Amid wave after wave of media hype, "Shanghai fever" is taking Taiwan by storm. Taiwan's media appears to be reporting only the good things about China -- in stark contrast to China's media, which only reports bad things about Taiwan.
Then examine the media coverage in Hong Kong about Shanghai's rapid development in terms of both infrastructure and social change. Most of what we see in Hong Kong is objective, balanced analysis and discussion on how Hong Kong can maintain its competitiveness and not fall behind Shanghai.
In contrast, Taiwan's media is brimming with a kind of subjective titillation, with emotional statements hinting that if you don't immigrate to Shanghai, you're falling behind the times.
We don't need to speculate on the motives behind such reports. However, one can't help feeling worried about the media's bias. It is true that when people are dissatisfied with the status quo, they tend to exaggerate the bad things about themselves, as well as the good things about others. But look at the objective figures. Taipei ranked No. 4 in Asiaweekmagazine's list of Asia's best cities for the year 2000. Where was Shanghai? Not first, or second, or third. It was a distant No. 15 -- down from No. 9 in 1999.
People singing the praises of Shanghai having "no air pollution, a lot of job opportunities, cheap commodity prices, and convenient transportation" should look at Asiaweek's latest figures. Pollution (dust in air): 168 micron per cubic meter in Shanghai, 52 in Taipei. Unemployment: 4.6 percent in Shanghai and 2.8 percent in Taipei. Ratio of housing price to income: 21 in Shanghai and 18 in Taipei. Average commuting time: 40 minutes in Shanghai and 24 in Taipei. Life expectancy: 71 in Shanghai and 79 in Taipei.
Another statistic is about the oft discussed competitiveness. Taiwan ranked No. 18 in the 2001 global competitiveness report by the Lausanne School of Management in Switzerland -- up from No. 20 last year. China, meanwhile, fell from No. 30 to No. 33.
Of course, objective statistics are one thing; subjective feelings are another. If one keeps "feeling" that life is not good here, and that people from other places appear blissful and their eyes appear to emit light, then no level of statistics is going to persuade one
otherwise.
However, experience tells me that this kind of subjective feeling comes from the people and information you are exposed to. If one simply stares at a TV screen transmitting scenes of conflict on this side of the Strait, and yet adopts a tourist's attitude and view things only superficially in passing while on the other side of the Strait (or even if one gets around to stare at the TV screen, one only sees sanitized scenes), then the natural conclusion will be that the grass is greener on the other side.
In the first few years of my student life in the US, I focused on my studies and ignored news reports. I spent my holidays visiting tourist spots and cultural heritage sites. As a result, I was in a happy mood and my face was smiling every day during that period.
Later, as I gradually entered American social circles, I found out about the other face of my serene campus. There had been a rape near a campus building. The dormitory I lived in had had several break-ins by armed people. Then I started watching the local TV news -- reports about convenience store heists, murderers on the loose, etc. I could not help feeling lucky that my previous "innocence" had not gotten me into trouble.
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