Beijing-based journalist Promise Hsu visited campus Wednesday to compare American liberty to Chinese liberty, particularly in regards to journalism.
Ellis Sandoz, director of the Eric Voegelin Institute and political science professor, said Hsu contacted him one day to ask why the U.S. has liberty as opposed to China.
Startled by the question, Sandoz answered the U.S. has liberty because of the country’s belief in God and the innate rights endowed by the creator.
Hsu said he began researching the history of individual freedom six years ago.
Through his research, Hsu visited a “house church” — an unregistered and basically underground Christian congregation. It was shocking to witness a group of people safely assembling without interference from the Chinese government, he said.
“The next three months would be the most important because I would go there every Sunday,” Hsu said. “And then, on the afternoon of Dec. 16, 2006, I was baptized there.”
Hsu found striking similarities between the house church and China’s early church. It was a moment of truth in his life and part of his journey to pursue freedom, he said.
“I’ve been a journalist in China for over 10 years, and there is really a sense of frustration amongst journalists,” Hsu said.
That frustration spawns from China’s lack of a free press.
Restrictions on the media have been tight since the Communist Party’s rise to power in 1949 until the reform and opening-up policies in the 1970s, Hsu said. Privately-owned media companies like The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and USA Today weren’t allowed to form in China until the mid-to-late 1990s, he said.
Though private media is now allowed, it is controlled by the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China, Hsu said. The department is part of the top tier of communist control in the country.The restrictions on speech make working as a journalist in China more dangerous than in the U.S., Hsu said. Saying something disagreeable to the government can land one in hot water.
Hsu said China has backward-moving policies on censorship, which sometimes hinders journalists from doing their job to the fullest.
“To speak the truth is really difficult on some occasions,” he said.
Hsu said it’s easier to report news about the economy or entertainment than the government, and articles about other countries are restricted less than those about China.
 
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Contact Ferris McDaniel at [email protected]