When exchange students are deciding where to study, the United Kingdom, the United States and Europe usually top of the list. China rarely cracks a mention. So why am I spending 2017 there?
1 China is important
The metrics speak for themselves. Over 1.3 billion people call the country home – that is roughly 20% of the Earth’s population. China is about 7,500 kilometres from Australia. The United States and Europe are about double that distance. China is Australia’s largest trading partner and its economy is expected to overtake the United States as the world’s largest before 2030.
Understanding China is the key to the 21st century. And there is no better way to understand the country than spending a year within its borders.
2 Off the beaten track
With China, the more I look, the more I find. From the bustling streets of Beijing to spectacular rivers nestled in its countryside, there is no shortage of sites frequented by few foreigners. Add an immense language barrier and I’ve got all the ingredients of a real adventure.
3 A fresh perspective
In recent times, China has been accused of stealing jobs and undermining the economic dominance of western nations. China has become the bogey man of western politics.
“You look at what China is doing to our country in terms of making our product. They’re devaluing their currency, and there’s nobody in our government to fight them….. they’re using our country as a piggy bank to rebuild China.” Donald Trump, September 2016.
What is the country actually like? What do its people value? Are we any different? What do they think of us? What are their aspirations? What do they fear? And ultimately, can we work together?
My hope is to piece together answers to these questions, starting not from the statements of public figures, but the words and actions of its people.
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.” Mark Twain.
Our world is a big place – so is it so strange that I’m starting by meeting the neighbours?