China News Agency, Berlin, April 3 (Reporter Peng Dawei) At the beginning of the outbreak of the new crown in 2020, a video shot by the German Toby cheering on China's fight against the epidemic and refuting the stigmatization of German media made him a "net" in China. red".
A year later, Toby shot another video, pointing out that a certain German publishing house had improperly described the traceability of the new crown virus in a children's book, which also caused enthusiastic responses.
As a German, why insist on making a video to speak up for China?
In the past year or so, what misunderstandings and prejudices still exist between China and Germany?
A few days ago, a reporter from China News Agency interviewed Toby again via video connection.
Toby, who had studied abroad at Tsinghua University in Beijing, speaks fluent Chinese and currently lives in Stuttgart, the capital of Baden-Württemberg in southwestern Germany.
His wife is from Shanxi, China.
Clicking on the homepages of Toby’s major video platforms, you can find that he is not a current political broadcaster: from German potato salad to the secrets of the German Oktoberfest, German classic cars, German university tuition, and then to the daily life of Germans under the epidemic Life... As Toby's homepage cover picture writes, "Don't blow up or black, let you know a real Germany".
Talking about the filming of "The Origin of the Virus in China!
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Is this a children's book or a children's poison?
"The origin of ", Toby said, his wife is Chinese and his daughter Lea is 4 years old now, "She is half German and half Chinese."
"My daughter is going to kindergarten this fall. I don't want her to be discriminated against because of her background. However (due to the expression in the children's book) this kind of thing can easily happen in kindergarten, because children can be very naughty. Trick or treat, it will ruin the daughter's childhood."
"What impresses me is that people are so united on this issue and hope to express their voices against (discrimination) together. I also look forward to more German friends who say no to discrimination." Ling Tuo What is more gratifying is that the video has received support from netizens all over the world after the release of the video.
"I was deeply touched by the encouragement everyone gave!" Toby said that there are many Sino-German multinational families like them living in Germany. It is completely reasonable that they are angry at the content of this book.
"First of all, the origin of the new coronavirus has not yet reached a final conclusion. People don't know where the virus came from in the first place. Secondly, no such content should be written in a children's book by any means."
Before Toby released the video, the Chinese in Germany also expressed their protests to the publishing house, and the Chinese Consulate in Hamburg also made solemn representations.
On March 5, the publisher that launched the children’s book apologized to the injured readers and stated that the description of the novel coronavirus traceability in the book was inaccurate. The book will be removed from the shelves, recalled, and destroyed, and prepared for revision. Republished after the words.
One year after the stigmatization cover report of “New Crown Virus Made in China” by Der Spiegel in Germany, there were still incidents such as “New Crown Virus Comes from China” printed in children’s books. Is German society full of prejudice and disapproval about China Real information?
In this regard, Toby believes that we should not generalize, and that the entire German society is not like this-otherwise the prejudice brought by this children's book will come to an end, but we have entered a new prejudice.
"In fact, this kind of incident only reflects the thinking of some people. In my circle of friends and acquaintances, there are many people who have been to China, have Chinese friends, and know a lot about China. They have their own observations and thinking about China. "But Toby also said frankly that, on the other hand, there are also people who have never been to China, or even eat authentic Chinese food.
In Toby's view, China-related prejudice undoubtedly involves problems in the formation of opinions and public opinion, and cannot be resolved overnight. There is still a lot of work to be done.
"I am willing to do my best and hope that our next generation can live in a world without prejudice."
During the interview, the reporter also chatted with Toby about two other "net celebrities" German video broadcasters-Ah Fu and Le Bai.
Toby believes that what he and them do is to bridge the gap between Germany and China, to show the true appearance of the Germans to the Chinese audience in a very objective and "straightforward" way, and to promote mutual understanding and transmission between the two sides. know how.
"The more our two countries communicate with each other, the more we can deepen our mutual understanding. In this process, we have reduced misunderstandings and prejudices. I am very happy to continue working on this." Right now, Germany is experiencing In the third wave of the epidemic, Toby's greatest wish is to return to China as soon as possible, visit relatives and friends, and taste food.
"I look forward to and believe that this day will come soon!" (End)