Beijing’s official media revels in chances to present the American political system in the worst possible light — and they have never had an easier time doing so. When I visited Shanghai at the start of November, I expected to see television reports on the unusually nasty US presidential campaign with the same “we told you so” feel as past coverage of government shutdowns, high school shootings and police violence against unarmed African-Americans. China Central Television did not disappoint. And yet once again I was left with a sense of the complex range of responses elicited by news of distress and dysfunction across the Pacific, in a land whose name in Chinese is composed of a character meaning “beautiful” and the character for “country”. Amid the schadenfreude was a genuine sense of let-down, the kind one feels upon discovering how deeply flawed an idealised figure really is.
中國官媒樂於暴露美國政治制度最差的一面，而他們從未這麼容易做到這一點。11月初我訪問上海時，預料會看到當地電視新聞以「我們早就跟你說過」的語氣來報導今年異常醜陋的美國總統競選，就像過去報導美國政府停擺、高中槍擊案、警察暴力對待手無寸鐵的非裔美國人時一樣。中國中央電視臺果然沒讓我失望。然而我也再次感受到從大洋彼岸，一個中文名稱由漢字「美麗」和「國家」組成的國度傳來的不幸和功能障礙新聞在中國引起的複雜反應。中國人的幸災樂禍中潛藏著一種真正的失望感，就像一個人恍然發現理想化的形象存在如此嚴重缺陷後的感覺一樣。