I can only imagine what the rest of the new year will illuminate.
The first time I went to China, I was 16 years old. Besides the Great Wall, I don’t remember much because China, at the time, didn’t have much to offer. Shanghai, for instance, was a whole lot of nothing. Heavy dusts, abandoned alleys, cracked artifacts fill my memories of several cities that my family and I visited at the time. From Shenzhen, Suzhou, Beijing, Hanchou to Shanghai, my most vivid memory from that trip was a countdown clock on the border of China and Hong Kong, ticking down to the final second when the former British colony would return to the Far East empire once glistened beyond its glorious dynasties.
Besides a few percentage of entrepreneurs in Asia, in addition to experts in the fields of international relations and world economy; most people did not foresee the rise of China back in 1996. It was difficult to discern a forceful future in the horizon of a Communist country greatly marred by a decade of Cultural Revolution followed by violent suppression which led to student protests in Tiananmen Square. I, the rebellious teenager at the time, had yet to appreciate (and was sometimes embarrassed by) my fluency in Mandarin which as the world would come to acknowledge is an absolute potent tool, twenty years later.
Since then, I’ve returned to China from time to time. Each trip marks a further understanding that China is progressing in full throttle. Public bathrooms went from holes on the ground (which I refer to as “squatties”) to seated toilets with automatic heaters like Totos in Japan. Restaurants replaced dirty plates and utensils with beautifully designed porcelain sets. Every trip I had made to China, I could see the hardware of its cities grow from literally nothingness to a riverside’s imprint of London or Manhattan such as Waitan in Shanghai.
It wasn’t until the most recent trip this month, that I am finally seeing the results of China’s “software growth.” Local folks’ etiquette have gradually moved away from spitting on public streets now lined with countless wastebaskets. Chinese customer service has replaced a frigid air of disregard with an international charisma, clearly catering to millions of travelers passing through China each year. The internationalization of renminbi has not only opened commercial trades but also the minds of the younger generation who keep up with the latest trends in Taiwan and Japan. The elites have immigrated to the United States and Australia and have also returned to their home country with Westernized perspectives, or better yet, culture.
No longer a teenager, and no longer abashed. Today, I carry a fluency in Mandarin with pride because it is indeed an advantageous skill in multinational communication as a world citizen. I can candidly envision China’s robust global role enduring throughout the next thirty to fifty years. With a monumental presidential election occurring later this month, here’s a message or rather, a warning to my home country of Taiwan: If we don’t do a better job progressing positively or truly focus on strategies keeping us imperative in the future (ie: ecotricity, natural resources, sustainable urban infrastructure), China’s software growth will catch up. Just as their hardware expansion already has, surpassing the rest of the world.
Twenty years of traveling between Taiwan and China, it remains astounding what every experience has brought to light. The first trip of 2016 has brought boundless perspective. I can only imagine what the rest of the new year will illuminate.
With love,
