在这，读不懂中国, or He Who Shouts Loudest....

Events in the row over the return (or not) of artefacts looted from Beijing’s old Summer Palace took a farcical turn this week as winning bidder Cai Mingzhong proclaimed that, Chinese patriot that he was, he had no intention of actually shelling out the absurd €31m needed to seal the deal, thus promising to drag out this ill-tempered affair for a good few weeks yet. Dealing as it does with Chinese humiliation at the hands of foreign foes, this is a story that plucks on the raw nerves of popular sentiment like strumming away at a very loud, very angry harp.

While China undeniably has the moral high ground on the issue, it is worth remembering that, in terms of time elapsed, kicking up this much fuss about something that happened in 1860 would be equivalent to the city of Naples demanding the return of its sovereign (nay, inalienable) territory stolen by that upstart Garibaldi.

However, this is by the by. Decades of official narratives about “a century of national humiliation” (1850-1950) coupled with China’s uncertain position in the international pantheon mean that this kind of thing still has a potent resonance.

There are, however, various ways in which to approach an issue. Here is how the story was treated in an editorial from The China Daily, the state run English-language paper:

A French judge's refusal to halt the sale of bronze heads of a rabbit and rat at an auction today does not mean an end to the Chinese people's efforts to retrieve such relics (…).

What is even more ridiculous is the connection Pierre Berge, the former partner of Yves Saint Laurent and now owner of the art collection to be auctioned, has tried to make between the return of the animal heads and human rights (…).

That only means he follows what we Chinese call gangster logic - to blackmail someone with something robbed from that person (…).

Those who took part in the plundering and the very act of setting fire to the "garden of all gardens" owe Chinese people a heavy debt not only in the real value of properties they destroyed or plundered but also in terms of morality and justice.

A word about how this particular institution is run. English-language stories are almost always written by Chinese authors and then made serviceable by foreign sub-editors (serviceable being, in many cases, a relative term. Please remember, while you read this link, that this is a story run by the state news agency. Even the BBC, that doyenne of embarrassing cock-ups, manages to run a reasonably professional Chinese language section without making a complete tit out of itself).

The paper’s editorial line, needless to say is handed down straight from the propaganda department, and thus corresponds fairly closely to the impression of itself the Chinese government wishes to broadcast to the outside world.

By contrast, here is a translated extract of an article entitled The Moral History of the Old Summer Palace carried last Thursday by a privately-owned Chinese-language newspaper, the Southern Weekly:

…as pointed out recently by an eminent historian, the reason why contemporary Chinese remain obsessed with the fate of this former imperial retreat is that they are bewildered as to “how Westerners could break the international laws which they themselves had established, laws which expressly prohibited looting of private property in times of war, regardless of whether it belonged to the common people, or the head of state…” However, the story of the Summer Palace has a wider significance. We ourselves must accept at least some of the responsibility for the palace’s current decrepit state. Hot on the heels of the Anglo-French forces came local residents, who stripped the place bare for timber. During the chaos following the fall of the Qing, everyone from high officials to common thieves had a hand in sequestering away what little remained its former glory. Even under the current administration, this process of destruction and neglect continued unabated; the artificial hills and lakes were filled in, and what had once been a garden became a patch of farmland, crisscrossed with roads. Then came the Cultural Revolution…

The story is thus a complicated one, but the main point is simple enough; history deserves respect, and we should cherish all of the material treasures we are fortunate to have in our position.

Don't expect the Chinese domestic press to come out in support the West over such issues. Don't expect it to be particularly moderate, or particularly outspoken. Do, however, expect to find, here and there, a well-constructed argument, a reasoned opinion, or the sound of an individual voice.

This is already a point that has been made much more artfully and at greater length by James Fallows in the Atlantic last year. Though the kind of swill served up by the China Daily on a daily basis may suggest otherwise, there is, in fact, much to be found in China's domestic media that is worthy of admiration and respect. While severe restrictions on press freedom still exist, the dance-like negotiation between censors keen to keep everyone on-message, and editors doing their best to sell papers is slowly pushing the boundary forward. Restricted, alas, to speakers of Chinese, there is a wealth of considered, well-argued and occasionally beautifully written journalism to be found beyond the realms of the state media engine.

In this context, the adolescent tantrums of China’s various state-monopolized English-language outlets are thus made to seem particularly offensive. Not only are they offensive to the intelligence of pretty much everyone on the planet, but worse, their shrill and persistent screams are a misleading and perverse mockery of the actual state of the contemporary Chinese media.

(Note: should you be interested, the following sources offer at least a glimpse of the kind of stuff emerging from non-state media sources. Tim Hathaway, an American journalist associated with the Southern Weekly translates the paper’s weekly editorial on his blog; Danwei.org is a site devoted to following stories in, and about, the Chinese media, and while not strictly media-related, ChinaSmack is an English-language round up of hot topics on China’s BBS discussion forums)