Communication Breakdown: Asymmetry, Decoupling, and the Information Deficit affecting China and the World

Do Chinese people know more about the US than Americans know about China? Is there an “information deficit” between average educated Americans and their Chinese counterparts? 

Educators working in US-China academic exchange programs have noticed a marked information asymmetry, a “China cluelessness” on the part of American students. At the same time, their Chinese peers enter into American studies with a substantial amount of cultural and historical background knowledge. How serious is this problem, what are its causes? And what are the implications for building greater cross-cultural understanding of China?  

To address these issues, Jeremiah and David are fortunate to be joined on the podcast by Yajun Zhang, the co-host of the WǑ MEN PODCAST, an English podcast featuring Chinese people’s daily lives from a female perspective. As a former journalist and communication specialist, Yajun has crafted content to facilitate mutual understanding between Chinese and international audiences. Now, leading content and program design for one of the largest conferences in the world, she has witnessed how information asymmetry and decoupling between China and the world has grown over the past couple of years.

The podcast discussion examines the causes of the information asymmetry, which include the status of English as the world’s lingua franca, America’s decades-long global soft power dominance, and the sheer numerical imbalance (e.g., 370,000 Chinese students studying at US universities in 2019, as compared to only 11,000 US students studying Chinese language and culture in 2017-18), all factors resulting in the educated Chinese populace having a more intuitive grasp of the complexities of American culture. The podcast also discusses the effects of the information deficit amidst the chaotic news wars during the ongoing Covid-19 crisis, the importance of an informed electorate when American leaders formulate China policy, and the need to cultivate a supply of China-savvy policy-makers in areas such as diplomacy, military, trade.

“A Fearful Asymmetry: Covid-19 and America’s Information Deficit with China”

David Moser

The Asia-Pacific Journal | Japan Focus Volume 18 | Issue 14 | Number 5 | Jul 15, 2020

The WǑ MEN PODCAST co-hosted by Yajun Zhang, Jingjing Zhang, and Karoline Kan

(Apple Podcasts)