China’s decades long propaganda has been to a certain extent effective. Chinese have learned to harass and deny others basic rights. An article by Iris Hsu published by Committee to Protect Journalists reports harassment of foreign journalists in China including by normal citizens. Here is an excerpt:

When international journalists rushed to Zhengzhou city in Henan province to cover a deadly flood in July 2021, they were confronted by angry bystanders who accused them of “spreading rumors” and “smearing China.” Many also received harassing messages on social media and intimidating calls, according to the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of China. 

This hostility spread after the Henan Communist Youth League, a lower-level official organization of the Chinese Communist Party that saw international news coverage of the flooding as derogatory, put out a call on microblogging platform Weibo for its followers to report on the whereabouts of BBC correspondent Robin Brant. 

Instead of calling for calm, the Chinese Foreign Ministry accused Brant of “distorting the real situation of the Chinese government’s efforts to organize rescues and local people’s courage to save themselves, and insinuating attacks on the Chinese government, full of ideological prejudice and double standards.”

Read the full story here.