Imagine growing up and your parents telling you the name of the country is 中国 because 'we are the Center of the Universe' with a totally straight face.

Funny stuff.

Why does Chinese likes to "represent" people from other countries? Before was to represent the Third World, now they like to represent the "Entire" Asia. Is it because Chinese people don't have representatives (没代表), or because they are always "been" represented (被代表)? So every chance they get, some ars will jump out and being a-Q (阿Q).

WTF did he do? Shame!

Is he trying to score points with Chinese audiences or is he just a presumptuous jerk?

He represents an entire A-hole- Asia.

I'm undecided about Rui Chenggang's position here, but surely Obama is just as bad - "Your English is better than my Mandarin" - condescending much? I'm sure he's worked his arse off for a decade or two to get to that level, and sorry Barrack, but nobody expects an American president to be bilingual.

This guy likes to represent other people. A while back, when he was asking question to some big shot politician, forgot who, probably American, might be even Obama, or Hilary Clinton, can't remember for sure now, he asked a question representing all Chinese. This time he represented Asia, next time he might be representing the whole world.

Silly me, he has apparently already represented China again and the whole world in this G20 summit even before he represented Asia

China's socio-political elites are so used to being 老大, it is only natural that this habit of representing and speaking for the Chinese masses transfers into attitudes of 亚洲老大 in the international arena as well. As news anchor for CCTV, Rui's faux pas in international relations is certainly unplanned and unintentional, but very telling of Han-chauvinist attitudes. This subconscious slip of the tongue is no different from "My Dad is 李钢" as a reflection of the attitudes of China's elites. Perhaps Rui had confused 三个代表 with 亚洲代表?

No one cares about it. No report out of China is talking about Rui's "fault". Just people with little knowledge about the whole case is judging this person who was just doing his job, and indeed did really excellently!

Imagine growing up and your parents telling you the name of the country is 中国 because 'we are the Center of the Universe' with a totally straight face.

Funny stuff.

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Actually, zhongguo doesn't really evoke the sense of "middle" among the Chinese, just as meiguo doesn't really make the Chinese think "America is beautiful."

To see what I mean, next time you mention the word "pentagon," see if you really think of "five."

The same with "october": Nobody actually thinks of "eight."

Chinese kids know how to say zhongguo before they learn how to write it, and usually their parents' explanation is "It's short for zhonghua."

When's the last time you met a Chinese person who really thought China was the center of the universe? Too much straw. And where did the bitterness come from?

I don't think there is anything wrong with Rui's behavior. When the US is trying to impose its power on the Asian world, somebody needs to stand up and say "hey, you need to ask us before you do something". If we look at the other side of the problem here, isn't it also true that the US is always trying to represent the entire world? Rui's messege is simple and sharp: we're not going to do whatever you ask us to do!

I don't think this is a cultural issue: it's just that Rui's a jerk. Thinks he's important, loves to show off, extremely arrogant. Doesn't represent anyone except himself.

@ Anonymous: Of course you don't think there's anything wrong with Rui's behaviour just as how there was nothing wrong with Jack Cafferty's portrayal of China as a nation of thugs. And of course it was courageous of CNN not to censure him because to do so would be an act of spineless obseqiousness to Eastern arrogance.

@ keisat: "Actually, zhongguo doesn't really evoke the sense of "middle" among the Chinese, just as meiguo doesn't really make the Chinese think "America is beautiful."

Actually you're wrong. Zhongghua doesn't evoke the sense of middle among the Chinese, it evokes the sense of China as a middle COUNTRY among the Chinese.

You say nobody thinks of Pentagon as having a pentagonal architecture. Right. So if Chinese students are not to think of Zhongghua as translating into the meaning of middle country in English, what are they supposed to think of it as?

You also say that every word has multiple meanings which interestingly enough can't be disproven. Now you make the flawed analogy between words like Zhongghua and October to make your point even though October is an inanimate object that has purely descriptive meanings and is not an organism (like a nation) that has normative claim-making capacities to exclusivity. But still I'll take your point that has all words have multiple meanings. Now, in order to establish a linkage between a word with a single meaning it requires a process of indoctrination to exclude, through the exercise of propaganda techniques, the other meanings with which the word might be associated. So the whole point of the original post (which in the midst of your crazed ethnonationalist rant) is that Mr. Chenggang's assertion that he and his pathetic government-controlled organization represents Asia is no accident, but a process of intergenerational indoctrination that is not only easier to occur under the closed system of thinking encouraged by a communist system of government, but as the Mr. Chenggang's comments show ACTUALLY occurs.

This chancer again! Rui Chenggang really is kind of obnoxious - but so far I can't say worse of him than that he (A) has a large pushy ego, which is never a popular trait, and (B) verbalizes claims to extra-Rui representation which would flabbergast even the most gently stewed of Derridean scholars (and 丑子纯s). But maybe there's a place for that? Although in retrospect it was kind of funny to have a Starbucks in the Forbidden City, from numerous reasonable points of view it really shouldn't have been there. Sometimes it takes a loudmouth with something to prove before things get done, whether good or bad.

He's actually quite a good journalist on a one to one level, a product of his times. However, I suspect this time he was out on a political mission... :)

@ keisat:

Even if the "Middle" doesn't fill people with a sense of their own superiority, I'm sure the CCTV's constant use of "glorious fatherland" 偉大祖國 to refer to China on news broadcasts is having a similar effect.

Yeah, and maybe the English should stop referring to their nation as "GREAT Britain"

Give me a break, Rui is an arrogant SOB (though he has female admirers) and doesn't speak for anyone but CCTV.

So what if he said that.Ok,some may not like it but man I thought you guys believe in free speech.Anyway,didn't Obama said that Asian countires want American leadership and mother Hilary's "America is back"....who is the big head???I suggest to all respecting Chinese journalists,in future,when you see a US VVIP,just bow and smile politely like most other Asian countries journalists.What do we know....??As for keisat's "glorious fatherland"...in case you don't know,US "we are the strongest and the best",Britain"Britain is a great country",even Australia"the great country".Everyone blows their own trumpet,so why not China...get over it.

Rui Chenggang's "representation" is embarrassing... but just thinking how come no Korean journalist raised his/her hand for the questionin at all? heard that Rui was the only one volunteering to ask after approximately 22 seconds of silence. if that was the case, he might be stealing the Korean's thunder, but not their chance after all.

barbarian

"So what if he said that?"

There are plenty of Asians who would object to somebody claiming to speak for them. Simple as that. Only someone with a warped nationalist outlook would fail to understand that. Freedom of speech doesn't really come into it, man: of course Rui can say something idiotic if he really wants, but if he's gonna make presumptuous claims he'll get some shit for it

That's not surprising, Rui is known for being arrogant

I was talking about how the CCTV news (not that silly journalist) calls China "glorious fatherland" referring to China almost every night. It reminds me of seventy years ago when German and Japanese regimes were going around convincing their own people that they were so superior to all others. I'm not denying there is a superiority complex amongst people in the US, but it's a pity Chinese can't get beyond saying "well they do it so it's okay for us to do it as well" as soon as there is any criticism of the regime. Shouldn't the CCP regime be trying to set a good example instead by discouraging rampant nationalism?

BBC news and ABC (Australia) news certainly don't do go around saying anything like "great country even though some politicians love to beat the patriotic drum.

The "Great" was just the old word for "large" meaning a larger Britain that included all of the British Isles (including all of Ireland) - so it is a misnomer in that sense only, nothing to do with the modern sense of "great"

What's wrong with this? He just tried to tell Obama that he's not Korean report but he's going to ask a question on behalf of the entire Asian. Why some people always take a simple thing so complicated?

"Imagine growing up and your parents telling you the name of the country is 中国 because 'we are the Center of the Universe' with a totally straight face.

Funny stuff."

For your information, Chinese speakers do not decompose the word "中国" in the fashion that you described. It is just a word that refers to a country.

A certain obnoxious country does throw its weight around the world and behaves as if it is the center of the universe. But we all know it is not China.

Thanks.

I think his Chinese invincibiltiy Ego made him a hell of a crazy crap.

I'm sure I represent all waiguoren when I say that Rui is a complete twat.

"A certain obnoxious country does throw its weight around the world and behaves as if it is the center of the universe. But we all know it is not China."

Nope it isn't which is why it didn't through it's weight during the Korean War.

And no we also know that it's not the United States either.