China How I form my opinion about China
Five years ago, I know little about what was happening in China.

I read news and views expressed in the western media. Most were negative. They criticized the controls, lack of freedom and oppression that were alleged to exist in China.

In many cases, the opinion were not backed by facts, but were written in colorful and convincing language. 

I kept an open and critical mind. If an assertion was made, I look for the evidence before I believed it. In most cases, the facts were not presented or were not credible.

However, I do not have other alternative facts about China to rebut these assertions.

I do not form any opinion when I am ignorant of the subject.

Later, I started to know more about what is happening in China from various sources in English language. I watched the video clips and interviews in CGTN and CCTV, which are funded by China.

I am aware that these news and views will be pro-China, so I watched them with a critical mind.

I also watched the YouTube videos presented by foreigners who live in China and presented their positive and negative perspectives about China.

I kept an open and critical mind in watching these videos. I find the views that are presented in a factual and balanced manner to be credible. I find other views that are exaggerated to be less credible.

I find a significant portion of the narrative of the western media to be biased and less credible. In some cases, they are blatantly lies.

On the whole, I form a positive opinion about what is happening in China from the views presented by the pro-China and the anti-China sources.  

Some people say that I am pro-China in my views. That is a correct statement. However, my view is formed after watching the narratives from both sides. 

Many of the people who passed the comment have a negative view about China and believe in the narrative of the western media that there is lack of freedom and fear in China. They hold the opinion strongly.

I ask them to take the trouble to go through the journey that I took and watch the narratives from both sides. They should not form strong opinion out of ignorance. 

China is not perfect. The western democracies are not perfect either. Each side has its strengths and weaknesses. 

I believe that the final judgment should be based on this question - which political system works better in delivering economic and social progress and happiness for the people. 

I vote for China.

Tan Kin Lian
 

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