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CNN Live At Daybreak

Covering China: Reporters Insight

Aired August 09, 2002 - 06:34   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Most of our reporters are usually out in the field gathering information on the stories, so that we can bring you the news. But today, our CNN Beijing bureau chief, Jamie FlorCruz, is here in Atlanta today, and he is joining us to talk about what it's like to cover the news in China.

Welcome back to Atlanta, for a short time anyway.

JAMIE FLORCRUZ, CNN BEIJING BUREAU CHIEF: Thank you. Thank you, Carol. It's been good to be back, but I already miss China, even though I have only been away for a few weeks.

COSTELLO: Tell us what it's like to live in China.

J. FLORCRUZ: China is a huge place in a state of flux. Everything is changing. Almost every day you see things, buildings coming up, roads being widened or just cut through a whole neighborhood. The economy is perking, you know, it's like growing at 7 percent...

COSTELLO: Wow!

J. FLORCRUZ: ... every year the past few years.

COSTELLO: Because you know when Americans think of a communist country, they don't think of economic growth and prosperity.

J. FLORCRUZ: That is on top of China's agenda now. It's not ideology, not Marxism, not communism, but the pocketbook, how to improve the peoples' lives.

In fact, I interviewed -- when I -- I was able to ask the question to the prime minister of China, what's your biggest headache, managing the, you know, business of one billion people? And he said his biggest headache is how to improve the lives of the Chinese farmers; 800 million of the Chinese are farmers.

So his biggest challenge is how to improve their lives and how to generate crops...

COSTELLO: And many of those farmers live in great poverty.

J. FLORCRUZ: They are. At least 70 million of them are still living on a $1 a day kind of life. So it's a huge challenge, and the challenge, too, of generating jobs. You know, some 150 million farmers need jobs right away.

COSTELLO: With so many people, how could there possibly be that many jobs, you wonder.

J. FLORCRUZ: That's the challenge.

COSTELLO: Yes.

J. FLORCRUZ: And that's why it's very important for them to keep this 7 percent or higher growth rate.

COSTELLO: Are they worried about terrorism in China?

J. FLORCRUZ: They are. There are pockets of terrorist groups, or at least groups with radical kind of tendencies. Some of them are in the fringes in the frontiers, like western China, where there are ethnic groups hoping to break away from China.

There are also a possible -- pockets of labor strifes. A lot of people are being laid off as China's economy moves on and churns out a lot of -- tens of thousands of workers are being laid off or in furlough. And therefore, a lot of them, you know, take radical resolves...

COSTELLO: Right.

J. FLORCRUZ: ... to improve their lives.

COSTELLO: Exactly. I found -- I know you gave me a little note before you came on board here on set, and you said that a lot of people are going to America to learn English and be educated in a Western culture.

J. FLORCRUZ: Indeed. You know, I have lived in China for 31 years, and when I first got -- when I first got there, the Chinese were lining up to buy oil and, you know, cotton and stuff like that. Nowadays, the Chinese are lining up to enroll in tofal (ph) classes to improve their English, so that they could apply to go to America or other countries to study or find jobs.

COSTELLO: Wow!

J. FLORCRUZ: So that is a remarkable change all these years. English...

COSTELLO: Another remarkable change is the basketball player. Let's talk about him.

J. FLORCRUZ: Oh, Yao Ming is 7 foot 5, 21 years old, and...

COSTELLO: There can't be many people in China who are 7 foot 5.

J. FLORCRUZ: No. But you know, with one billion...

COSTELLO: There's not many people here that are... J. FLORCRUZ: They have a pool of one billion people to choose from, so there might be some more. But the amazing thing about him is he can play good basketball. He can shoot from the outside, and he can dunk the ball from the inside. And it was such a marvelous thing to just have him in the bureau and interview him when he was drafted by the Houston Rockets. I was suffering from stiff neck at the end of the session.

COSTELLO: Will people in China get to see him play?

J. FLORCRUZ: Yes, more and more NBA games are being broadcast. I think twice a week the local television picks up NBA games live. And now, that Yao Ming is there and two other Chinese are expected to also play in the NBA...

COSTELLO: Wow!

J. FLORCRUZ: ... they are getting into the show, too.

COSTELLO: Oh, that's great.

We have a guest beside you. Could you introduce her?

J. FLORCRUZ: Yes, my daughter, Michelle. She is 11, going 12.

COSTELLO: Oh, well, thank you for joining us, too. So what's it like to have your dad as a correspondent for CNN?

MICHELLE FLORCRUZ, DAUGHTER: I think it's really cool, because we get to see him on TV, and he gets to meet famous celebrities, actors and athletes.

COSTELLO: Does he ever share the wealth with you?

M. FLORCRUZ: Yes.

J. FLORCRUZ: Shopping.

COSTELLO: Shopping. Do you ever worry about your dad doing this kind of work?

M. FLORCRUZ: Sometimes, because sometimes we won't hear from him for a few days, and we would worry. But I think it's OK, yes.

COSTELLO: What are your dreams of the future?

M. FLORCRUZ: I am not really sure yet, but -- yes. I want to go to the School of Visual Arts in New York.

COSTELLO: Oh!

J. FLORCRUZ: I have to start saving now.

COSTELLO: That's right. Thank you both so much for being here, and have a great time in Atlanta and a safe trip back to China.

J. FLORCRUZ: It's a pleasure to be here.

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