considerations

In terms of Western views of China, it's fairly clear that many have negative or critical views of China. This makes sense, to a certain extent. For example, there are numerous channels on major platforms that have heavy, anti-China views. A specific example is, China Insider with David Zhang. This, combined with China's "Great Firewall", which makes it difficult for Chinese influencers to reach the U.S., can logically explain why the West may be saturated with anti-China views.

However, looking past these views is also very, very, important. And if you dig deep enough, you can certainly find some things. For example, David Zhang is funded by and works for Epoch Times, and is also with the Falun Gong movement, both of which hold very negative views of China. In addition, David Zhang does "yellow journalism", a sort of overexaggeration of events with a negative interpretation. Below are examples:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teKOC17jgr0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKu6BHQKSFQ

Now, I'm not saying two things. Firstly, I'm not saying David Zhang's views are entirely wrong. Of course, many of the problems his videos cover have happened, but the format and delivery of information contained in his videos highlight China in an unrealistic and exaggerated negative light, when China is really not. Secondly, I'm not saying you should also ingest pro-China content, such as the YouTube channel, Living In China, as their views also have a significant chance of being overly positive of China or far too negative of Western countries.

An interesting thing to note is specificity, or particularly, avoidance of several topics. For example, pro-China channels such as Living In China typically avoid talking about China's censorship, Great Firewall, or "tofu dregs". At the same time, channels like David Zhang's typically avoid talking about lower homelessness, lower drug abuse, lower gun violence, lower incarceration per capita, and generally lower petty theft compared to the U.S (as a reference).

So, what should you do? If it's possible, go and visit China and see for yourself. But nowadays, visiting China is unfortunately difficult, due to major geopolitical tensions. I feel as though it is best to find media from those who have moved from another country to China. Why? Because the varying places they have lived in allow them to have as balanced a view as possible, as well as making accurate and appropriate comparisons.

Here is a channel I believe to be fairly unbiased:

https://www.youtube.com/@marissainchina

A final note, if you intake media from a news station, it is best to ensure the news station itself has minimal geopolitical biases, or at minimum, intake news from both a pro-china and an anti-china source. For example, BBC is considered to be anti china, and CGTN is pro china.

Thx for time :D