Culture Smart! - China--Culture Smart!

The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.

Adapted from Marcel Proust, Remembrance of Things Past.

ISBN 978 1 78702 880 7

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A CIP catalogue entry for this book is available from the British Library

First published in Great Britain

by Kuperard, an imprint of Bravo Ltd

59 Hutton Grove, London N12 8DS

Tel: +44 (0) 20 8446 2440

www.culturesmart.co.uk

Inquiries:

Design Bobby Birchall

Printed in Turkey

The Culture Smart! series is continuing to expand. All Culture Smart! guides are available as e-books, and many as audio books. For further information and latest titles visit www.culturesmart.co.uk

INDRE BALCIKONYTE-HUANG was born in Vilnius, Lithuania. She has a Bachelors degree in Chinese with Economics from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, and a Masters degree in Modern and Contemporary Chinese Literature from Fudan University in Shanghai. Fluent in Mandarin, Indre has lived in Beijing and Shanghai for more than ten years. Previously responsible for communications at a cross-border consultancy helping Western companies enter the Chinese market, she is now an independent researcher, writer, and translator. Indre lives in central Shanghai with her Shanghainese husband Ruiyu and son Roy.

KATHY FLOWER has worked in the UK and China as a BBC radio producer, TV presenter, scriptwriter, teacher, and trainer. She presented Chinas first major English-language teaching series, Follow Me, on Chinese TV. She became known to hundreds of millions of enthusiastic Chinese viewers as Fay-lau-ah laoshi, or Teacher Flower. Back in London she joined BBC World Service Radio returning to China many times to work and to travel.

COVID-19

The coronavirus pandemic of 2020 affected millions of people around the world, causing unprecedented social and economic disruption. As the impact of this global crisis continues to unfold, in many countries social norms are being challenged, and enduring changes will be reflected in future editions of Culture Smart! titles.

Since 1979, when Premier Deng Xiaoping declared China open for business, millions of its citizens have been lifted out of poverty and given the chance to control their own destinies. Initially China achieved its spectacular growth by making and selling things we want at prices we can afford, as The Economist put it; four decades on, it is the worlds second-largest economy, a major player on the global stage, courted by governments and multinationals worldwide, and ambitious to go even further.

Having become rich, new China has made peace with its past. Old Chinas once derelict temples and palaces have been restored to vibrant life and draw huge crowds, while new Chinas futuristic cities are on a par with Tokyo, London, or New York.

Behind these economic miracles lie the Chinese people, 1.4 billion individuals, each one part of a family unit. Where Western family sagas focus on illicit love affairs and property, Chinese family sagas offer a guide to the countrys turbulent history. Perhaps most famous is Jung Changs bestselling autobiography, Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China. The first daughter was Yu Fang, Jung Changs grandmother; as a small child her feet were bound and then she was sold to a warlord as one of his concubines. Her daughter by him was to become Jung Changs mother, Bao Qin, a founder member of Chinas Communist Party. Jung Chang, born in 1952, at first had a privileged childhood; but when the orchestrated chaos of Mao Zedongs Cultural Revolution began in the 1960s, her parents were denounced and tortured. Eventually Jung Chang gained a scholarship to England and left for good. Nowadays, generations of daughters (and sons) of China are free to study abroad, to travel, and to work toward their own dreams. But competition is fierce in todays market-oriented China, and traditional beliefs in the importance of hard work, a good education, and a supportive family are stronger than ever.

Chinas outward-looking economic agenda is very recent. In the past, its size meant it did not need to engage with anyone outside its borders. China saw itself as the center of the world; peoples on the periphery were considered barbarians, to be graciously received by the Emperor and then dismissed. From the sixteenth century onward, Europeans who tried to establish links with China were equally politely rebuffed.

After the Communist triumph in 1949, China remained closed to the West. Not until 1971 could US envoy Henry Kissinger go secretly to Beijing to meet Mao, followed in 1972 by President Nixon himself. But after Maos death in 1976, Deng Xiaoping opened Chinas doors, putting it on the path to prosperity and changing it, and the world, in the process.

Nowadays, China is changing the world through its Belt and Road Initiative, a controversial infrastructure vision of mind-blowing proportions, active outbound mergers and acquisitions, and innovative technologies. There is incredible energy, ambition, and pace of change in this country that can easily leave one intoxicated. The Chinese you will meet in this fascinating country are well educated, warm, knowledgeable about world affairs, and keen to talk about everything under the sun. This book should help you to be a good guest, whether you are there for work, pleasure, or both.