China’s newly constructed Minsk Park, a big-boy playground named after the Russian aircraft carrier that serves as the center attraction, is delectable fodder for those in the media who are on a quest to prove that China is the natural enemy of the United States. With rides and games whose objective is to destroy the US Navy, it is almost too easy for the American media to play up Chinese anti-American sentiment. However, I would be more inclined to believe that in the case of Minsk Park, there is more testosterone involved than anti-American sentiment.

In Elizabeth Rosenthal’s Sept. 9 New York Times article, she wrote, “In a year in which record numbers of Chinese have applied for visas—and been rejected —the American Embassy visa section [in Beijing] has suddenly become a focal point of anti-American resentment, its decisions derided as arbitrary and unfair.”

Again, Rosenthal has placed the emphasis on the rejection and the subsequent frustration rather than on the fact that more and more Chinese are trying to leave China and come to the United States.

Having spent a total of a year and a half in China, I must say that I have never encountered any hostility based on my citizenship, though if one were to rely solely on the information provided by the American media, one might believe that in China, anti-American feelings are rabid.

The most common reaction to the discovery that I am American has been, “Really? I want to go to America.”

Though from 11,000 miles away it may be difficult to disconnect individuals from governments, in the case of China, as well as many other Asian countries, such a separation is imperative. It is essential that the media in the United States realize that despite the psychological comfort that can be derived from creating an “other,” it is actually in their own interests to portray a balanced picture of China and to help Americans understand a country that is becoming increasingly significant. Apparently, Americans need all the help they can get.

Emma R. F. Nothmann ’04, a Crimson editor, is a social anthropology concentrator in Lowell House. She spent the summer researching for Let’s Go in Asia.