China’s changing story, 40 years on

A narration of the China story without a reflection on the country’s past makes that story incomplete. China has been through turbulent times — to name just a few, the Opium Wars, the gruesome Nanjing Massacre during World War II, the severe hunger that ravaged the nation in what has been dubbed the great famine (1959-1961) and the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976). To be sincere, my perception of China a decade ago was totally different from what I believe now.

That perception of a backward China has been wiped blank as a result of the eye-opening decade-long experience I have been privileged to during my stay in the country. Even today, with the explosion of new media and technologies that are bridging continents, there are people who still hold some of these views.

Like the phoenix, China, over the past four decades, has risen to take its rightful place in the comity of nations. In what has been accepted as the China model, China has proven developing countries can find a way to persevere. Typical examples are the 1997 Asian financial crisis and the 2008 global financial crisis. Through pragmatic policies, China was able to sail through both crises with few bruises. In an unprecedented feat, China has risen from a low-income economy to the second-largest economy in the world by GDP, an achievement synonymous with the China model.

Within the period of opening-up, particularly in the last decade, China has been able to sway many developing countries away from their traditional trading partners and former colonial masters. This phenomenon is particularly strong in Africa.

China’s success story has become a model for many developing countries who are debating a total breakaway from the Western model of development or an amalgamation of the China model with distinct country-specific models. Either way, countries like Ethiopia and others in Africa have begun Special Economic Zones with assistance and guidance from China. Initiatives such as this and others can be fairly captured in China’s promotion of a shared future for mankind.

In my decade-long stay in China, I have witnessed firsthand some of these remarkable programs and policies that have modernized Chinese society and impacted the global community, winning praise from home and abroad.

The country’s idea of a shared future for mankind was given impetus when China’s Ambassador to the United Nations Shi Zhongjun welcomed all UN member states to jointly utilize China’s future space station to be completed in 2022, noting: “China’s space station belongs not only to China, but also to the world. All countries, regardless of their size and level of technology, can participate in cooperation on equal footing”.

China’s rise hasn’t been without challenges, even as the country tries to bridge continents in the revival of the ancient Silk Road through the Belt and Road Initiative, encompassing Asia, Africa, Europe and the Middle East. The country faces habitual attacks on its one-China policy by external and internal forces. China has always risen to the occasion to defend its territorial claims. In a firm declaration of the one-China policy, President Xi Jinping has stated not an inch of Chinese territory would be allowed to be taken away.

In the four decades since opening-up, the country has surpassed what it took others longer periods to accomplish. Notable achievements include advancements in space and deep-sea exploration, China’s home-grown passenger plane, the C919, quantum communication, big data, artificial intelligence, the world’s largest telescope in the form of the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Radio Telescope and most notable, China’s first self-developed bullet train “Fuxing”, running on 22,000 kilometers of high speed railway that account for 60 percent of the world’s total.

For me, the China story has just began, and the embers stoking the country’s advancement agenda remains lit. In my travels to historical sites, such as monuments from the famous Long March and even museums that showcase remnants from ancient Chinese civilization, I always come across evidence of the zeal of the Chinese nation to strive for perfection and surpass the limits of human endeavour.

The journey since reform and opening-up from 1978 hasn’t been easy. A core recipe for the advancement agenda has been the implementation of policies to attract overseas returnees and foreign talents who thus far have made immeasurable contributions to the development of China. Credit is owed to migrant workers who brace the cold winters and unusual summer heat especially in Central China, amid sometimes deplorable working conditions.

As the China story continues, the country is opening its doors to constructive criticism. The Chinese people have become more assertive, and they are engaging the world more than ever — for it is only through tolerance understanding that humanity can thrive.

The author is a former Ghanaian journalist.