Quote:
Originally Posted by CHOMAT  The attention should also be paid on
Chinese and not the Chinese
Not always
some
Who claims the more advanced ' reported speech 'Indirect style ???
Anyhow the structure ' are not pleased (by) the comparison ' suggests that the comparison is made by someone else. vs those who travel are prone to compare their own country with...
The first answer after a second thought, won't do. |
From the linguistic point of view, I would go with the second one too. But the Chinese travelers when going back to China and deciding to write articles to criticize the government, what do they want to say? With the second interpretation, they are going to say, Government leaders, I heard the comparison from the foreign countries that are not favorable to China, you should do something. With the first interpretation, they would say: government leaders, do something, I still see a big gap between China and those advanced foreign countries. Too me, the first makes more sense. Here is a larger context:
Clamoring Middle Class
Pressure on the government is not only coming from the poor and
the disadvantaged, but also from the growing rural and urban middle
class. China’s citizens are calling for clean water, better housing, better
health care and education, more political participation, and more accurate
information. Chinese are traveling and studying abroad, and they
are not always pleased by the comparison between their country and
its more economically advanced and democratic neighbors. Some are
registering their dissatisfaction by publishing articles critical of the conduct
of the government, launching Internet blogs discussing sensitive
topics, filing lawsuits to challenge official misconduct, and even mounting
efforts to unseat unpopular local officials using direct elections.
Who did the comparison? (Logical subject) 
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