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We wrote about Thames Town earlier, and it seems that Kristie Lu Stout, armed with her "Shanghai Diary" has taken it upon herself to bore many, many people with her take on what several hundred thousand people have already had their take on. You'll enjoy this:
With its glittering skyline and a century-old reputation for wheeling and dealing, Shanghai is China's money metropolis. It's China's wealthiest city. It's China's leading industrial center. It's China's fast-beating commercial heart.Migrant workers from the countryside flock here to find work, while high-flying international execs check into the towering Grand Hyatt... a five-star gateway to the so-called "billion man market." Just about anyone with a business plan wants in -- making the mainland the world's most popular target of foreign direct investment.
With such brilliant gems and insightful pearls as:
The Chinese, I'm reminded, are very particular about status and respect. Make the wrong move, and you could sour the relationship.
Kristy -- sorry, Kristie -- really earns her three weeks at the Shangri-La (we guess). We have also been wondering how she came up with the name "Shanghai Diary".
We have no sour grapes for Kristie (though we could use three weeks at the Shangri-La). There are plenty of reporters out there who are doing an excellent job, for example Jonathan Watts (even if he did have the impossibly difficult task of filling Jasper Becker's boots). We just ask when, oh dear Lord when will rehashed, dull and tired articles stop being written. The well has run well and truly dry on articles about dumplings, about China having a "new middle class", and about anti-Japanese sentiment, as it has run dry on taking black and white photographs of old Chinese men and women pushing carts, or sifting through rubbish bags, or of the Oriental Pearl Tower and posting all one hundred photographs on a free internet photo site.
Sorry. We went off on one there. It's funny what typing in "Shanghai" on Flickr can do to you. Time to just sit back and wait for the next riveting piece by Stout. What will she come up with next? "Proud parents welcome their new baby daughter -- the social demographics are really shifting!" ... "Grandmother still lives at home with the family -- the Chinese really value age and tradition!". The anticipation builds ...
We'll leave you with this gem:
"I think Shanghai is the city in China most open to Western developments ..."
Priceless.
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I met Kristie in Beijing back in 2004. She's a nice girl with a very impressive resume. I think we need to realize that her audience may not read as many stories about China as we do. And at least her special series isn't called "Shanghai Surprise."
Anyone who has not read many stories about China has more than likely not picked up a Western newspaper, turned on their tv or even surfed the net since maybe late 2003.
This post certainly does have a point: this sort of media commentary might have passed as insightful back in the mid-to-late 1990s, but c'mon, I think it's time people got over the fact that China has skyscrapers and expensive hotels.
And frankly I wished they'd stop picking Shanghai as some example of Chinese 'commercial' spirit. I don't think there have been many other cities in the history of our planet so heavily favoured by a central state and subsequently lavished with all possible resources. You don't have to be entrepreneurial when your government decides you are going to be its mega-showcase city.
It's like a free-wheeling capitalist metropolis- but planned, guided and significantly financed by the state. As far as I can tell, Pudong wasn't an accident.
i think a person can pick up a newspaper everyday and not read anything about China. I used to always go for the comics, myself.
one of the laws of the universe is that there will always be shitty journalism, but you can't really blame that on a person alone; nick contrasted CNN with the Guardian, which is not really a fair fight or at least is comparing apples and oranges. In any case, i can imagine some day couple years or decades in the future, some major historical event will happen in China and then your lowly CNN reporter will be there in the thick of it, and then become famous for their coverage of the event. That's part of what's exciting about being a journalist--the endless anticipation of the next big scoop. But i agree with nick, banal reporting is more the rule than the exception.
I don't need to read this woman's articles to become angry. I read again, and again, and again, and again the same crap about China in all the media. I don't mean that their articles are false: I mean that they are damn repetitive.
The point is that the journalists stay here one year or two, new ones come with absolutely no idea of China and they write exactly the same crap than their predecessors.
Really, what I hate the most is that people repeat me again and again the same ideas. I can't stand that.
Wow an 'Eye on China' season eh? How insightful...
Spotted this classic on the picture gallery. Apparently "Thames Town, in a southwestern suburb some 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the two centuries-old commercial heart of Shanghai, draws its inspiration from the British cities of Bristol and Birmingham". those two well-known cities on the Thames...
You didn't mention in the article, so I kind of missed the point --- she's a writer for CNN ?? or just some random blogger on vacation?
OK I followed the link, she's with CNN. Yeah, it's obnoxious and disappointing that these guys are sending rookies here to rehash the fluff.
But also, every week I hear from someone back in North America -- why are you in China? They still don't know about the skyscrapers! But then, I suppose these people don't consume any media, so another one of these pointless stories is just pointless.
Nick - it's understandable that you dislike these rehashed, crappy cliches disguised as stories. But it seems that you often deconstruct journalists because you are a bit bitter. It's incredibly easy to pick apart a person's writing, and I've seen you do it several times. Does this activity make you feel better about yourself, or your own journalistic merit?
Sorry, Puritans---no one has mentioned this, so I have to state the obvious: Kristie is hot! That's my "banal reporting" for the day......
That being said, her writing is crap. Never mind the information content, which is nil for anyone outside the nurseries in Mobile City, Alabama ("Hey, mama, China has rush-hour traffic, too!"), but the writing itself is soooooooo dull! "I think...", "I am reminded", "It's like..." Kristie may, by a stretch of imagination and a few pints in my belly, look like Jennifer Connelly, but Jennifer on an Entertainment Weekly interview sounds like a genius in comparison!
OK, Nick; I love you, man...... and I forgive you for that lapse of judgment with Zhang Ziyi. All water under the bridge, now.
I agree, Kristie is hot! And I would imagine that the bland reports are more due to the editorial agenda of CNN than anything else. Rebecca McKinnon bailed from the network because they wanted her to cover the region as if she were a tourist rather than a seasoned correspondent.
this whole thread is absolutely BRUTAL...
Considering Kristie's background (she was the CNN Asia tech reporter for a few years - even when I was living there - so as far back as 2001/2002) it may take her a bit to get into more in-depth journalism.
Yes, I'm defending her because of her hotness (and also, my friend who works for CNN says she's pretty cool - not something he says about a lot of the anchors).
It is surprising - considering the other CNN China correspondants have been all very hardened news veterans (Mike Chinoy and Rebecca Mackinnon amongst others)
Peijin - you're right CNN/Guardian wasn't fair.
Critical - I have no journalistic merit. I am not bitter, it's not my goal to be a CNN or other journalist. If I criticise people a lot or pick them apart it's just because I just want to be vociferous in my criticism rather than wet-blankety.
Ma Wei (Big Eared Horse?) - I love you too, and in fact always have done. You disliking Zhang Ziyi just means one man/woman less competition!
I completely agree with what everyone said, especialmente Chino Chano (see what I did there?).
that's read da, Nicky. Where did you get the "wei" from? Fire your Chinese teacher.
Solly solly about that. I don't know why I thought it was wei. Probably because I'm an idiot.
as far as bitterness/vociferous criticism--first off, if you don't allow people to pick apart writing who themselves are not writers than a lot of book reviewers, literary critics and professors will be out of jobs, which to me is no big loss, but perhaps not to others. you'll see, one of these days, something big will happen and she'll win a pulitzer prize or some other journalism award. few people are born great journalists, much of this has to do with the vagaries of the nonfiction (ie real) world. wars and revolutions as well as disasters are always a way to make name for yourself, but nothing that shitty happens in China, and if does, you'll probably get beat up trying to cover it.
i'm not going to weigh in the HOT/NOT debate. pictures like that are way too deceiving
Reviewers and critics themselves would be not great loss.
But if you stop people criticising or doing anything vociferously then what would be the point of life at all.
Hey, at least you guys HAVE an -ist. I'm here in India and we have NADA.
That said, I think Kristie is cute even though she looks a little bit like Donald Duck to me.
Zat is always right: it is Ma-Da, meaning horse with large ears, meaning I am an A$$.
Now I am sure Zat recognizes me......
I just read through her blog.
Seriously this all we get...
dumplings, how to shake hands and hand out your business cards...
Come on.
Does anyone else want to know about the pink light brothels that fill up the skies at night? How about the new drug epidemic that is slowly increasing in shanghai. (of course that'd probally make too many expats unhappy)
But dumplings? If i want to read filler useless junk i'll stick to city weekend. Come on CNN give us some MEAT.
Hi i watch recently cnn on tv of course and i saw this wonderful girl with a very cute strange name "kristie lu stout" She is so attractive and cool. I live her big head and soft lips. She dont seems the sexy cold type of girl, she seems the sweet, worker, smart, family type of girl you always dream about but so hard to get in real life. I am wondering where i can get a woman like that? where i can get her email? Is she married? ??? I am sure she is married. This girls have always many dogs after them.
If you around here email me and lets talk! i am real no bull**... lol lol lol yeah.
charlie
softwareandhardware at yahoo dot com
Pics of Kristie Lu Stout
i luv kristie lu stout........she rocks!!!!!!!!!cteqph@hotmail.com
Hey guys,
I'm writing from Turkey. Today, actually It's about 04.30am here and I'm awake just to see the girl with whom I'm in love... Kristie Lu Stout. She's so simpatico, so hard-working, successful, so sweet and so beautiful... What a man would expect more to feel the luckiest guy ever? Also It's such a great coincidence that I've been just graduated from School of Journalism at Ankara University! As you see I'm a kind of colleague of her and maybe not much but I still have the hope to meet her personally! What I've gotta do is to just keep working hard, try to get a job in CNN International and keep hoping that she wouldn't have been married by the time I accomplish those things!! Seems to be impossible? Well, at least She'd definitely worth to try... By the way, I've just read some comments saying she's already married... Are you sure? I hope not, otherwise It'd ruin all my dreams... But If so, Kristie, please listen to me, I'm the only one who can make you the happiest woman in this world! (Well,usually when you say such things to girls, they just don't care how you're suffering from love and probably kick your ass, but she really seems to be different... That's why I love her so much!)
Wish me more luck which I'll need!
Best wishes,
Baris
Hi again guys,
I'm terribly sorry to inform you about something vital I've just discovered while watching Kristie on CNN Int. Today, she's wearing an elegant black dress which really fits her, but what I've just noticed is that unfortunately she's wearing a a gold ring on the left hand! I know It doesn't certainly prove that she's married, but It might be an important evidence which ends all our dreams in tears! :-( However, as you all know in today's world marriages just don't last that long and work that successful! So, let's just keep the faith!
Greetings from Turkey!
Baris
HELLO!
IT'S GOOD TO WRITE THIS TV& COM.
HYATT LUNCH& SMASH THE STAR ON ~~
JUST TO PLEASE HER EMOTION~~
BIBUY
isn't kristie sweet
Red wine moments tonight only for you, to hope and believe in you, NEVER FORGET: I like you!
I was wondering forever, what is Kristie's ethnicity? She definetley looked like a mix of some sort. Tasty soup ;)
LO DIRE EN ESPAÑOL, KRISTIE ES LA NENA MAS LINDA DE CNN, QUE HERMOSA, QUE MIRADA, QUE DULCE, SHE IS A BEAUTIFUL PRESENTER OF THE NEWS, IS BEAUTIFUL, HE IS INTERESTING AND INTELLIGENT, CONGRATULATIONS, I DECLARE YOUR ADMIRER, I SALUTE TO YOU FROM VENEZUELA
SHE IS A BEAUTIFUL PRESENTER OF THE NEWS, IS BEAUTIFUL, HE IS INTERESTING AND INTELLIGENT, CONGRATULATIONS, I DECLARE YOUR ADMIRER, I SALUTE TO YOU FROM VENEZUELA
Nichts desto trotz ist Kristie nicht nur sehr hübsch, man kann sogar ihr Englisch als Deutscher sehr gut verstehen. Für mich ist sie zumindest ein Grund, mir die Nachrichten auch in Englisch anzuhören beziehungsweise anzusehen.
She is a very beautiful and sympathic journalist and makes me watch the news in english instead of German. Greetings from Germany.
It's s-y-m-p-a-t-h-e-t-i-c, just like I am towards your uncanny command over the English language.
To the outside ear Kristy-Lu sounds like a pig with a blocked-nose gasping for its last breath. Truly the worst presenter on CNN. Where the bloody hell is she from anyway?
I agree Gwen.. I think the lipstick wearing nasally congested piglet is from the dregs of china..
Very funny, and excellent usage of the term "Gem"!
Even if she is trying to introduce a new audience to China, I am just sick of these articles/blogs.
There are tons of just like hers, so why do they need anymore?
Kristie lived and studied in Beiing in the 90's and is both well known and respected there among the old timers who are all prominent Beijigners.
-She is one of the founders of Sohu
-She started The Beijing Byte Column on South China Morning Post
-She knows more about China than most foreigners in China
-She needs to tailor the content to both Americans and non-Chinese foreigners
-she is part Chinese
What a dumb conversation, really. She is a pretty good anchor and that's all that matters. You keep dreaming that she'll turn into your wife someday...lol that is just pathetic. Besides, the woman is pregnant so let's just show a bit more of respect here.
pregnant - where do you got this from? quite interesting as virtually nothing about her private life could be found out there (it seems this didn't happen by accident but she's keen to conceal this part actively).
I haven't spotted any belly during her Beijing '08 coverage but that's maybe I didn't pay attention. Hm, so that's why Shakun is preping for quite a while (steady increase of air-time) to eventually sit in for her well deserved maternity leave (I had been thinking this girl is never going to take any time off, before this).
anyhow, if this is true (which I assume as signs say 'da') congrats to her!!
What? She disguises it really good I just watched her today and would never guess.
Congratulations then! Can't imagine how cute that baby will be being born from such a beautiful mom.
Kristie Lu is a beautiful, professional, intelligent, very clever, distinguished and very sexy lady, her personality and her special voice makes a perfect association on these CNN journalist, anybody who think diferent is out of mine.
I'm declare Krisite's unconditional FAN!!
Congratulations to CNN administration!!
Love from Mexico.