I share your concerns. I spent a decade in China, and I can’t count the number of times I’ve seen people confidently share low-quality or inaccurate perspectives on China. I wish that I had a solution better than “assign everyone the read these [NUMBER] different books.”
Even best selling books and articles by well-respected writers sometimes have misleading and inaccurate narratives in them. But it is hard to parse them critically and to provide a counter argument without both the appropriate background[1], and a large number of hours dedicated to the specific effort.
I would be surprised if someone is able to do so without at least an undergraduate background in something like Chinese studies/sinology (or the equivalent, such as a large amount of self-study and independent exploration).
I share your concerns. I spent a decade in China, and I can’t count the number of times I’ve seen people confidently share low-quality or inaccurate perspectives on China. I wish that I had a solution better than “assign everyone the read these [NUMBER] different books.”
Even best selling books and articles by well-respected writers sometimes have misleading and inaccurate narratives in them. But it is hard to parse them critically and to provide a counter argument without both the appropriate background[1], and a large number of hours dedicated to the specific effort.
I would be surprised if someone is able to do so without at least an undergraduate background in something like Chinese studies/sinology (or the equivalent, such as a large amount of self-study and independent exploration).