BEIJING — I began to write a column Monday afternoon about China’s human rights, and what I believe Americans often see as a faulty Chinese government. While researching the story, I came across a CNN.com report that indicated more than 10,000 people rioted in southern China to protest what they felt was an official cover-up in a murder case of a 15-year-old girl. It’s yet another black eye in a battered Chinese cause to host this year’s summer Olympics.

Including this most recent example, ample opportunities exist to blast the Chinese government for its handling of its citizens and its internal affairs. After all, it is our right to criticize (and it’s also the press’s job), but China has some gems, too.

And Americans are far too removed from those gems. Most estimates peg only 20 percent of Americans owning passports. A far fewer percentage of Americans have been to Asia. Travel organization AAA reports that 563,000 Americans will visit China in 2008, a jump of 13 percent from last year. However, most U.S. to China flights seem to be carrying people of Asian descent, not the Caucasians with ties to Europe, who make up most of the press and American government. Many of the visitors have likely been there before, but China is not as exotic as it once was.

Given these observations, I sometimes wonder whether journalists who write scathing reviews of the country are forgetting people actually enjoy living in China and wave the flag of the People’s Republic of China just as passionately as Toby Keith and Fox News flaunt the red, white and blue.

It’s not uncommon to see a Volkswagen weaving through traffic on a congested expressway with a Chinese flag attached to a window. If there’s any decal waving on an American vehicle, it’s usually an emblem for the driver’s favorite college football team.

To put in bluntly, humans in China have rights. In a few cases, Chinese citizens have more rights than Americans. The Chinese don’t seem to have a drinking problem without a legal age.

More importantly, Chinese citizens don’t have to worry private companies in the energy, agriculture and pharmaceutical industries are profiteering or controlling the means of production, because they’re all state-owned or closely regulated by the Central Government.

Although it’s not a right (and most citizens don’t have access to all the modern pleasantries urban Chinese areas offer), all of this county’s 1.3 billion people are able to eat. While this isn’t exactly a stop-the-press proclamation, it’s done inexpensively for 20 percent of the world’s population on only 7 to 8 percent of the world’s arable land.

China’s policies also catch a bad wrap in the American capitalist system.

At times throughout the last 100-or-so years, the United States has had a fear of communism. From the first Red Scare in 1919 to the McCarthy era of the 1950s and throughout the Cold War, the American government has invested countless time and money battling communism.

Today, China is ruled by the Communist Party of China. Neverthelesss, much of the nation is also encompassed in a consumption routine that is constantly growing to match America’s.

An increasingly capitalistic culture means China ranks second in the world in billionaire residents. Western influences will not leave China. Basketball courts are packed with Chinese youth donning Yao, Kobe and Garnett uniforms, down to the socks (not just the jersey, like most Americans wear).

The failure of China’s government to help put a stop to the Darfur crisis and the messy situation in Tibet (which is part of China) are major issues. Western media has done well to pressure the country to provide better transparency and a freer press. Innocent people have died, and any situation that involves corruption and death needs to be probed by the world.

Scandals and conflict are unfortunately tied with government. Thousands of innocent Iraqis and Americans have died in the United States’ attempt to fight terrorism. The current presidency has left both Republicans and Democrats scrambling in the upcoming election to repair America’s image to the world.

If the Chinese government allows reporters a reasonable range in covering aspects beyond the games, Beijing is ready to reveal its 21st century look.

With cameras pointed at Team China set on winning the medal count and a country that’s built some of the most brilliant sports venues in the world, rather than on the human conflict and government oppression, China has an opportunity to create a new image only the world’s games can provide.

Nathan Cooper is in Beijing to cover the Games of the XXIX Olympiad. He is a part-time Tribune employee and a 2005 graduate of Glenville-Emmons High School.