Are Americans a simple people?

Are Americans a 'simple people'?

Posted by:
CNN.com business producer, Kevin Voigt
(CNN) – When China's Vice-Premier Wang Qishan appeared Monday on "The Charlie Rose Show" with U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner during a two-day round of political and economic talks, Wang was asked what misperceptions the American public has about China.

“It is not easy to really know China because China is an ancient civilization and we are of the Oriental culture,” Wang told Rose on public television, according to a transcript. "The United States is the world's number one superpower, and the American people, they're very simple people," he said.

What did Wang mean by “simple”? Sounds dangerously close to "dumb" to American ears.

Producers from CNN's Beijing bureau weighed in, saying “单纯 is simple and pure, in a good way. Sometimes we translate it into “innocent ,” meaning their thinking is very straightforward, not complicated.” Another producer said “depending on tone, it’s (somewhere between) neutral to patronizing.”

But in the context of the conversation, Wang seemed to be pointing toward parochialism in the average American’s view of the world.


Wang went on: “If (Americans are) asked to choose to understand a foreign country, first choice would be the European countries, and the South American countries may come second.

“It was not only until recent years that the American people have begun to pay more attention to China. But over the years American media coverage of China has been scarce, and if there were some coverage, most of (the news reports) are lopsided , ” Wang added.

Asked for response, Geithner said: “You know, the thing about America and the world is that our role in the world, we took on this huge role in the world well ahead of the understanding of Americans about what was happening in the world. And that’s changing now.

“When I went to China to study Chinese 30 years ago, it was a unique, exception