China Daily, the state-owned English language paper produced in Beijing, arrives at the stoop of thousands of Seattle residences at least once a week, unbidden and, of course, un-purchased. The same happens in New York, Washington, DC, Chicago, Los Angeles, Houston and Atlanta. The paper says that Boston enters the list next. A new 28 page insert of commentary also was introduced today. China Daily claims 150,000 circulation in the U.S. now and expects that figure to rise to 200,000 soon.
When you are giving away papers, as well as selling them, who knows what "200,000" actually means? But at the least it means the Chinese government has a new way to influence U.S. public opinion. Well, okay, but that does make one wonder whether a U.S. paper produced by the state would be welcome to circulate free in China in such numbers.
Regardless, even a paper that is government censored--or, more likely, self-censoring--contains articles that will interest many readers in the U.S. More information on the world's largest population and the second-largest economy certainly is welcome, such as the story today about the depopulation of rural villages that is counterpoint to population growth overall. Or, as another example, the paper's editorials today that (finally) embraces the revolution in Libya.
The paper's new insert has several articles grouped around the planned expansion of the city of Chongqing in the center of the country--the "West" to largely coastal Chinese. Who cares? Well, the 1,200 square kilometer city is expected to be China's biggest city within only ten years. That means it will pass even Shanghai, today home to over 22 million. Almost overnight, the world gets a new giant city.
Leave a comment