Pausing for a spell in Beijing

AUT University journalism graduate Kim Bowden took part in a three-month internship at the China Daily online in Beijing, supported by the Asia New Zealand Foundation. She was one of three recipients of AUT’s Pacific Media Centre international internships for 2011.

In Beijing, I attended a talk by Guardian reporter Jonathan Watts about his book on China and the environment: When a Billion Chinese Jump.

The book’s title grabbed me.

Watts explained that as a youngster, an older relative had put the fear of god in him by saying that if the entire population of China leapt into the air at one time, the impact of their landing would send the planet spiralling off its axis. Turmoil.

His analogy is simple: the future of China is the future of the planet.

And that is what drew me to a three-month stint interning with the state-owned China Daily in Beijing, helped along by AUT’s Pacific Media Centre and the Asia New Zealand Foundation.

New Zealand’s proximity to China, and the ever-increasing trade relationship between the two nations, meant the trip was even more relevant.

Many of my perceptions of China were based around the politics and economics of the place – the Communist Party; the "Great Firewall of China"; human rights; made in China. But I craved a more intimate understanding of the country and its people.

I knew such an understanding would make me a better journalist, especially when reporting on China-specific issues in New Zealand.

You can’t gain that sort of understanding on a whistle-stop tour of top tourist spots. This internship gave me the opportunity to be static in a foreign place – socialising with work colleagues, negotiating my local apartment block, eating and shopping in a Chinese neighbourhood, and, of course, working in a foreign, state-owned newsroom.

Reporting was not a core part of my job in China. I was stationed with the paper’s online team as a “foreign expert”, responsible for polishing the copy of my local colleagues. So, I was a sub-editor.

Word got out I was available to polish, and reporters invited me to be their friend in cyberspace, then sent through their copy. When the work was done, I was thanked with a digital smile, thumbs up, or handshake – sometimes even a digital red rose.

I was proactive in chasing stories when the language barrier wasn’t an issue, and my editor encouraged me to write opinion and travel columns. As a fledgling reporter, the chance to give my perspective and see it published was a huge treat.

Another satisfying part of my role was being involved in reporter training. Many of my local colleagues at the China Daily were top English literature graduates, but few had specific journalism training. I gave a workshop on story structure, which received encouraging feedback.

I also found the cultural variations in journalism ethics interesting, particularly how these variations affected what was reported and the way it was reported.

For example, in my first week I flagged a story on suicide to my editor. As a journalism student in New Zealand, lecturers told us about some of the unwritten guidelines for reporting suicide. My editor and the reporter were interested in the points I made, having never thought about the issues around suicide reporting. For them, suicide was generally treated in the same way as a crime or accident story.

After hearing some of the reporting guidelines generally accepted in New Zealand, and also the fact suicide rates are so high here, the reporter asked: “Why the cover-up? It obviously isn’t working.”

These kind of frank interactions were common, and continually had me reassessing my worldview. I would have thought that I’d be the one raising the curly questions around reporting, censorship and cover-ups.

Many memorable and rewarding moments came from outside my official work day. Colleagues were more than happy to take me out for sightseeing and meals. I got involved with weekly work badminton and yoga sessions and formed a mahjong group. A workmate lent me her Beijing cruiser, so I could cycle around the gloriously flat city like a local. Through the Asia New Zealand Foundation, the New Zealand Embassy and other contacts, I met up with Kiwis and other expats living exciting, inspiring lives in China.

My lasting impression of China is of the people. On my arrival, I was fixated on the enormity of China as an economic and political power. But, within hours my focus shifted. I realised I had underestimated the vitality of the people and the culture.

Politics snuck into my daily life now and again, but for the most part, being part of a community of Chinese people – at work, where I lived and where I socialised – and what I learnt from people on a personal level, is what I cherish now.

Images courtesy of Kim Bowden
1. A senior citizen in Tiananmen Square during celebrations for the 90th anniversary of the Communist Party of China.
2. Kim Bowden was a "foreign expert" editing copy during her three-month stint interning with the online team at the China Daily
3. A couple pose for a photo while visiting the Water Cube at Beijing's Olympic Park.