Over the past six months, more and more books with enticing names such as The Winning Commercial Potential of 1.3 Billion Chinese, Dipping into the Golden Bowl of Shanghai, and Thirty-five Gold-Panning Measures for the Mainland Stock Market, have begun to crowd the shelves in Taiwan's book stores. While many publications focus on quick ways to get rich and the positive developments in China, few go beyond that.
According to critics, they are riding on Taiwan's misfortune, rather than giving a realistic depiction of conditions across the Taiwan Strait.
PHOTO: GEORGE TSORNG, TAIPEI TIMES
Until June, there were five to 10 books about China's stock market, immigration, investment and job opportunities published per month.
In June alone, there were seven new books published about China while sales of this kind of book have hit 70,000 over the past six months, with average sales for such titles in the region of 8,000 to 10,000 a year.
One-sided view
Business Weekly magazine's executive editor, Wang Wen-ching (
"When the trend started at the end of last year, most publications about investing in China had high sales, no matter what they were about. However, the fever has calmed after about six months because Taiwanese readers are seeking more detailed information from this kind of publication," Wang said.
A senior business journalist, Cheng Hung-yi (
"Shanghai's economic growth rate is much higher than 7 or 8 percent, since the government averages it together with provinces like Xinjiang and Gansu. As far as I know, Suzhou's [where many Taiwanese have money invested] annual economic growth rate is 32 percent, Cheng said.
"But at the same time, it's a high-risk market.
"There are definitely some successful Taiwanese investments there, but I believe even more investments are failing," Cheng said.
Magazines face the same problems as books, said Tseng Yen-fen (曾嬿芬), a sociologist from National Taiwan University.
"Some magazines try to appear like they give adequate coverage of the disadvantages of investing in China. But all they cover are the positive stories about China. And when they cover the negative stories, they still find a positive angle," Tseng said.
Tseng said that one publication recently praised the diligence of children in Shanghai who sell flowers into the early hours of the morning, regretting that "this type of zeal for work is unlikely to appear in Taiwan ever again."
The article, however, failed to mention the dramatic contrast between development in China's coastal cities and inland provinces. It also failed to note the fact that millions of China's floating population have fled to the nation's special economic zones because opportunities in their home towns are so scarce.
Superficial information
In Thirty-five Gold-Panning Measures for the Mainland Stock Market, the book's author Yao Yi has an interesting perspective on "corruption."
While admitting that corruption is serious, Yao writes, "the situation also means that the Chinese government is flexible, which is good for foreign investors."
Yao Yi has a degree in international trade and is a stock analyst. Her family has invested in China since 1995, operating a food, shoe and rice factory.
Chen Pin (
"Most publications offer superficial information. Taiwanese entrepreneurs investing in China are not as successful as Taiwan publications claim. Those entre-preneurs want to appear successful so as to attract more investment from Taiwan, and these publications just report those pretensions," Chen said.
Wang, however, explained that because discovering or publishing information on failed investments is difficult, there is always a gap between reality and what is published.
"Failures are largely hidden, and only the coverage of successful investments in China are encouraged," Wang said.
Misleading coverage
The Institute of International Relations at National Chengchi University, however, criticized the broadcast media's coverage of China as being more biased than print media, saying they had mis-led Taiwan citizens when they compared China's domestic situation to the progress made by President Chen Shui-bian (
"Compared with Western media, Taiwan's media ignores issues concerning corruption, unrest and unemployment, which misleads a lot of Taiwanese who are investing in China," said Joseph Wu (吳釗燮), deputy director of the Institute of International Relations at National Chengchi University.
Yang Chao (楊釗), a cross-strait news journalist with ETTV, admitted that covering sensitive issues can lead to problems with China's government and therefore many reporters try to avoid them.
"There are a lot of limitations when we cover stories in China. In order to avoid making trouble for the company and myself we don't touch sensitive issues.
"On the other hand, I don't think the Western correspondents cover China better than us, and I believe my coverage is balanced," Yang said.
Cheng Hung-Yi criticized media coverage saying: "Since Taiwanese journalists are quite junior and easily misled, there is little in-depth coverage. On the other hand, some media and journalists are just afraid of upsetting China."
"There are a lot of limitations placed on the media by the Chinese government. But how cross-strait issues are covered really depends on whether journalists want to be effective," said Yang Shun-mei (楊順美), a retired journalist, who covered cross-strait issues for about 10 years.
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