Word: bing
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Though none regret coming here, Bing, Lynn, and Jia Chang all say the transition hasn't been easy. Bing and Jia, who have no family in the U.S., are occasionally homesick, but say calling each other and Lynn often helps. "Sometimes we have to talk Chinese--we get desperate," Bing jokes...
Despite their Harvard peers' laid-back view of academics, courses have kept all three very busy, thanks largely to language difficulties and unfamiliar "in-class terminology." Like many other freshmen, all three are taking Ec 10; Bing and Jia say they may major in Economics, while Lynn leans towards Applied Math...
Western "commercialism" continues to repel Bing and Jia. "It was my first impression of America, and it was not good," Bing recalls. "People are too concerned with making money. Walking down the street I feel the pressure of this commercialized society," a pressure he says is generated by advertisements and pushy salesmen. Pointing to the Union's overflowing trash bins, Jia adds, "It's criminal to waste something in China; here, they waste lots of things...
Most Americans, Bing says, have a simplistic view of the People's Republic, largely because of inaccurate media coverage. As an example, he cites a recent incident in his hometown, Beijing, where a man was tried for putting up wall posters. "The foreign correspondents called it a 'democracy war,' and he was called by American newspapers the leader of human rights in China. Most Chinese found that very outrageous--it wasn't true at all. He was just a street agitator." Bing adds, "Newspapers see China from an American point of view, and that's the worst thing they could...
Attempts by the U.S. press "to dramatize everything," also contribute to the poor coverage, Bing says, adding that this tendency reflects the press' "commercialized motives." Lynn concurs, saying that textbooks here also offer "slanted news" about China...