Even before Guangzhou was gripped by a mystery virus scare and its citizens began to clear the shelves of antibiotics, gauze masks and vinegar, the city had an image problem.
In fact, Guangzhou has no real public image, and in those rare instances when it does accidently stumble into the limelight, more often than not it is for unflattering reasons - such as this week's scare or its recently completed four billion yuan (HK$3.8 billion) white elephant convention centre.
Some blame for this widespread ignorance falls on the international media. Guangzhou may be one of China's top three commercial, economic and cultural centres and the epicentre of a region that accounts for 40 per cent of China's exports and 33 per cent of its foreign direct investment. But in the three years that I worked in the South China Morning Post bureau there, the city's foreign correspondent population never exceeded three, each of us working in a different language (Chinese, English and Japanese). By the end of my tour, there were only two of us. Ours was one of the loneliest outposts in journalism. One foreign editor once aptly characterised the Pearl River Delta and South China as the 'black hole' in the international media's China coverage.
While in Guangzhou, I thought the main reason I had no English language competition was because my Hong Kong colleagues could not drag themselves away from the Foreign Correspondents Club bar in Central.
It turns out, however, that there is another culprit - the central government, which makes it difficult for Hong Kong-based journalists to travel to the mainland.
I discovered this after relocating to Hong Kong and losing my 'J-1' journalist's accreditation, which allowed me to come and go as I pleased.
