Editor's Note:

Considerable misunderstandings exist among both the Chinese and Western media about each other. Recently, the Institute of Arts and Humanities of Shanghai Jiao Tong University and the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, an independent think tank, organized the Europe-China Media Exchange Forum, inviting journalists from China and Europe to share views and enhance mutual understanding. Yang Jun, chief managing editor of Guangzhou-based South Wind Window magazine, delivered a speech at the forum.

For a long time, the West has been demonizing China while China has been doing the same to the West. These mutual misperceptions result from the different ways of expression and the difficulties of communication.

There are occasions when our journalists interview Western scholars. They say to us that the questions their interviewees answer are often not the ones they thought they were asking. They complain that they and their interviewees are not talking with the same rhythm.

I believe it is due to the different cultural and social backgrounds, or personal experiences. This problem rarely happens when our journalists interview Chinese scholars. A Chinese scholar would get the sense of what the journalist is asking. Sometimes language by itself can be quite pale.

Words can't always properly express what we mean. Therefore, misunderstandings may come from language barriers or cultural conflict. Even both China and the West are open to communication, misunderstandings can still exist, while lack of communication can be much worse. Communication between the two really is vital.

I think people may share the same feelings as I do when thinking of the global financial crisis that prevailed in 2008. In the past, we often talked about globalization or the notion of a global village, but we didn't know clearly what it is, as we had never experienced that situation. However, since the financial crisis took place, we have found that no country can keep cool about it. It might seem that China has escaped the shadow of the financial crisis, but this has not really been the case.

In order to cope with it, China announced a 4 trillion yuan ($586 billion) stimulus plan. It helped China get through the crisis, but how the Chinese economy will develop still remains uncertain. We have suddenly found that every country is so dependent on another.

 China's exchange rate policy dominates the economic dialogue between the China and the US, as the US is concerned that China's exchange rate would affect its trade balance.

During the European debt crisis, some European countries wanted China to purchase their national debt to help them deal with the crisis.

In the past, we had no experience of such global affairs, but recent financial crises have brought home to us what globalization really means. Now media outlets have more and more common topics every day.

Media in both China and the West should contribute to public policy-making in their own countries. What the media publishes helps the public know about what the government is doing and what policy it is making.

Journalists are more open-minded and keener to communicate with others than people working in other fields. I hope the media can play an important part in initiating communications between China and the West and can reflect this in their reports, thus understanding can be enhanced.

There is an old Chinese saying: Achieving one's own goal yields gratification; lending a hand to fulfill other's goals doubles satisfaction; the goals of self and other can be unified, thus the world can be harmonized.

Harmony is what China is advocating and pursuing, so China will adhere to this principle. It also applied to the media. If the media can learn to respect and appreciate others' cultures, there will be less misunderstanding and harmony can be achieved.