By Philip Yeung
The secret of China's success
For over two thousand years, China kept itself to itself. During that long, uninterrupted span, its GDP remained stagnant, slipping even lower towards the end of the Qing dynasty. Li Hongzhang, the first minister, was stunned into sorrowful silence when he visited America in 1896, late in his life, when he saw motor cars, soaring skyscrapers, and gravity-defying elevators. He died broken-hearted. He knew with a sense of urgency that China was hopelessly behind.
The belated turnaround had to wait until the dramatic Opening Up in the early 1980s. Lo and behold, its GDP increased by more than 100 times from $150 billion in late 1970 to $17 trillion by 2022. It leapfrogged from dismal third-world to near first-world status. Visitors who come here expecting to see a country in squalor are astounded by its high-speed trains, digital revolution, and its user-friendly modernity. Things have come full circle. They now experience the Li Hongzhang shock in reverse.
Why has China succeeded when so many others have failed? Think North Korea, Cuba, or Venezuela. These countries have one thing in common: isolation, voluntary or otherwise. China, utterly transformed in mere decades, is an eye-popping miracle. History will never again witness such a total sea change on such a scale. Yet it is not a mystery. Its magic is down chiefly to one thing: embracing internationalization. It entails learning, trading, and cooperating between countries and cultures. The West should celebrate China's success, not fear-monger its veneer of systemic differences.
Since antiquity, China, smug in its self-sufficiency and self-congratulatory in its cultural longevity, was fearful of the foreign and disdainful of diversity. It shooed away door-knocking favor-seekers and deal-makers, until it was gatecrashed by Westerners with blazing guns. Its self-imposed isolation had brought it nothing but ineptitude and decrepitude.
We are at a crossroads. As America shrinks in isolation, China grows through inclusion. Trump bars Muslims and immigrants from third-world countries. China, going in the opposite direction, is granting visa-free entry to 59 countries. China has seen the future, and it entails going global. Trump builds high walls and tall gates. China removes the bar and throws its door wider. A confident country opens its arms. An insecure country closes its fist. This is not about outpunching your opponent. It's about outperforming yourself and bringing others with you.
Internationalization powers transformation---through science, trade, and higher education. Trump is anti-science, anti-foreign, and anti-education. He chooses hostility as China favors hospitality. One is bullying. The other is befriending. One is shrinking its world, the other expanding it. Who do you think will have the last laugh?
In education, learning side by side across cultures trumps rote-learning page by page. Inward-looking politicians sell humanity short. Two weeks of international summer camp hosted every year by a university in Southern China, for example, attracts hundreds of eager young people from four corners of the globe. It beats semesters of classroom study in foreign languages and Western thinking. One international student can open the hearts and minds of four local peers. Friendships between students grow into relationships between nations. Differences are dissolved, bonds built, and tolerance fostered.
They say the most important space in diplomacy is the last three feet for face-to-face dialogue. I say nothing works better than sharing the same dorm room. Xenophobia and chauvinism ill-serve a crowded planet. Progress runs across boundaries and cultures. The world needs fresh ideas from cross-cultural angles to take us to unimagined heights. Interaction dissolves fear and melts mistrust. It incubates friendships, induces harmony, promotes creativity, and diminishes differences.
Science accelerates when it is borderless. Technology triumphs when countries cooperate. Unprovoked conflict and spiteful behavior, born out of self-centeredness, arrogance, and ignorance, are unworthy of civilization. These negativities sealed China's fate when it closed its doors to the outside world. China is now making up for lost time, making friends and meeting them halfway. But the US under Trump seeks to beggar its neighbors and bully them into submission. That's how conflicts brew and wars flare up. The UN, unable to play referee, is reduced to being a helpless bystander.
A country is great not because it overwhelms others by force. Its greatness resides in its superiority of standards and stands unafraid of fair competition. We have come too far into the 21st century to be a dog-eat-dog world where the laws of the jungle prevail.
China proves that prosperity is best when shared. An outstretched hand is better than a clenched fist. Dialogue beats dueling any day. Let the young play host and form friendships. Out of intercultural contacts will come the goodwill to seek a common future. Imposing limits and restrictions runs counter to the values of the open age of AI, where we are free to connect, change, and create. Humanity is at its best when we are interconnected and invested in a shared future. Crossing boundaries and cultures is how we leapfrog our self-imposed limits.
Internationalization is the magic wand for self-elevation! It may also be our salvation as we get ready for a post-America world.
The views do not necessarily reflect those of DotDotNews.
Read more articles by Philip Yeung:
Opinion | Hospitality, Trump-style
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