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For Chinese, U.S. election is ‘entertaining’
adrienne mong, nbc news producer
BEIJING Last week, three books about Barack Obama were published in China to little fanfare.
Despite being prominently displayed inside one of Beijing’s larger bookstores, the books two were his own and the third was a collection of his speeches and writings attracted little interest the day we visited.
The shop clerk said sales were “healthy” for a new release, but “The No. 1 Bodyguard in China,” a biography of a former Chinese security guard, sitting next to “The Audacity of Hope,” drew more curiosity. No books by John McCain were available; apparently his writings have yet to be translated into Chinese.
“At the average person’s level in China, I’ve just found [the U.S. presidential election] to be less interesting than any other thing the Olympics, the earthquake, other things going on in China that are of huge historical importance to China itself,” observed James Fallows, who’s been based here for two years writing for The Atlantic Monthly.
Apart from the events he mentioned, there were also the winter storms that paralyzed half the country; the Tibet riots; torch relay protests; violence in Xinjiang; and now the melamine-tainted milk scandal. No surprise then that most Chinese have been focusing on domestic events.
But, as usual when it comes to China, it’s never that simple. As we talked to people about the American election, we found varying levels of interest and curiosity.
…(read more)
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