Rookie reporter finds preconceptions challenged on first trip for work

Editor's note: China Daily reporters recall events or stories from the past year that have left a deep impression on them.

Two years ago, I went on a nine-day trip to Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region as a graduate student where I met an indigenous folk band.

The leader of the band was Sun Chao, a worker at a State-owned enterprise in Shihezi, a city in the region's north. Sun told me he had an impoverished childhood, but in middle school he found a part-time job and earned enough money to buy his first guitar. As a native of Shihezi and a witness to its fighting spirit, he wanted to introduce and explain his home to other people.

During my one-hour conversation with Sun, he shared his experiences and told me the story behind a signature song he wrote, which tells, in part, of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps' efforts to reclaim the land and the bravery and hope of its residents.

It was through this conversation that I learned about the residents' hard work and perseverance, which gave me a new perspective that went beyond the area's stunning scenery, exotic fruit and the colorful people in their ethnic attire.

That trip was, more importantly, a lesson in the power of communication and how making a genuine connection allows for a deeper understanding of a person, city, culture or even a country. This understanding has become even clearer since I joined China Daily in late September, and started telling the true, multifaceted and vast story of China.

My first face-to-face interview was with two foreign exchange students from the United States. But finding two US students was a difficult task as their number had dropped after the pandemic.

I was surprised to learn from them that their relatives had visited China and had a positive attitude toward the nation, despite the China-US relationship being tense when they were here. The students also expressed their disagreement with the Western media's depiction of China and the way things work here, saying it was totally backward.

One of the students now teaches business English at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing.

We have stayed in touch, and he recently asked me for help on a personal matter, which is proof to me of foreigners' real affection for China.

In October, I took my first work trip to Shanghai. I met a woman in her 80s who told me that she had lived in a 13-square-meter flat with her husband for 30 years. Nowadays she has difficulty going up and down stairs due to heart disease. I was astonished to hear her story, and my impression of it as a modern metropolis changed.

But on that same trip I saw photovoltaic panels in a park in Jiujiang, Jiangxi province, generating power for nearby streetlights and a screen.

Once again, experience and talking with different people changed my preconceptions and better informed my judgment and report writing.

The first topic I chose to cover as a reporter was inspired by a trending hashtag on Weibo about a professional bridesmaid who booked eight jobs during the eight-day National Day holiday.

Qu Huan, an office clerk who markets herself as a bridesmaid on the weekend in Wafangdian, Liaoning province, said demand for professional bridesmaids emerged years ago, but had surged recently due to a lack of real-life socializing and people's unwillingness to burden others.

I've only been in journalism for just over four months, but the craft seems to be about the art of communication, keeping pace with society, and being willing to talk to people in person and get their stories. It's a career I'm firmly devoted to now, and in the future.

limenghan@chinadaily.com.cn