周黎明 (Raymond Zhou's bilingual blog) 用中文写娱评，用英文写时评

The above scenarios may be exaggerated, but there is a true story behind it. The real sad story is, this particular reporter is considered "jingye"（敬业）. It literally means "professional", but I believe "hard-working" is a more accurate English word.

You see, reporters who cover the entertainment beat tend to resort to fiction writing. This is especially rampant among the small-league titles. A reporter who instantly thinks of interviewing a news-making subject is at least better than one who is only good at CTRL-C CTRL-V or using a figment of his imagination.

No matter how well read one is, an individual's knowledge base is limited. You cannot know everything under the sun. But there are certain requirements for a professional - if a journalist can still be called a professional. For a Chinese reporter who writes about Chinese culture, some essential information about Eileen Chang is mandatory. But then again, Eileen Chang is probably not taught in school. Her literary stature has not yet been enshrined by the mainland's ivory tower.

The embarrassment would have been averted if said reporter had done a little Baiduing. A quick browse of the Eileen Chang entry would have easily yielded a condensed biography of her life and work. He could also have searched for her writing and got a few samples to read. It is not easy to talk to a writer without ever reading her work, is it?

This reminds me of the time when I was a little kid and jobs were filled by something called "dingti"（顶替）, which means the son would take over the father's job. That was supposed to lower unemployment, I suppose. I heard a story about one young man who had no medical training whatsoever but whose father happened to be a doctor. On his first day as his father's "successor", he ran around the hospital asking people to give injections for him. If you were not the patient, this could be the funniest scene you can conjure up.

I wish that era is way behind us.

（本文写作得到平客的启发，特此感谢。）