Which part specifically is biased, and what bias is that?
If you’ve emerged from a gleaming modern metro station only to find yourself in a vast wasteland, it’s probably down to one of two scenarios.
Either you’ve time warped to a post-apocalyptic future, or you’re at Caojiawan Station near the city of Chongqing in China.
Opened in October 2015 to connect the rural suburb of Caijiagang with the city center, Caojiawan Station has become legendary throughout China because of its bizarre appearance in the middle of nowhere.
The station’s three exits – only one of them is in use now – are all hidden among overgrown weeds on barren land.
As photos taken earlier this year show, there are no residential buildings, paved roads, shops or other public transportation in sight. And very few commuters.
That’s still the case today.
A station worker recently told Chongqing Morning Post: “Very few passengers get off at this station. Most of the time, there will be no passenger boarding or alighting here.”
Despite its seemingly outlandish location, Caojiawan Station’s location is part of an insightful plan that anticipates growth in rapidly modernizing China – so say Chongqing Rail Transit employees.
“Caojiawan Station may not be in the most popular area for now,” one worker told Chinese media company Manner Video, a Chinese digital video production company. “But with the development of the rail route, it’s possible that it’ll attract more people to the area and help hasten urban development along the line.”
It’s not the first time Chongqing’s mass transit system has set the internet ablaze.
Earlier this year, a video showing a light rail passenger train passing through a 19-story apartment building – where there is a transit stop on the sixth and seventh floor of the building – went viral.
The city’s newly built Huangjuewan Flyover also caught netizens’ attention thanks to its crazily dense tangle of roadways.
Connecting roads in eight directions on five levels with more than 20 ramps, Huangjuewan Flyover is the largest and most complicated hub interchange in country’s southwest area.
The bias in this article is pretty obvious once you start looking for it. For starters, the author frames the whole thing like “look at this ridiculous useless station in the middle of nowhere” and then buries the actual explanation at the end with a major side eye.
As I’ve already explained, the biggest tell is the phrase “so say Chongqing Rail Transit employees.” By adding “so say” instead of just saying “Chongqing Rail Transit employees explained” or “according to” the author makes it sound like the workers are making excuses or spinning a story. It creates this vibe of “yeah that’s what they want you to believe” without actually saying anything false. It’s a classic subtle way to plant doubt.
Another one is “despite its seemingly outlandish location”. The word “seemingly” does a lot of heavy lifting here. It lets the author call the location outlandish while technically covering themselves with the “seemingly” qualifier. But the reader walks away thinking how outlandish this all is.
And then there is “it’s possible that it’ll attract more people” which is a direct quote from the employee. The author chose to include the most hedged and uncertain phrasing possible. The employee probably said something more confident about the planned development, but the article picks the one sentence that sounds like a maybe and uses it as the closing argument. The employees look like they are grasping at straws.
The article also uses the phrase “a Chinese digital video production company” right after the Manner Video name. That seems neutral on its face but actually reminds the reader “this is a Chinese source so take it with a grain of salt”. Compare that to how they describe the original complaint “a station worker recently told Chongqing Morning Post” which is presented as pure fact without any disclaimer whatsoever.
Meanwhile the description of the flyover uses “crazily dense tangle of roadways” which is pure editorial. That is not a factual description. That is the author telling you how to feel about it.
So yeah the article rather hamfistedly sets up a “can you believe this absurd station” tone, quotes the actual explanation as a weak maybe, and uses loaded framing like “so say” to make the reasonable answer sound like corporate puffery. The bias is in how they frame the whole thing.
I really don’t think that’s an objective reading, it seems more like you’re hunting for justifications to call it biased because it isn’t biased in favor of China.
I didn’t get the vibe you’re claiming at all. The vibe I got was “This station has been made famous for the bizarre surroundings, but it’s actually part of an expansion plan”. The author didn’t create the “seemingly outlandish location” framing, they’re responding to it, it already existed. I read the “seemingly” exactly opposite to you, that they’re acknowledging how it looks but clarifying that there’s more rationale than the existing social media framing would suggest.
Assuming that the employee they quoted was overall less hedged is speculation. I’m no expert on Chinese culture, but in my personal experience they tend to be more reserved and matter-of-fact. If you interpret hedging as grasping at straws, that seems like a you thing. To me, that feels more like the employee trying to stick to the facts.
Similarly, interpreting specifying that Manner Video is a Chinese production company feels more like an aside to clarify who that is for a western audience than calling their reliability into question. ____ Morning Post doesn’t really need explanation, since that’s a pretty familiar newspaper naming scheme.
The description of the flyover is not particularly editorial, it is crazily dense. I also don’t see how that’s a negative portrayal. To me, it reads more positive than anything. “Look at this complex interchange, it reinforces the focus Chongqing has put on comprehensive infrastructure”.
It really seems like you’re trying to impose a bias, and interpret fairly neutral reporting about a seemingly strange (again, referring to the existing framing on Chinese social media) infrastructure project as much more skeptical than the text suggests.
Again, there are plenty of actual examples of what you’re trying to criticize. Highlighting this example makes you look like you’re grasping at straws yourself. Reading the article objectively, I saw a relatively light-hearted and neutral justification for a station which was making the rounds on social media as a bizarre phenomenon. Why not just stick to examples that don’t rely on subjective framing? There are surely plenty of those.
Seems to me that you are doing exactly what you accuse me of. You are interpreting every word in the most charitable possible light for the author and calling that the default reading. Let me break down why I think your reading is the one that imposes an assumption.
Let’s start with the seemingly outlandish location. You say the author is just responding to existing social media framing, but that is exactly my point. The author chooses to further reinforce that framing, and there is nothing objective about it. It’s become normalized precisely by these kinds of articles. They could have written “the station looks strange but here is the straightforward reasoning” without the word “seemingly” at all. That word preserves the “isn’t this weird” tone while technically covering their bases. It is a deliberate writing choice rather than some forced interpretation.
And you didn’t really address the whole “so say Chongqing Rail Transit employees” bit. If the author wanted to present the explanation as credible they would have written “Chongqing Rail Transit employees explained” or “according to” which is what you’d see in any objective reporting. The phrase “so say” has a well understood rhetorical function which is to signal skepticism. It is the same construction used in phrases like “so say the conspiracy theorists”.
Then we have the hedging in the quote. You say the employee might genuinely have been that uncertain. But the point is that the article chose to end with the weakest possible version of the rationale. If the explanation is credible, why lead with the complaint and end with a maybe? That is a structural choice that prioritizes the mystery over a plain answer. The article could have opened with the plan and then noted the current lack of development. But instead the joke comes first and the serious explanation comes last with weasel words around it.
For the Manner Video clarification, you say it is for a western audience. But you haven’t explained why does “a Chinese digital video production company” need a qualifier at all? The article does not describe Chongqing Morning Post as “a Chinese state affiliated newspaper” for example. That would also be just as relevant for context. Yet, one gets a label and the other does not, and the asymmetry suggests the author wants to flag the source as being potentially less authoritative.
You read “crazily dense tangle of roadways” as positive because it shows infrastructure ambition, but the word tangle has negative connotations implying messiness and lack of order. Similarly, crazily implies irrational excess. Compare that to “complex interconnected network” or “ambitious multi level design” which would’ve been actual unbiased framings for this. The author chose words that evoke chaos not admiration instead.
You say I am imposing bias while I am showing specific word choices and structural decisions. You are saying those choices are neutral and my reading is subjective. But language is not math and words carry tone meant to shape opinion. The author chose these words out of many possible options and that precisely where the bias lives.
You ask why not stick to clearer examples, it’s because this is how real bias works. Good propaganda is intentionally written in a sophisticated enough fashion so people like you can carry water for it. It lives in the “so says” and the “seeminglys” and the asymmetric labels. It’s aimed at liberals who view themselves as being sophisticated and who gobble up sophistry.
You ignored quite a lot of what I said. Seems like you have an exact acceptable wording in your head, and you interpret any deviation from that wording as hostile. I’m sorry you feel that way, I don’t think it’s an accurate or productive framing of the world. Not sure what else I can say beyond that.
I literally addressed what you said point by point, and explained why the article is biased with specific examples of what neutral prose looks like. It’s very telling that you ignored all that. Entire books have been written on how this type of language manipulation is done, you might want to read one sometime to understand the subject you’re attempting to debate here. https://transition-news.org/IMG/pdf/inventing_reality_the_politics_of_the_mass_media_by_michael_parenti_z-lib.org_.pdf
Your standard for neutral prose is razor thin and highly paranoid. It is neither accurate, nor productive.
And you literally ignored most of what I said.
Even on the first skim I noticed you ignored the distinction I addressed between Manner Video (I had no idea what that was and the explanation was useful) and Chongqing Morning Post (everyone knows what [Cityname] Morning Post is, there are probably thousands of newspapers around the world with the same basic name, it doesn’t need to be explained). The rest is just as bad.
Just read what I wrote, read what the author wrote. Don’t ignore substance to bolster desperation. There are too many legitimate problems to get conspiratorial about this fluff piece. It cheapens the legitimacy of your platform.
I’m aware. Seemed like a potential middle-ground learning moment, but alas at least it may temper the lurkers. That’s who it’s always really for anyway.
As someone who frequently tries to discuss topics primarily for lurkers, you have to realize your audience. Upvotes/downvotes may not matter at all, but they do tell you how effective your argument is in the context it exists in. Very few people seem to be siding with you here, where you essentially argue that western framing of sound Chinese socioeconomic policy as alien and incomprehensible is “politically neutral.” You have to adjust your argument for the audience, there are going to be more Marxists here and as a consequence we are going to be more aware of how tone and language is used in propaganda pieces to convey certain emotions and responses.
And for the record, I do agree with Yogthos here. I just want to point out that your goal largely backfired and legitimized Yogthos. You could, in theory, be 100% correct and still backfire in your aims due to how you present your argument and for which people. That’s why I try to remain polite, bring reciepts, and generally make sure what I have to say meaningfully adds to the conversation topic, for example. Rhetoric does matter if your goal is to get more people to agree with you.
For the record, all you seem to be defending is this specific article, which I have to say seems to have little practical value outside of this specific convo. Is your point that language doesn’t matter in general in the press? If not, then I fail to see what you actually would gain from this argument anyways. You have to make sure your arguments actually bring practical outcomes as well, and aren’t fought over something relatively valueless.
What part of the headline or article is not neutral? It doesn’t disparage the existence of the station at all.
None of it is neutral, and the bias is incredibly obvious to anybody reading it objectively.
Which part specifically is biased, and what bias is that?
The bias in this article is pretty obvious once you start looking for it. For starters, the author frames the whole thing like “look at this ridiculous useless station in the middle of nowhere” and then buries the actual explanation at the end with a major side eye.
As I’ve already explained, the biggest tell is the phrase “so say Chongqing Rail Transit employees.” By adding “so say” instead of just saying “Chongqing Rail Transit employees explained” or “according to” the author makes it sound like the workers are making excuses or spinning a story. It creates this vibe of “yeah that’s what they want you to believe” without actually saying anything false. It’s a classic subtle way to plant doubt.
Another one is “despite its seemingly outlandish location”. The word “seemingly” does a lot of heavy lifting here. It lets the author call the location outlandish while technically covering themselves with the “seemingly” qualifier. But the reader walks away thinking how outlandish this all is.
And then there is “it’s possible that it’ll attract more people” which is a direct quote from the employee. The author chose to include the most hedged and uncertain phrasing possible. The employee probably said something more confident about the planned development, but the article picks the one sentence that sounds like a maybe and uses it as the closing argument. The employees look like they are grasping at straws.
The article also uses the phrase “a Chinese digital video production company” right after the Manner Video name. That seems neutral on its face but actually reminds the reader “this is a Chinese source so take it with a grain of salt”. Compare that to how they describe the original complaint “a station worker recently told Chongqing Morning Post” which is presented as pure fact without any disclaimer whatsoever.
Meanwhile the description of the flyover uses “crazily dense tangle of roadways” which is pure editorial. That is not a factual description. That is the author telling you how to feel about it.
So yeah the article rather hamfistedly sets up a “can you believe this absurd station” tone, quotes the actual explanation as a weak maybe, and uses loaded framing like “so say” to make the reasonable answer sound like corporate puffery. The bias is in how they frame the whole thing.
I really don’t think that’s an objective reading, it seems more like you’re hunting for justifications to call it biased because it isn’t biased in favor of China.
I didn’t get the vibe you’re claiming at all. The vibe I got was “This station has been made famous for the bizarre surroundings, but it’s actually part of an expansion plan”. The author didn’t create the “seemingly outlandish location” framing, they’re responding to it, it already existed. I read the “seemingly” exactly opposite to you, that they’re acknowledging how it looks but clarifying that there’s more rationale than the existing social media framing would suggest.
Assuming that the employee they quoted was overall less hedged is speculation. I’m no expert on Chinese culture, but in my personal experience they tend to be more reserved and matter-of-fact. If you interpret hedging as grasping at straws, that seems like a you thing. To me, that feels more like the employee trying to stick to the facts.
Similarly, interpreting specifying that Manner Video is a Chinese production company feels more like an aside to clarify who that is for a western audience than calling their reliability into question. ____ Morning Post doesn’t really need explanation, since that’s a pretty familiar newspaper naming scheme.
The description of the flyover is not particularly editorial, it is crazily dense. I also don’t see how that’s a negative portrayal. To me, it reads more positive than anything. “Look at this complex interchange, it reinforces the focus Chongqing has put on comprehensive infrastructure”.
It really seems like you’re trying to impose a bias, and interpret fairly neutral reporting about a seemingly strange (again, referring to the existing framing on Chinese social media) infrastructure project as much more skeptical than the text suggests.
Again, there are plenty of actual examples of what you’re trying to criticize. Highlighting this example makes you look like you’re grasping at straws yourself. Reading the article objectively, I saw a relatively light-hearted and neutral justification for a station which was making the rounds on social media as a bizarre phenomenon. Why not just stick to examples that don’t rely on subjective framing? There are surely plenty of those.
Seems to me that you are doing exactly what you accuse me of. You are interpreting every word in the most charitable possible light for the author and calling that the default reading. Let me break down why I think your reading is the one that imposes an assumption.
Let’s start with the seemingly outlandish location. You say the author is just responding to existing social media framing, but that is exactly my point. The author chooses to further reinforce that framing, and there is nothing objective about it. It’s become normalized precisely by these kinds of articles. They could have written “the station looks strange but here is the straightforward reasoning” without the word “seemingly” at all. That word preserves the “isn’t this weird” tone while technically covering their bases. It is a deliberate writing choice rather than some forced interpretation.
And you didn’t really address the whole “so say Chongqing Rail Transit employees” bit. If the author wanted to present the explanation as credible they would have written “Chongqing Rail Transit employees explained” or “according to” which is what you’d see in any objective reporting. The phrase “so say” has a well understood rhetorical function which is to signal skepticism. It is the same construction used in phrases like “so say the conspiracy theorists”.
Then we have the hedging in the quote. You say the employee might genuinely have been that uncertain. But the point is that the article chose to end with the weakest possible version of the rationale. If the explanation is credible, why lead with the complaint and end with a maybe? That is a structural choice that prioritizes the mystery over a plain answer. The article could have opened with the plan and then noted the current lack of development. But instead the joke comes first and the serious explanation comes last with weasel words around it.
For the Manner Video clarification, you say it is for a western audience. But you haven’t explained why does “a Chinese digital video production company” need a qualifier at all? The article does not describe Chongqing Morning Post as “a Chinese state affiliated newspaper” for example. That would also be just as relevant for context. Yet, one gets a label and the other does not, and the asymmetry suggests the author wants to flag the source as being potentially less authoritative.
You read “crazily dense tangle of roadways” as positive because it shows infrastructure ambition, but the word tangle has negative connotations implying messiness and lack of order. Similarly, crazily implies irrational excess. Compare that to “complex interconnected network” or “ambitious multi level design” which would’ve been actual unbiased framings for this. The author chose words that evoke chaos not admiration instead.
You say I am imposing bias while I am showing specific word choices and structural decisions. You are saying those choices are neutral and my reading is subjective. But language is not math and words carry tone meant to shape opinion. The author chose these words out of many possible options and that precisely where the bias lives.
You ask why not stick to clearer examples, it’s because this is how real bias works. Good propaganda is intentionally written in a sophisticated enough fashion so people like you can carry water for it. It lives in the “so says” and the “seeminglys” and the asymmetric labels. It’s aimed at liberals who view themselves as being sophisticated and who gobble up sophistry.
You ignored quite a lot of what I said. Seems like you have an exact acceptable wording in your head, and you interpret any deviation from that wording as hostile. I’m sorry you feel that way, I don’t think it’s an accurate or productive framing of the world. Not sure what else I can say beyond that.
I literally addressed what you said point by point, and explained why the article is biased with specific examples of what neutral prose looks like. It’s very telling that you ignored all that. Entire books have been written on how this type of language manipulation is done, you might want to read one sometime to understand the subject you’re attempting to debate here. https://transition-news.org/IMG/pdf/inventing_reality_the_politics_of_the_mass_media_by_michael_parenti_z-lib.org_.pdf
Your standard for neutral prose is razor thin and highly paranoid. It is neither accurate, nor productive.
And you literally ignored most of what I said.
Even on the first skim I noticed you ignored the distinction I addressed between Manner Video (I had no idea what that was and the explanation was useful) and Chongqing Morning Post (everyone knows what [Cityname] Morning Post is, there are probably thousands of newspapers around the world with the same basic name, it doesn’t need to be explained). The rest is just as bad.
Just read what I wrote, read what the author wrote. Don’t ignore substance to bolster desperation. There are too many legitimate problems to get conspiratorial about this fluff piece. It cheapens the legitimacy of your platform.
Removed by mod
aww it’s so adorable when libs start projecting
I’m aware. Seemed like a potential middle-ground learning moment, but alas at least it may temper the lurkers. That’s who it’s always really for anyway.
As someone who frequently tries to discuss topics primarily for lurkers, you have to realize your audience. Upvotes/downvotes may not matter at all, but they do tell you how effective your argument is in the context it exists in. Very few people seem to be siding with you here, where you essentially argue that western framing of sound Chinese socioeconomic policy as alien and incomprehensible is “politically neutral.” You have to adjust your argument for the audience, there are going to be more Marxists here and as a consequence we are going to be more aware of how tone and language is used in propaganda pieces to convey certain emotions and responses.
And for the record, I do agree with Yogthos here. I just want to point out that your goal largely backfired and legitimized Yogthos. You could, in theory, be 100% correct and still backfire in your aims due to how you present your argument and for which people. That’s why I try to remain polite, bring reciepts, and generally make sure what I have to say meaningfully adds to the conversation topic, for example. Rhetoric does matter if your goal is to get more people to agree with you.
For the record, all you seem to be defending is this specific article, which I have to say seems to have little practical value outside of this specific convo. Is your point that language doesn’t matter in general in the press? If not, then I fail to see what you actually would gain from this argument anyways. You have to make sure your arguments actually bring practical outcomes as well, and aren’t fought over something relatively valueless.
Not gonna be a learning moment until you have some humility
The irony is astounding.