Wonderful China

My first visit to China was very educational and memorable.

My generation—I’m a baby boomer—was taught that communist China was evil and its people rude like those in Hong Kong.

Although I’m up to date on current events, I thought that China was still a backward country.

I was in for a rude awakening when I became a member of President Digong’s huge delegation; there were 1,000 members, including wives and children.

What greeted me was a Beijing as advanced as—or even more developed than— any city in the West like New York, Paris or London.

Tall buildings abound in China’s seat of government.

A first-timer in Beijing would think that he was in another western city if not for the signs written in Chinese.

McDonald’s, Starbucks and shops selling signature brands like Prada and Chanel are all over the city’s shopping districts as well as big-name hotels like Hyatt, Peninsula and Shangrila.

Multiply Hong Kong’s business and shopping districts a hundred times and that’s Beijing.

Beijing has six-lane highways and the same goes for roads leading to and from the capital.

China started its march to First World status in the 1980s when Premier Deng Xiaoping opened the country to the rest of the world.

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While President Digong and his entourage of government officials and business titans were busy meeting their Chinese counterparts, our group of three—Ramon Lee, Roberto Go and myself—was also busy meeting with Chinese business leaders in our personal capacity.

Lee and Go had established contacts with our hosts during
the time of President Noynoy but the Chinese businessmen had
a change of heart due to the misunderstanding over Scarborough Shoal.

“Why should we fight over an outcropping in the vast ocean?” said our host.

“We’re brothers. Look at my face and your face. We have the same eyes, the same nose and practically the same color,” he told us through an interpreter.

Although Lee and Go can speak Mandarin, the national language, we had an interpreter, Robert Loh, who graduated from La Salle in Manila.

The host was one of several whose names I won’t mention as they made me promise.

For now, they want to remain anonymous until the Philippines and China completely rekindle their diplomatic and economic relations.

One host wants to put up several steel plants in the country and create an industrial city, preferably in Mindanao. He’s looking for 10,000 hectares to build on.

Another wants to put up low-cost housing for soldiers, policemen and other government employees on soft loans.

A third wants to hire caregivers, English teachers and household helpers in huge numbers.

China has tens of millions of elderly citizens who need care.

The country needs English teachers so its young people can travel to English-speaking countries in Europe as well as Australia and the United States.

I said earlier that my stay in China was memorable.

I can’t forget the endless exotic Chinese dishes—including a roasted lamb—and Moutai, a local wine, served at lunch and dinner.

And the endless toasts. “To your President Duterte,” “to our brotherhood,” “to our friendship,” “to our health,” “to your Miss Universe,” etc., etc., etc.

We always got back to our hotel drunk.