The New York Times Makes a Free ‘Ad’ for Guangdong
The New York Times Makes a Free ‘Ad’ for Guangdong (《纽约时报》免费为粤打“广告”)
By Ou wen (欧文)
Original Publication:
New Bulletin (新快报)
Translated by Anton Lee Wishik II for Mei-Zhong Guanxi
Mei-Zhong Note: For background on this article, please see this post and this post.
Note: This site has no relation to the author or original publication. This translation was done for informational purposes only and not for commercial gain or to express any personal views. To contact the author or original publication, please check the details listed above.
On August 26th, Chinese Politburo member and Guangdong Party Secretary Wang Yang (汪洋) met with New York Times special columnist Thomas Friedman in Guangzhou. As the crystallization of this trip to Guangdong, Mr. Friedman’s editorial, ‘Postcard from South China’, was published in the August 31st edition of the New York Times.
Friedman is a senior reporter and famous author in the US and has won the Pulitzer Prize three times. His book ‘The World Is Flat’, which explained the profound in simple language, showed that economic globalization has already become an irreversible and inevitable rule. This book was widely influential and has already been translated into 32 languages. Wang Yang repeatedly recommended this book to cadres both during his time working in Chongqing and since his arrival in Guangdong.
On the afternoon of September 2nd, a commentary by netizen ‘Wang You Cao’ (汪忧草) titled ‘How did Secretary Wang Yang get an advertisement in the New York Times?’ (汪洋书记咋把广告打到《纽约时报》了？) was posted on the People’s Net Great Powers Forum (人民网强国论坛). It quickly received the attention of tens of thousands of netizens.
A Netizen Salutes Secretary Wang
Our Guangdong Party Secretary Wang Yang produced an ‘ad’ in the New York Times.
I feel that Wang Yang’s brilliance on this issue lies in the following: His extreme ingenuity in ‘marketing’ Cantonese people’s leading mentality, pursuit of changing ways of thinking, and ‘dare to put the material world first’ spirit to the special columnist from the New York Times. At the same time, Secretary Wang also communicated the Chinese Communist Party members’ image as pragmatic, modest, and studious to the Western media in just the right manner. Secretary Wang made it so Westerners could see the Chinese Communist Party members’ vigilance in times of peace and their fine quality of being farsighted. Third, Secretary Wang Yang also made it so Westerners, especially Westerners with ‘speaking authority’ like Mr. Friedman, could increase their knowledge of China’s enlightened nature, openness, and frankness and sincerity.
Therefore, I salute Secretary Wang Yang here for producing an ‘ad’ in the New York Times for Guangdong and for China! (Source: People’s Net)
Mei-Zhong Note: Below are two different translated versions of the last five paragraphs of Friedman’s article. The first accompanied the above article in New Bulletin. The second was published recently in Global Times. Both have been translated back into English with the editing that was performed on them in the Chinese media made clear. The New Bulletin version was the shorter of the two.
From New Bulletin:
From Global Times:
2 Comments
Interesting. In a sense, Friedman’s article was a bit of an ad for Guangdong/Wang Yang. But then again, a lot of policy shifts point in the direction of Guangdong being genuinely more progressive than other areas.
On point, however, it’s unfortunate that this article didn’t highlight the idea Friedman is a columnist, and does not necessarily represent the newspaper.
Comment on September 4, 2008 07:02 pm[...] netizens, of course, need no telling of this, as translated by Mei-Zhong blogger Anton Lee Wishik II: A Netizen Salutes Secretary [...]
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