A quarter of a century after Mao Zedong died (and since I began to report regularly from China) the country is still in a process of uneven transition where the reality is often not what it seems. Trying to understand this is made harder by the wooden propaganda in which the Communist party is always "great, glorious and correct". It is equally complicated by the crude stereotypes - often dating back to the cold war - that still mould many western perceptions of China.

... Many Chinese who are critical of their own government still find western coverage unbalanced. "I object strongly to the persecution of the Falun Gong and other human rights abuses," says a graduate from an MBA programme in the US, "but I simply did not recognise my country in the one-sided reporting there." Chinese officials tighten a vicious circle of misunderstanding further by blocking the kind of access that would give a more balanced picture. A foreign NGO working in Yunnan province on HIV-Aids tried for nearly a year without success to get permission for the Guardian to cover its project. "The irony is that the authorities there are doing really good work", said the project director.

I believe however that the speed of change in China is now so fast that within the next decade the stereotypes will be shattered - on both sides.

... I believe that younger forces in the party and outside will prevail and that China has a better chance of making a peaceful transition. The determined young journalists whom I got to know and the cheerful students my wife taught offer the best hope for the future.