A Letter to the American Media

    As the world continues to change at a fast pace, people in the United States should constantly adapt to the changes. The current economic downturn reveals the greed and corruption in the financial industry. Therefore, ethics should become the top issue of American education. Ethics is the main focus of both Chinese literature and philosophy. The quality of a nation's literature depends on how the government treats its writers. The Chinese government sponsored talented writers from 100 BCE to 1910 CE. It not only provided schools and libraries to educate them, but also offered them government positions. This unique way of rewarding writers helped Chinese writers create the best literature and philosophy in the world. In fact, Chinese classics enable one to remain peaceful when the society is in turmoil, see the long term vision when most people are short-sighted, strengthen virtue when everyone else only see the dollar signs, appreciate beauty in ordinary life, and seek prosperity for all. Also China has become the major debtor of the United States. The close relationship in this small world demands deep mutual understanding. However, the American public's knowledge of Chinese culture is limited to Bruce Lee's movies and Chinese food such as egg rolls. The courses in Chinese offered in the universities are limited to conversations such as greetings and asking directions. The media in the United States has sent Chinese Americans to China to gather material. Due to their lack of background in Chinese culture, their research linking east to west culminates in the discovery of the connection between fortune cookies and lottery numbers.

    Frankly speaking, China's strength does not lie in its weaponry, its space technology, the leadership of its politicians, or its economic power from exports, but rather in the legacy of ideals and moral courage found in the works of Chinese poets, writers, and philosophers. For example, Time magazine reported that during the recent recession all business sales declined except gun sales. Evidently many Americans have lost confidence in their security. If these Americans had read Dong-po Su's "The Transcendental Stone Overlook" (http://www.lcwangpress.com/essays/transcendental.htm) and learned his method of diagnosis of problems and his solution to difficulties, they could have chosen a more appropriate method for responding to a crisis and such a panic could have been avoided. The American media should not belittle itself by considering itself as merely a money making enterprise. The daily message it gives to the readers has a deep influence on the public in the long run. Raising the level of understanding of Chinese culture requires access to good translations. However, there are too few resources and qualified people in this field to meet such an enormous demand. In order to eliminate distrust and misunderstandings due to cultural differences, help fellow Americans adjust to the fast changing world, and preserve America's leadership of the world community, it is important for the American media to work out a plan to systematically introduce Chinese culture to the American public. L. C. Wang Media Syndicate can help American media fulfill such a mission. Li-Chung Wang has worked with local librarians to translate Chinese poems and literary essays into English for more than ten years. The poems and essays provide easy access to the beauty of Chinese culture. From 1/19/2007 to 1/14/2023, more than 98,990 readers visited our web site: http://www.lcwangpress.com. If you are interested in reading my proposal for publishing translations of classical Chinese essays and poetry, please visit http://www.lcwangpress.com./ads/proposal-general.htm or send an email to Li-Chung Wang (e-mail address: lcwangpress@yahoo.com).

L. C. Wang Media Syndicate Team