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Article: No longer 'serfs,' but sensible farmers.(Opinion & Editorial)
- Article from:
- Manila Bulletin
- Article date:
- October 24, 2004
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2004 Manila Bulletin Publishing Corp. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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JOURNALISM, a British wit said, is about reporting that John Smith was dead to people who didnt even know John Smith was alive. The ready retort is that at least people know that one John Smith is dead.
But this is not a great offense compared to journalisms datedness about certain things, as Yan Nin Cockayne from Leeds, England pointed out recently.
Writing to the letters column of an international magazine, Yan Nin asked why it persisted in referring to Chinese farmers as "peasants.
By some definitions, Yan rightly observed, the term "peasant, commonly used in the English-speaking world, means a "coarse-minded and ignorant serf.
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