A consistent theme of this trip has been eye-opening experiences.  I am no longer surprised at being surprised – in fact, at this point I almost expect it.  This day was no exception.  We visited an English-language newspaper (Global Times) and an international TV channel (International Channel Shanghai), and I was pleasantly surprised although vaguely skeptical at the level of optimism of the reporters we met with, as well as the degree of freedom with which they do their work.  It is really hard to tell at this point whether what we’ve been told by the American media about the Chinese media is true – that their reports are strictly censored, they can only cover certain topics, and they’re not allowed to criticize the government – or whether what I’ve heard from the Chinese media members here is true.  Perhaps it’s all relative, and there is not one real “truth” regarding media coverage.  This trip has made me realize that the Chinese government and its relationship to the citizens is not at all what we’re made by the American media to believe it is.  Every single person we have met with here has been incredibly positive about their government and the country in which they live, and it’s very refreshing given the level of negativity towards the American government that I consistently sense in America (and with expats living outside of America).  With the American government, it seems that the general consensus is that we’ve reached a point where productivity is impossible, cooperation even more impossible, the government arrogantly believes it’s the best in the world and doesn’t want to learn from others, and the people in charge of the government are not working in our best interest.  I don’t necessarily believe all or any of those to be true, but it’s something that I hear quite often.  In China, however, people seem incredibly positive that the Chinese government is constantly desiring to better itself and work towards bettering the lives of the people, that the officials are interested in learning from other countries in order to improve their own policies, and that growth and continued prosperity is a given.  This could obviously be because we’ve only met with successful people living in an overall very affluent city in China, but it could also be that this is the general agreement among Chinese citizens.  If it is, then perhaps everything we have been taught in the West about modern China is flawed.