China Law Blog

I would easily pick the (Toronto) Globe & Mail over the National Post. Ditto for The (London) Guardian versus The Financial Times, The (London) Times or The Telegraph.

I disagree with your rating of The New York Times. When it comes to China, they can get the dirt that nobody else can get -- and are willing to take a lot of risk to get it. So my hat is off to The New York Times.

For those of us living here, there are three English-language dailies, but only one matters: China Daily. This being said, for online readers, I'd pick the English-language edition of People's Daily.

I get about 30 Chinese-language journals translated for me, so this helps a lot, too -- but this isn't so easy to do if you don't live here. And, quite frankly, isn't worth the trouble unless you write about this stuff for a targeted audience, in my case, Silicon Valley via my AlwaysOn Network and Sand Hill Group "Letter from China" column. (And I have the street cred at Microsoft, Oracle, Samsung, and as an industry analyst to back me up, in addition to some pretty good cred at start-ups.)

Let me not forget China Leadership Monitor and China Brief. Absolutely must-read English-language publications. You can't claim to know a thing about China unless you read CLM and CB. (CB articles often cite Chinese-language sources, not something easy to find.)

There are many other useful sources, but that's enough for now.

BTW, I generally do NOT find China blogs very useful. I often wonder what (if any) street cred the bloggers have except for the fact that they live in China. CLB is a great blog, but it's my only must-read blog that isn't an aggregation-focused blog (like China Digital Times).

One last thing: For science (and a bit of technology), Nature China is the best source for English-language info. However, it's impossible for a single source to do justice to the immense amount of scientific lit published in China each year. There are ways around this, but that's for a personal post.

- David Scott Lewis, http://www.zytechsolar.us/

David Scott Lewis,

Some great additions there.

I will have to check out the Toronto Globe & Mail since I have not really read it. The London Guardian is good, I agree, but the Financial Times does have a lot of good business articles on China.

You are right about the New York Times often getting dirt and being willing to go with it. My only problem is that they oftentimes mix in fluff with the dirt or publish a month old story as though they invented it.

You are also right about the China Daily and the People's Daily though I like the Shanghai Daily also.

I really like EastSouthWestNorth and China Digital Review, but I was mostly focusing on business with my post.

Thanks for the CLB compliments. I will paypal you your fee later today.

"New York Times (most of the time)"

An apt evaluation.

A book I like, though it is dated, is "China's Futures: Scenarios for the World's Fastest Growing Economy, Ecology, and Society." Plenty of food for thought in that one.

http://www.foreignaffairs.org/20000701fabook771/james-a-ogilvy-peter-schwartz-joe-flower/china-s-futures-scenarios-for-the-world-s-fastest-growing-economy-ecology-and-society.html

unfortunately for all of us, the boston globe op-ed IS news to 98% of its audience...

I would add Peter Hessler's River Town to the list of China must reads. It is not about doing business in China. But its description of the psyches of the average Chinese is like no other. I think it is important to understand the Chinese people first before we delve into more advanced topics on China.

Peter Hessler's "River Town" is an excellent read, and I prefer it from his new China book, "Oracle Bones" - though that too, is quite good.

The book that I recommend most, for those interested in evaluating today's China, is Randall Peerenboom's "China Modernizes", and for those who are interested in the way the West has mis-read and mis-reported China, you can't go past Colin Mackerras' "Western Images of China" - a good companion to "Dragons at your Door".

Over at TheChinaGame.com, I have made a point of highlighting mainstream media pieces that are wrongheaded. You could say it's a theme of mine. The criticisms are not potshots, though, and I understand that ‘the media’ (or certain publications within it) are just individuals who will have their good days, as well as bad.

Of all the things I've written, no piece on my blog has received more attention than one where I was critical of the WSJ for suggesting that low prices are to blame for quality problems in China (link, below). Specifically because China is such an important subject, when a bad line of thinking is broadcast to millions, a retort is in order. Reporting is a sober business, and if criticism comes across as prickly, it's too bad. The attacks are always about the ideas, not the people.

As it stands today, professional reporting on China runs the gamut from 'reportage to garbáge’. I agree with you that the media often gets it wrong when it comes to China, but I do not support this notion that certain publications are "the only you can really trust”.

http://thechinagame.com/2007/08/22/the-new-bugaboo-low-prices/

Boyce,

Don't know that one, but I was picking reads that help increase the mice caught, not those that necessarily make one think. Plus, if you knew my friend, you would know that thinking is not his bag (that was a joke, John).

ljc,

I don't get it.

jms,

You might be right. I really liked that book and also CHINESE LESSONS and I thought of mentioning them and maybe I should have, but a guy can only read so much.

MAJ,

But aren't those too deep for someone seeking to learn about China business?

Paul Midler,

When I said "really trust," I did not mean to say "always trust" nor did I mean to imply that one can never trust the others. The WSJ has greatly increased its coverage of China and with that, it has brought on new people to cover China. These new people are not as rock solid (shall we say) as some of the old standbys, I agree. But I agree more with the WSJ article than I do of your criticism of it, but the point is not agreement or disagreement, it is accuracy of coverage and the crap to which Stan referred in the Globe can be found in countless newspapers in this country. So much of it is bad or worthless that someone starting out in China is probably better off just skipping it entirely. That's what I meant.

Shanghai Daily: Better for its social calendar. ;-) A must-read for those living in Shanghai. But it's twice the cost of China Daily and after reading it for a few months, I let my subscription lapse.

For Western readers who haven't lived here, getting a subscription to newspapers isn't quite the same as back home (well, at least not like it is in the States). You generally place your subscription order through China Post (China's equivalent to the USPS). You call them, they send over a carrier, he (it's always been a "he" for me) collects the money, and then your subscription starts the first day of the next month -- but you have to place an order by the 17th or 18th to make sure you can get on the distribution list for the upcoming month.

No significant (if any) discounts for one-, three-, six- or twelve-month subscriptions, but it does avoid the hassles of dealing with China Post.

Papers are usually a day or so late in Qingdao, but with same day service in Beijing and Shanghai. They usually arrive in pretty good condition and are placed in a mail slot rather than tossed in front of a residence. Since most people live in an apartment, this makes sense. The exceptions are places where there is a concierge (of sorts).

And how does China Daily the newspaper compare with China Daily online? I like the newspaper much better. Puts stories in context, you can see which are the most important, visually see how one story stacks up against another. Of course, this might be true for most newspapers!

Oh, you can't get home delivery for Hong Kong newspapers (maybe this is possible in GD province, but not in north China). So the only English-language dailies that can be subscribed to in the mainland are China Daily, Shanghai Daily and Shenzhen Daily. I also subscribed to SZ Daily for a few months. It was OK, not great. Didn't get a lot of value out of it. Like with SH Daily, if I lived in SZ, I would get it; otherwise, no need. Does seem to have pretty good regional coverage, though, so if GD province is important to you, it might be worth getting.

DSL,

Yes. Me, I get 'em free in the hotels or read them online. I just don't see the HK papers in China much and when I do, they always seem a bit out of date. They also always have a "we are in HK and (Thank God) not with the riff-raff in the PRC" air about them that always bugs me. Am I the only one who feels that way.

IMHO it's a reflection of our media pandering to a resurrgence of anti-Chinese sentiment.

If our nation's history is any indication, a static view of "Red China" and resulting anti-China agenda invariably garners anti-Chinese sentiment.

Just like last week's "Beijing Olympics ban Bible" story. Everybody hopped on it. But now that it turned out to be propaganda from the Catholic News Service, people don't care:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/china/story/0,,2209868,00.html

So what, the damage is already done.

(oops, it's CNA, not CNS...)

Dan, it's just you (and Charles Li)!! ;-)

See http://doiop.com/keptomania . Dan, I'd love to see you comment on this.

We need a balanced perspective. Don't be pro-China, don't be anti-China. Collect data and make an informed decision on an issue-by-issue basis.

Charles Liu,

That's not what I'm talking about here. I'm talking about the media that understand China. Politics really doesn't play much of a part here.

David Scott Lewis,

The link doesn't work so I don't know what you are talking about. Please try again on the link.

Sorry. Try http://doiop.com/kleptomania.

Hi Dan,
Thanks for telling your friend (and readers) about www.chinasuccesstories.com I've returned the favor by adding you to our links page. Still hope to make it to your blogroll someday (tell me what to do ;-)
Michiel/Michael
PS Feedblitz is still acting weird, I'll try re-subscribing?

David Scott Lewis,

Still nothing.

Michael,

Thanks for adding us to your site.

Nothing you can do, because I do not think of China Success Stories as a blog. I am planning to add a China Sites section and you will be in that.

I have come to detest feedblitz and I am looking for other email options. Any ideas anyone? What about feedburner?

Very interesting... as always! Cheers from -Switzerland-.