some numbers

I don't know who the Committee of 100 are, though they sound like an excellent basis for a conspiracy theory. Whoever they are, they've just published a huge survey on mutual  Sino-American attitudes. There's nothing hugely dramatic in there. Basically, people in China and the US seem to quite like each other and are prepared to rub along together provided no-one takes the piss too much. A couple of standouts: by and large Americans like China better than they did the last time the survey was taken in 2007, and when Chinese people think of the US, they tend to think of war, though not by an overwhelming amount.

What struck me on the US side of the polling were the categories used. One was the 'general public', which is to say the great, grey undifferentiated masses, the 99% etc etc, lumped together cheap and cheerful style. Then there were three categories of what the survey takers were pleased to call elites: policy makers, business leaders and something called 'opinion leaders'. Amusingly, the opinions of opinion leaders seemed much morelikely to correlate with those of their fellow overclass-niks than with the opinions of the 'opinion-led', ie the general public. Predictable, I know, but good for a smile. Also predictable and good for a smile was the data that over 70% of opinion leaders who visited China found that their opinions of the country improved. Beijing knows how to deal with the Friedmans of this world...

Comments

[chris y]

When I were a chabbie the Committee of 100 was the activist wing leadership of CND, including folk like Bertrand Russell. I assume this is another lot altogether, but do they know whose name they're nicking?

[belle le triste]

The Committee of 100 is a name in Nixon-lore also: I think it was a group of wealthy right-thinking citizens who vetted Republican candidates, and who he had to kowtow and suck up to, deepening his vast all-purpose reserves of resentment.

(Wikipedia says that there are other similarly unrelated and dissimilar claimants to the name: which makes me wonder if there isn't an original in Roman or Greek classical history that everyone is recalling...)

[Richard J]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athenian_coup_of_411_BC perhaps?

[CMcM]

This lot appear to be the collective ethnic voice of upper class Chinese Americans.

Or so I assume, anyway: I don't have the background to actually recognise any of the names myself.

[belle le triste]

Yes, I think I had the Athenian "Council of 400" in the back of my mind, so maybe others did too. But euphony aside, the identification seems strange, from such a varied range of political projects...

[ajay]

Amusingly, the opinions of opinion leaders seemed much morelikely to correlate with those of their fellow overclass-niks than with the opinions of the 'opinion-led', ie the general public.

Well, an opinion leader doesn't necessarily have to hold an opinion himself in order to be able to spread it to others...

[Alex]

There's a street in central Barcelona called Consell de Cent if that helps

[belle le triste]

Got it: it's from ancient Roman Republican political structure, and it's this, the committee representing the soldiery, but given a slightly more literal translation (see here, for example, which is where I found it)

[Barry Freed]

Nice bit of spade work there Belle; and also with the Nixoniana that's from early on in his career, his first win running for Congress in LA county in 46. They wouldn't back him at first so he really had to court them and prove to them that he could win, thus as you say, "deepening his vast all-purpose reserves of resentment."