Author Archives: Will Moss

Imagethief and the man-eating otter of Changbaishan

I’ve posted to YouTube a video of the trip I took to Changhbaishan last summer with Mrs. Imagethief and my father. It took me the better part of a year to get around to editing it, but here it is. … Continue reading

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Bang! China shoots its own Olympic PR in the foot

Imagethief, who has bid for something on the order of RMB12,000 worth of Olympic tickets, is trying resolutely to remain optimistic about the Games. Unfortunately, it’s proving harder as time goes by. Tomorrow marks the one-year-remaining milestone. This should be … Continue reading

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China problems create rewards (and disasters) for PR risk takers

Note: This was originally two posts, published within a few days of each other. Part 1: China problems create rewards for PR risk takers (July 30, 2007) All PR has an element of risk to it. That’s one of the … Continue reading

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Bullet in the head: Marquee executions and public communication

As has been widely reported, the Chinese government has got round to making an official example of Zheng Xiaoyu, the disgraced former head of the State Food and Drug Administration who became the poster-boy for China’s rippling food and drug … Continue reading

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How to work with interpreters

I spend a lot of time working with interpreters, which can be trying. Interpretation is one of those things that it seems no one is ever entirely happy with. Someone always feels like some essential point or nuance didn’t make … Continue reading

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We’re Hu Jintao’s Lonely Hearts Club Band

Imagethief was interested to see on the front of the Saturday South China Morning Post a segment of a painting that has just been unveiled in Hong Kong to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the 1997 hand-over of sovereignty. This is no … Continue reading

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Nobody said media-whoring would be easy

If you follow the Internet in China, you may have heard of a young man who goes by the online name “Zola” (or “Zuola” to be perfectly correct). He has been billed as “China’s first citizen journalist“. Zola first attracted … Continue reading

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China’s food crisis PR strategy: Blame everyone else

A few weeks into China’s rippling food quality crisis a PR strategy is coming into view. It’s a classic one: blame everyone else. Unfortunately, it’s not likely to be all that effective because of two things. First, China does actually … Continue reading

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Stupidvator

One of the fine things about moving to a new city is that you always encounter something you’ve never seen before. In Shanghai I experienced the thriving majesty of the Huangpu river, the early-morning army of huishou men and women … Continue reading

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I say “tomato”, you say “massacre”, let’s call the whole thing off

It is a truism of public relations and communication that he who controls the language with which an issue is defined controls the debate. If you can attach your terminology to a situation, you have leverage over public opinion. Don’t … Continue reading

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