Shanghaiist: China lacks in soft power

nanheyangrouchuan

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 12:14:27 +0800

disgusting panda lickers pandering to China's desire for old imperial glory.

rldh

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 11:36:27 +0800

Good point, but a 'few locals hawk and spit' = very many in big cities, absolutely everyone elsewhere. Though I can't fault your well-meaning liberal-mindedness.

charlesfrith

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 11:28:37 +0800

One of the dimensions of living in China is the lack of desire for soft power or influence as I like to call it. It goes unspoken but there are a few adjectives that are not used about the Chinese around the world and those are, thoughtful, polite and charming. I only concluded this after defending China in a heated discussion with a fool who thought the Chinese were disgusting because a few locals still hawk and spit. I think that was the sharp end of the argument but the blunt end (forgive the paradoxical pun) still applies.