Western media presents negative perceptions of China: US expat

An American who has lived in China for a decade said in a recent video that many people rely on western media for all their information about the country, which has led to public misunderstanding about China.

Cyrus Janssen was featured in a video tweeted on its official Twitter account by Beijing Review, a weekly news magazine, on Tuesday.

"There are so many people who are very negative towards China. So many of them have never been there, though," Janssen said in the tweet.

Janssen retweeted the post and said, "Many people's perception of China today is still based on old stereotypes and a lack of basic knowledge of the country." He also said people should "approach things with an open mind and learn."

In the video, Janssen said that when he was working in the golf industry and went back to the US for an advanced certification course, his teacher there told him that it must be nice to be back in America.

The teacher said he could have a warm bed to sleep in, air conditioning and good restaurants to eat meals. The teacher even thought he was great to promote golf in "a third world country like China, and give up everything in America."

Janssen responded that the quality of life in Shanghai was fantastic. He said Shanghai is an amazing city, one of the most amazing cities in the world.

"Many people, when I tell them that, they cannot comprehend that, they really can't understand that," he said. "If you just listen to the media, you're not gonna get the full picture."