Foreign media on China

China Specials: Colbert Report and The Times

Posted by Jeremy Goldkorn, February 15, 2007 10:40 AM

Stephen Colbert, one of the hosts of spoof American news program The Daily Show has been doing a series of segments about China. The first one defines China as a "frenemy" of the United States.

It's funny despite the fortune cookie jokes. Watch it below or see the whole series at Comedy Central's site.

The Times (of London) also has a China special going on this week. The special includes articles, interactive quiz widgets and a series of Mandarin lesson podcasts. The lessons are prefaced with a spoken introduction by the newspaper's editor, Robert Thomson who helpfully explains that Mandarin is becoming "more important not only within Britain, but around the world".

If you are actually trying to learn Mandarin as spoken by Chinese people, stay away from the Mandarin learning videos, especially the one in which some poor sod of a journalist tries to speak Chinese in a Chinese restaurant in London.

The video ends with the journalist saying "Zhin how hee ... that means delicious".

UPDATE: Part of the special is a summary of the whole situation of China in the last 30 years, commissioned no doubt in London by people who think of bicycles and Mao suits, and bravely attempted by Beijing correspondent Jane Macartney.

And then there is a story about three-year-old British kids learning Mandarin.

 
There are currently 6 Comments for China Specials: Colbert Report and The Times.
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Comments on China Specials: Colbert Report and The Times

On the subject of The Times, what happened to the blog of Jane McCartney? Has she finished her stint as The Times' foreign correspondent in China?

Posted by: Xiao Zhu | February 15, 2007 12:09 PM

Picking a nit, but Colbert actually has his own show called the Colbert Report, which follows The Daily Show. He did start out as a correspondent for TDS, however.

Long time reader btw, really enjoy the site.

Posted by: Ian | February 15, 2007 1:38 PM

Xiao Zhu - the Times had a story a couple of days ago bylined "Jane Macartney in Beijing", so she's still here. I guess she just gave up blogging - she didn't post too often in any case, and the Times doesn't require its correspondents to have blogs.

Posted by: Ironfrost | February 15, 2007 1:50 PM

Colbert is consistently on the pulse -- great video!

I long for the day when I get to tune in to a Chinese Colbert...

Posted by: Shan | February 15, 2007 3:18 PM

Great quote from the Colbert Report, "Our yang has no yin."

Posted by: Kevin S. | February 15, 2007 3:23 PM

Pity Colbert had to have Sheryl WuDunn as his China expert guest, introducing her as the author of "China Wakes", a fairly weak treatment she wrote with husband Nicholas Kristof in 1994. WuDunn's feeble commentary on China's "sock cities" and "cigarette lighter cities" was both dated and dull. What, they couldn't find anyone who'd written about China in the last decade?

Posted by: James Roy | February 18, 2007 5:19 PM

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