To CNN Hosts Andy Cohen and Anderson Cooper,
On December 31st, your CNN colleague Mike Valerio was reporting live from Harbin, China, surrounded by towering ice castles and bundled-up dancers. In the middle of that joyful scene, he issued you a challenge:
“If you come here — beauty, ambition, drama. It’s time for you boys to come over here to China for the Year of the Horse!”
We’re writing to say that we agree.
If you think New Year’s Eve anywhere else is spectacular, Chinese New Year is something else entirely. Think glowing cities wrapped in red lanterns, skies exploding with fireworks, streets pulsing with drums and lion dances, and hundreds of millions of families gathering in love and laughter as a new year begins.
It is one of the most breathtaking human celebrations on Earth. Yet most Americans will never see this. Instead, U.S. media overwhelmingly shows China through a lens of fear. We rarely get to see ordinary Chinese people, their traditions, their joy, their lives. That absence matters. When people are only shown as an enemy, it becomes easier to justify confrontation and war.
Right now, tensions between the U.S. and China are being pushed to dangerous levels. Weapons sales are soaring, military posturing is escalating, and the public is being told it’s all for our “protection.” But history shows us that dehumanization always comes before conflict.
That’s why your presence ground in China during Chinese New Year would be powerful.
We are asking you to:
- Walk through lantern-lit streets
- Sit with families celebrating the new year
- Witness traditions thousands of years old
- Show viewers the humanity that headlines erase
Millions of people in the U.S. trust your voices. You have the opportunity to help shift the narrative from fear to understanding. So we are joining Mike Valerio’s call and making it louder:
Andy Cohen and Anderson Cooper: Go to China for the Chinese New Year!!!
In peace and love,