Asia Techonomics: Respect is slowly turning into mockery: This is how the image of Germany is changing in China

Shanghai. As a correspondent for the Handelsblatt in Shanghai, Chinese people often ask me about Germany. The questions often sound genuinely compassionate: How can Germany get fit again? But not infrequently also pitying, sometimes slightly condescending: How could it come to this?

What is usually meant is Germany's loss of economic importance compared to China's economic miracle. Two years ago, this regularly put me in defense mode. But since I'm not a diplomat, but a correspondent, I let the people speak.

However, there are many exaggerations circulating on Chinese social media. For example, when there is a warning about Frankfurt Central Station and Chinese people ask me whether it is even possible to get off there. My Chinese teacher actually managed to drive straight to Cologne after landing at the airport. Some things may not be better - but Cologne is less of a topic on China's social media.

My point is not that China's image of Germany is fundamentally wrong. It has changed. And Germany's image has suffered in China. This can have consequences that we cannot yet fully overlook: for Chinese families who have long relied on Germany - on jobs with German companies, on German schools in China and on places to study at German universities.