by Tabitha Messick

When there are more than one billion people in China, being named to a top 100 list is quite an honor.

Xinshu Zhao, a professor and director of the Center for Research in Journalism and Mass Communication, was given that honor when he was recently named one of the “Top 100 Chinese Public Intellectuals of 2006” as voted by Internet users inside and outside of China. It was first reported on Boxun.com, a news site run by Chinese citizens in the United States.

The criteria for selection were professionals with quality education and academic achievements who have high ethical and moral standards, speak up for the goodness of society and take actions to push society to improve. Political activists, performing artists, politicians, professors, writers and reporters also made the top 100.

“Professor Zhao has been speaking up through media or his articles in the past few years,” said Watson Meng, an editor at Boxun. Zhao also said that Voice of America and Chinese media have interviewed him on issues of press freedom in China.

Zhao said this honor means a lot to him because for a long time he did not know if he was making a difference. He said this honor tells him that his time has not been wasted.

“I might be doing some good,” he said.

It takes years to get recognition in China as books and writings take time to disseminate. Zhao said his book was first published by a reputable publisher in China in 2003 but its impact is still expanding after four years and is going beyond the classroom.

One of his books, which is used as a textbook and in law schools, challenges a popular theory in China that adopting democracy is surrendering to the West.

“Those values don’t belong to any nation,” Zhao said.

Zhao uses the writings of Confucius and classic poems that the Chinese cherish in his writings but interprets them in another way to show that democratic values are “rooted in Chinese tradition.”

Zhao believes that there is a fundamental misunderstanding and wants to challenge the Chinese people through his books and writings that they do not have to choose between nationalist pride and democracy. They can take “American democracy” and develop those ideas further and make it their own.

From his beginnings in Shanghai during the Cultural Revolution, Zhao has endured many hardships, but he has overcome them. He came to the United States in 1984, recalling the journey as “more of an adventure,” and earned advanced degrees from Stanford University and the University of Wisconsin at Madison.

Jane Brown, fellow professor in the school who has done research with Zhao and accompanied him on a trip to China in 2004, has been working with Zhao for four years on the influence of the introduction of television in China and how it affects children’s nutrition and health.

Brown said she is not surprised at Zhao’s latest honor. “I could tell how well respected he was in China,” she said.

As director of the research center, Zhao coordinates various activities including the Carolina Poll and a speaker series. He also is working with Professor Rich Beckman and journalism students who will use multimedia to cover the Special Olympics World Games in Shanghai in fall 2007. ♦

Tabitha Messick is a senior in the school’s public relations sequence.