It's now making a show of

Question

Hi teachers,As Beijing's Legal Daily has pointed out, the government has kept "excessively silent" in previous bribery cases involving multinationals such as IBM, Siemens, and Alcatel-Lucent.  The fact that it's now making a show of its struggle against "corruption from overseas" is a sign that China is growing ever more bold as it ventures into the global market.1.  Does "it's" mean "China's"?2.  Does "its" mean "China's"?3.  Can you please tell me what is "it's now making a show of "?ThanksTN

Avangi · Accepted Answer

Hi, TN,

Yes, both bold words refer to China.

I'm not sure I understand your question #3. What is X? What does it mean? What is its function/construction?

China is now making a show of its struggle against etc.
Oh, okay. To make a show of something is to be ostentatious. They're deliberately calling attention to what they're doing. They want everyone to see it and know about it.

Best regards, - A.

Tinanam0102 · Answer

Hi Avangi,

1. Does "making a show of" mean "putting on a show, like for example, when two friends are not friends anymore and they don't talk in private, but they talk in front of people because they don't want people to think there is something unfriendly between them"?

2. What does "struggle against corruption overseas" mean, having difficulty to bring down the corruption?

Thanks
TN

Anonymous · Answer

yes,or show extra but they realy don't have it&gt;

Avangi · Answer

tinanam01021. Does "making a show of" mean "putting on a show, like for example, when two friends are not friends anymore and they don't talk in private, but they talk in front of people because they don't want people to think there is something unfriendly between them"?

Yes. There's usually a factor of deception or disingenuity involved.
I suspect in the case in hand, the struggle is real but the efforts are exaggerated.

tinanam01022. What does "struggle against corruption overseas" mean, having difficulty to bring down the corruption?

Don't forget the "from." They want to emphasize that this corruption is "imported."
I'd say the stress here is less on the "difficulty" and more on the intensity of their effort. (a fine point)

Tinanam0102 · Answer

Hi Avangi,

Thanks for the explanation. I misunderstood "struggle" for "difficulty". Do you mean "struggle" is "the intensity"?

Tinanam

Avangi · Answer

That last line was my interpretation of the terms as used in that particular sentence.

The word "struggle" of course implies intensity and difficulty.
The greater the difficulty (the more difficult the problem), the more intensely you struggle to overcome it.

An endeavor can have intensity without difficulty and it can have difficulty without intensity. "Struggle" involves both.

A struggle is an activity in which you work intensely to accomplish a difficult task.

My point was that the piece you quoted seemed to be saying that China was exaggerating how hard (intensely) they were working to overcome this, rather than how difficult the problem is.

That is, they were making a show of their struggle (what they were doing), and not necessarily calling attention to the nature of the problem.

I don't want to make this a bigger issue that it is. There's room for difference of opinion here. I'm not trying to evaluate what China is doing. I'm trying to evaluate what your piece says China is doing.

Perhaps a better way to put it would be to say the struggle is what you do. The difficulty is what you try to overcome.

I"m thinking I should scrap this and start all over.

Tinanam0102 · Answer

Hi Avangi,

Thanks for giving me time on this piece. I appreciate it.

TN

It's now making a show of

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