Two sides to documentary

Super China

AChinathemed documentary titled which was aired by the Republic of Korea’s state broadcaster KBS from January 15 to 24, received a high viewing rating in the ROK, which caught Chinese attention.

Different from Western looks at China that are usually focused on peeping at China’s “dark side” through tinted spectacles, the sevenepisode documentary seemed to be trying to present viewers in the ROK with a more accurate picture of China from different perspectives, including its demographic size, economic development, political system, military and culture. That it was complimentary of China’s political system and the leadership of the Communist Party of China, led to some interpreting the documentary as Chinafriendly propaganda or envy for China’s rising national power.

KBS did refrain from looking at Chinarelated issues from the critical perspective adopted by Western media, but did the ROK broadcaster want to promote China’s image to its audiences as China’s own Staterun media outlets do, as some Chinese have claimed?

There have been a lot of reports on China in the ROK in recent years, but most of these reports were from a narrow perspective. As a result, some in the ROK have failed to grasp an accurate picture of China and its development. At the same time, the largevolume exports of vehicles, cellphones, TV sets and other electronic products from the ROK to China, as well as the popularity of ROK films and TV dramas among a large number of Chinese viewers, especially young ones, have contributed to a sense of cultural superiority among some in the ROK. As a result, some ROK scholars and researchers have from time to time cooked up ridiculous viewpoints such as the argument that some aspects of Chinese culture that are universally confirmed to have originated in China were introduced from the Korean peninsular.

Such prejudices about China have caused concern among those in the ROK with an

unbiased view. The lack of full and dynamic information about China, they believe, will exacerbate misunderstanding about ROK’s fastgrowing neighbor and thus negatively affect the ROK’s relations with it.

China and the ROK have been engaged in extensive exchanges in multiple fields in recent years, but compared with Chinese people who have basically grasped a full knowledge about the ROK, many people in the ROK only have a superficial understanding of China. This is not conducive to ROK’s ties with China and has prompted calls for people in the ROK to learn more about China. According to its directors, the KBS documentary was made in response to such calls.

They say the documentary was aimed at presenting to ROK audiences a China different from the stereotyped images they were used to, and to remind viewers that presentday China is no longer what it was decades ago. In this sense, the documentary has perhaps played a positive role in helping viewers to gain a truer and more objective picture of China.

However, Chinese should not become excessively intoxicated by the image of China presented by KBS. There are always two sides to a coin. A distorted view of China caused a sense of superiority among some in the ROK, but some ROK viewers of the documentary series have said they feel unease at China’s rapid buildup after watching the documentary, as it left them with the impression that China is a superstrong country. This has even been exaggerated into a sense of crisis by some.

Some ROK scholars have even suggested the documentary was subtly peddling a “China threat”, because, although it did not overtly claim there was a threat from China, neither did the documentary elaborate on the opportunities arising from China’s development that the ROK can take advantage of.

The Chinese people have become used to their country’s image being distorted and tainted in foreign countries. So, they easily feel exalted at even the slightest hint of objectivity. Such a mentality should be discarded.