[HSK 5] 新闻里只有坏日本吗？ - Is Japan Only Bad in the News?

Yuko worries that Chinese news reports focus too much on negative stories about Japan and learns how to read the news more comprehensively.

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Available in 8 languages on the app:

Chinese Listening | 중국어 리스닝 | 中国語リスニング | Аудирование по китайскому языку | Nghe tiếng Trung | Mendengarkan bahasa Mandarin | Escucha en chino | การฟังภาษาจีน | Chinesisches Hören | Écoute du chinois | Ascolto cinese | Audição em chinês | चीनी सुनना | الاستماع إلى اللغة الصينية

《English Translation》

优子: Teacher Liu, lately when I scroll through Chinese news, I keep seeing bad news about Japan: syphilis spreading, bears killing people, earthquakes injuring many. The more I read, the more anxious I feel.
刘娜: Don’t panic first. News often selects the most eye-catching events to report. Good or ordinary daily life rarely makes headlines.
优子: But when it’s written like this all the time, I start to feel like Japan is dangerous everywhere. Should I call my family in Osaka to check on them?
刘娜: It’s fine to care about your family, but you also need to learn to judge: look at the time, place, and data, then compare with local Japanese news. Don’t let headlines lead you.
优子: What about issues like syphilis? The photos I saw were terrifying. It felt like ‘all of Japan is like this.’
刘娜: Public health is indeed important, but ‘the whole country is like this’ is usually exaggerated. Media like to tell stories through individual cases. You can remember one saying: hearing from all sides brings clarity.
优子: Are things like bear attacks and earthquake injuries also amplified? I’m learning Chinese, but at the same time I’m becoming more and more anxious.
刘娜: Disasters can happen in any country. What matters is the response and the real level of risk. You can treat the news as learning material: learn vocabulary, and also learn to ask questions—‘Is this true? Are there other perspectives?’