I'm reading China Road: A Journey into the Future of a Rising Power by Rob Gifford. I'm a little over halfway done with it, but I would already recommend it. Rob Gifford, the author, is an English-born NPR journalist who has spent six years reporting in China. In the book, he travels along Route 312, somewhat analogous to Route 66, which runs for nearly 3,000 miles and cuts through China from the east in Shanghai to the northwest by the Kazakhstan border. The book describes his travels, his talks with locals along Route 312, and his observations over the past six years.
Nearing the Gobi Desert, Gifford asks a local what he wants most from the West. Gifford, a fluent Mandarin speaker, translates all the conversations in the book. The local's response is what jolted me and inspired this post. From the book, "He (the local) doesn't hesitate. 'What we want most is respect', he blurts out, as though he has waited all his life for a foreigner on a bus to ask him this question. 'Yes we want respect more than anything. I want to go abroad, like you people when you come here. You come to China, and we respect you because you are wealthy and civilized. That's what I want too. I want to go to your country, and be respected, and get a good job there and not be looked down on'".
I'm not saying this is the best passage in the book, but it hit home for me. I went to a lecture about a month ago where a speaker from the British Council was talking to local Chinese students about the need to study abroad. When he said that the aim is not to eliminate differences or to bring Western culture to the East, but to understand cultures that we haven't grown up in, to celebrate differences and to enjoy them all, the students assertively nodded.
One of the most effective, and easiest and cheapest, things America can provide China in order to improve bilateral relations is respect. Of course, this applies to nearly all countries and all forms of international relations. However, from my perspective, it applies more acutely to China. China has seen unprecedented growth in the last two decades, which is all the more impressive when you consider that China's economy was shred to pieces under Mao and was only restarted in the late 1970s under Deng Xiaoping. It has progressed so far and so quickly within that timespan. However, it seems like very little recognition or respect is bestowed on China by much of America. We focus on their maltreatment of minorities like the Uighurs and Falun Gong without talking about the economic benefits for those minorities, we focus on their censorship without talking about the access to the Internet and the road out of poverty laid out for millions, we focus on the Communist Party without talking about how many of its recent actions are market-oriented. I don't mean to excuse all the things that the government is doing wrong, but I want to point out that there are things that it is doing right and that deserve respect.
By respect, I mean that government officials, including Obama, need to acknowledge publicly China's progress. The USA Pavilion at the World Expo was a huge step in the right direction in my opinion, but again, later blog post. By respect, I also mean that American tourists need to engage in Chinese culture and do more than visit Shanghai, eat at KFC, speak English, etc. while in China. Hopefully you agree with me, I'll stop ranting and get off my high horse (after all, I ate dinner at Papa John's last night). However, I think the point about rising Chinese pride/nationalism and the inherent need for respect, most notably from America, is hard to over-emphasize.
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