Chinesepod - The media should give credit where it is due

Opinion / Li Xing

The media should give credit where it is due

By LI XING (China Daily)
Updated: 2007-05-10 06:50

Media from home and overseas have run countless reports about
environmental pollution spreading from urban centers to rural areas in
China.

So much so, in fact, that China is now seen as one of the major
contributors to environmental woes and global warming. Its reputation is
overshadowing even those of developed Western countries who, over the
past century, have contributed the most to climate change and pollution
without ever being placed under a constant media spotlight.

One issue at the core of this is how China, still a developing country,
follows the ever-stricter international standards set by the developed
countries, which already possess advanced technology, technical know-how
and appraisal equipment.

Meanwhile, the world media currently places China under a microscope, and
any wrongs it may make will hit front-page headlines. Consequently,
however much the media brag about their balanced reporting, they tend to
ignore such facts.

So, they tend to overlook the pains the Chinese have gone through to
follow international standards on their road out of poverty. And they
overlook the changes in the lives and conceptions of the Chinese since
they set their eyes on the international market.

A case in point is the remote mountainous town of Jiaohu, in East China's
Jiangxi Province, which was the country's first rural center for organic
agriculture. Its scallions, snow peas, lilies, yams and a dozen other
types of produce have made their way to the dinner tables of Europeans,
Australians and Japanese.

Nowadays, any vehicle entering the township of Jiaohu has to stop at
local roadblocks not to pay extra fees, as usually occurs elsewhere, but
to undergo a thorough search by a local team of inspectors.

Those owners who carry chemical fertilizers and pesticides have to unload
and forego all merchandise that is banned in Jiaohu.

Since Jiaohu ventured into organic farming in 1999, Xie Jiafa, the chief
township road inspector, and his colleagues have had heated arguments
with local farmers countless times.

"I once thought I'd lose money without chemical fertilizers and
pesticides to boost the harvest," Dai Zongcheng, a rice grower, said.

Until two years ago, a few local farmers still thought they'd somehow
gone by undetected when they smuggled a tiny amount of chemicals. But
some 70 households had to pay a fine equal to about half of their annual
income, totalling 200,000 yuan.

The loss of money forced the farmers, who are accustomed to taking it
easy and ignoring rules whenever possible, to enforce the international
standard for organic produce by reviving the centuries-old system of
joint-responsibility among households.

As China becomes increasingly integrated in the world economy, the
Chinese have had to learn the disciplines and standards that Western
countries have established out of their own painful experiences and even
sweatshops in the late 19th century.

The enforcement of those international standards may be lax in other
countries, but China has little leeway to make excuses.

Of course, no one feels at ease under such close and sometimes biased
international scrutiny.

But we cannot ignore those negative reports either, even though some are
made with obvious malice.

I remember an African student once told me that the developing countries
still look to China for an answer to sustainable and
environmentally-friendly development.

We cannot let down our own children and grandchildren, let alone the
people of the world.

E-mail: lixing@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 05/10/2007 page10)

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