Released on: August 4, 2008, 2:59 am

Press Release Author: Sandra Dietmers

Industry: Government

Press Release Summary: Interview with FANG Weigui

Press Release Body: (Berlin/Beijing, CM 04/08/2008) The West applies two different
standards when judging a country, "depending on who they refer to". This is how Fang
Weigui, scholar in Beijing habilitated in Erlangen, Germany, criticized Western
hypocrisy in an interview conducted by Civilizations Matter. Even critical Internet
users in China allege that the West has dishonest motives when degrading China at
present. "I am a more or less 'different-minded' person in China, and I am bound to
say: Moral concepts cannot be exported that way." Professor for Comparative
Literature at Beijing University, Fang Weigui is engaged in studies of new media and
publishes internationally about "digital being" in China.

After the end of the Cold War, he now sees the danger of a different kind of
bilateral "Cold War". Young Chinese used to admire the West, but now they feel
disappointed. "The most common answer to the news that a Head of State will not
attend the Opening Ceremony is: Without him? So much the better!" A successful
intercultural dialog cannot be conducted by practical politics: it must reach and
integrate a broader audience. It might take years until the Chinese get back to
seeing the West the way they saw it half a year ago, Fang Weigui supposes.

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Contact Details: Civilisations Matter International Society for Intercultural
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