agreed it was an unforgettable experience.  Several students took cable cars up the side of the mountain to get to the wall and a few walked up to reach the Great Wall.  Most of the students walked the length of the restored section of the Wall at Mutianyu, where you could see for miles, on a warm May day.  Walking along the stone Wall, gazing at the countryside below and talking to other visitors from around the world, was impressive.
The experience of being on the wall is perhaps reflected by the ancient history of the structure.  Some of the oldest sections of the 1,500 mile long Great Wall were built in 200 or 300 BC.  It was during the short Qin Dynasty that the emperor wanted a defensive wall to protect China from Mongolia and Manchuria.  Much of the Wall we see today was built during the Ming Dynasty in the 14th and 16th centuries...to protect China from raids by Mongol or Turkic tribes.  Not all of the Wall is intact. 
The Great Wall of China is often considered to be among the Seven Wonders of the World.  The internet refutes myths that the Wall can be seen from space.  Even some astronauts on recent space shuttle missions say the Wall is not completely visible from just a few hundred miles above Earth.

Four members of a UIUC journalism class prepare to walk the Wall. L-R: Sam Unger, Ted Land, Liz Reising, John Paul