By Fu Qi

With rural children in Guizhou province

"I have worked in ten countries as a reporter and been posted in two, China and Japan,"said Jonathan Watts, correspondent of The Guardian in Beijing."I think China is the greatest place for journalists."

In an interview with the author, the British journalist said that as a child, he had three dreams. "The first was to play football for England. The second was to be a sort of James Bond. The third was to become a journalist. It is the third dream that has come true."

  Watts was born in 1967, one year after China's "cultural Revolution" had broken out. That, he said, may explain why he had once regarded China as "remote and mysterious" both geographically and politically.  

Taking video for multimedia package from Yunnan

But, five years after he began working in China, in 2003, he has refreshed his old image of China into a "friendly, happy, and fast developing" nation, a nation "vigorously preparing for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games." "One has to see the country for him- or herself to personally feel what the difference is," exclaimed Jonathan.

  It is "astonishingly lucky for foreign correspondents to travel around in China," he said, " I' ve been to places like Yunnan, Gansu, Tibet and Fujian, enjoying a feast on the territorial diversity and meeting people from all walks of life."

He described his coverage of China as a sort of "exploration" by means of which he has produced a "significant number of reports touching widely on social controversies." He has written about the Three Gorges Dam, the world’s largest hydroelectric plant, located in Central China’s Hubei Province, whose construction "spawned possible environmental damages and led to displacement of a vast number of people in the reservoir area." He has reported coal mining tragedies resulting from private-run coal mines’ illegal operation and poor management. He has also reported stories about the backward conditions of education in China’s rural areas.

  Meanwhile, the Briton often feels resent of the Chinese against what they see as "negative reporting"--news reports that portray a negative image of China. "Once a reporter from China Radio International (CRI) interviewed me, and the first question put to me is: Why do foreign correspondents hate China?"

"Actually, we do not hate China at all. We love China and love being here," Jonathan told the author, laughing.

  Watts attributed this misunderstanding to "different expectations for journalists’ role in China and in the Western world." "Westerners take media as a watchdog to monitor government behaviors and observe social ills, and to finally rectify the wrongs. Thus, Western journalists not only turn out a huge amount of negative reporting on China but also on their own countries."

With Tibetan family in Shangri-la

Despite the issues he identified for public attention, he was also impressed by the dynamic culture of modern China.

 Watts has his office at 798, a famous art zone in the Chinese capital. "That makes it possible to me to keep frequent contacts with a vigorous, creative and radically open-minded community of artists," he said. The first time he came to 798, he was both surprised and excited. Previously China struck him as more of a product producer than a cultural creator. He did not expect to see such a fascinating and spectacular gallery of modern arts. Concluding his visit in 798, he became quite convinced that China would accomplish spectacular work in other fields apart from industrial manufacturing.

  "Currently, people from all over the world love Chinese manufactured products, resulting in a huge trade surplus for China," he continued. "However, the Chinese in turn buy ten times more cultural products than they sell. This leads to a cultural deficit." "This phenomenon, however, has started to change as the works done by Chinese contemporary artists are attracting world attention, with the latest one selling for $4 million."

  Watts said other Chinese cultural products are also flourishing in both domestic and international markets, such as novels and films. He cited the example of Jiang Rong, a novelist, who has recently won the inaugural Man Asian Literary Prize with his book Wolf Totem. "Chinese films have also scored huge popularity in the Hollywood, with actresses like Gong Li and Zhang Ziyi becoming household names worldwide," he said.

  Another changing aspect of China, fueled by the upcoming Olympics, is its "lessening of rules regulating foreign journalists' activities."

  At present, some 700 foreign journalists are based in China, mostly in Beijing. With the Olympics just around the corner, China is expecting 21,000 International Olympic Committee (IOC) accredited foreign journalists and 5-10,000 non IOC accredited ones, leading to a huge increase in the number of foreign journalists during the event. In view of the significance of this media gala, the government is considering dropping some of its former restrictions. Starting in 2007, the government has abolished the old rule that obliged foreign journalists to seek permission from the local authorities before they leave Beijing for another destination. "The change of policy signals considerable improvement for foreign journalists?freedom," Watts commented.

  In addition, he said, Olympic-related stories have been a staple for his China reports. Among the 150 stories he writes each year, about 25 were on the Olympics. For instance, he reported how Beijing citizens are helping making preparations for the coming Olympics."They put up campaigns to improve their public manners, such as forbidding spitting and waiting in queue. They also try hard to learn English and correct displaced translations in tourist spots and on restaurant menus," he noted. Last year, he did a special report on how the Olympics changed the lives of Beijingers. This report involved interviews with 20 people from various social backgrounds, including government officials, taxi drivers, and construction workers.  

Outdoor haircut

The Guardian will send two more journalists to China in January 2008 to help cover the event and the preparations before it. "The Olympics will be more than a sports event," he said. "It is a big unveiling and taking-off for Beijing. What will happen after the Games is also significant. Olympics may well change the way the world views China as well as the way China views itself."

As a foreign correspondent, Jonathan believes his utmost responsibility is to function as a bridge to facilitate mutual understanding.

  On this point, he said he learned a lot while working for a Japanese foreign correspondent in Britain, who took advantage of his stay and sent back articles about what Japan could learn from Britain. For instance, the Japanese correspondent once wrote a series of stories on hospices, a special place that furnishes a comfortable environment for dying people. He did it because back in Japan they did not have such a system. Thanks to his efforts, Japan has now installed a hospice system. He also wrote on how the British prohibited bullying children and did a range of articles on related institutions and education programs. From that experience, Jonathan came to realize that effective journalism should focus on learning from others?merits and facilitating communication, and that the western style journalism should improve itself in this aspect.

  Being a foreign correspondent for more than ten years, Jonathan highlights the importance of being immersed in the local culture and understanding how the locals think.

  For the past five years, his Japanese wife and two daughters have been staying with Jonathan in Beijing, trying to adapt to the local environment together with him. To get better acquainted with the Chinese culture, Jonathan talks with Chinese friends, watches Chinese movies, reads literary works on China and tries to make full use of his day-to-day experience. However, one thing bothers him a lot: his mandarin is not good enough, despite the efforts he has made to improve it. "You ought to have a musical talent to learn it," said Jonathan. The previous Guardian foreign correspondent in China described the Chinese language as "semantically rich, but phonetically impoverished". For Westerners, it has so many characters, yet so few sounds, making the listening harder. Nevertheless, Jonathan said, "I am doing my best to find my place in the new environment and make the best out of my stay in China."

"If you are in China which has more people than anywhere in the world, you are in the greatest place for journalists. There are lots of interesting people and fantastic stories waiting to be explored," said Jonathan, with his eyes glimmering and fixing afar.