国内英语新闻:Xinhua Commentary: To tell real story of China, starting from a documentary

BEIJING, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- "I know that you won't look at China with prejudice, so please do take a look at this video," said the ending of the 33-minute documentary "The Post-Pandemic Era" by Japanese director Ryo Takeuchi.

The documentary, another one of its kind faithfully recording the return of Chinese people's lives and economic development back to normal after the COVID-19 pandemic was largely controlled in the country, is a slap in the face of some biased and even ill-intentioned Western politicians and media outlets which have been long attempting to mislead global public opinion about China by hyping up distortions and lies.

For some time, the COVID-19 pandemic has become a political tool to smear China for those politicians and media, who have refused to take off their ideological blinkers. In their eyes, China's anti-pandemic efforts must be all labelled as completely off base.

At first, strict measures at the beginning of the outbreak in China, like the initial response in the city of Wuhan, were warped as a so-called "violation of human rights," although China has in fact prioritized human rights by putting people's lives and health front and center. Later, the Chinese people were deemed "irresponsible" when they went out to enjoy life after the epidemic situation has been put under control.

Harry Harding, an Australian expatriate in China who works as a TV host, observed that some Western media were reluctant to report on what China did well because "China is a socialist country."

Under such a circumstance, whether to wear a face mask has even become a political issue, rather than a scientific one.

Still, not all people are fooled by such ill-conceived tricks, because they know clearly that smearing on China is plain wrong and will never help contain the spread of the virus, nor boost local economy. It cannot make other countries any stronger, nor China any weaker.

Takeuchi said the issue of bias is the reason why he made the documentary in the first place. And his efforts have paid off.

Among many reviews on social media, one said that the movie "ripped a hole in a world affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, through which people could see a real China of the post-pandemic era, rather than the imaginary one created by Western countries," a real China where people share the values of kindness, sympathy, courage and determination.

Many years ahead, when people look back at this uNPRecedented public health crisis, the lies and slander against China might be laughed at as mere jokes, whereas the dedication and sacrifice of the Chinese people as well as responses and decisions of the government during the pandemic, as shown in the documentary, will be recognized and remembered by all.

"Has the Internet shortened the distance between people, and are people more willing to understand each other? Maybe or maybe not. But in order to achieve a better mutual understanding, we need more people to convey the right things on media ... Only truth needs to be told," Qi Yue, head of multinational technology company Lenovo's Wuhan base, said in Takeuchi's documentary.

Indeed, it is the virtue of a reasonable and honest person to respect the fact and speak out the truth.

It is also the professionalism of media to reflect on others objectively so as to help people in their own countries know about a real world.

Hopefully, Takeuchi's documentary will be just a beginning of more truthful and unbiased narratives of China to be told, by people with honesty and reason.