Source: CGTN Published: 2024-09-05

By CGTN

Does the Western world misunderstand China? Many Chinese scholars think so, and they are trying to change that by increasing exchanges. A top Chinese university invited a group of academics from Europe and the U.S. on a week-long tour of the country. Chen Mengfei reports.

Four days, four cities.

This group of Western academics got a glimpse of China's latest state of modernization.

LARRY CATÁ BACKER Professor of Law and International Affairs, Pennsylvania State University "I know that there have been some discussions about whether China is continuing on the right path or whether China is now experiencing problems. And it's very clear that China continues to move forward on its path in its own way. And it's really nice to see that."

MARGIT MOLNAR Head of China Desk, Economics Department, OECD "It is very good to see all these different cities and villages. And also to look at the niche that they have found for their own development."

The delegation began their tour in Shanghai, a vanguard of China's reform and opening-up policies.

The researchers visited an exhibition showcasing Pudong New Area's transformation in the past 30 years, and met up with the organizers of the China International Import Expo.

During a symposium, a Shanghai official talked about the city's unwavering commitment to attract foreign enterprises.

From Shanghai, the group took a high-speed train to Yiwu, the biggest center of small commodity trade in the world since the 2000s. There they met with China's "King of Straws" Lou Zhongping, who invited the guests to chew on some edible straws the company made.

MARGIT MOLNAR Head of China Desk, Economics Department, OECD "I really liked the straw business. I think this is probably where China should be going. I'm not saying everybody should produce straws. We learned that they have a lot of patents registered. Many of these patents are invention patents – which mean that they are real innovations."

Modernization of the countryside is also a priority for China. The group visited the Lizu village on the outskirt of Yiwu to see rural revitalization up close.

In Wenzhou, China's cradle of private entrepreneurship, the group participated in a forum held at the privately-owned Wenzhou Business College.

They also toured a newly built industrial complex called the Eye Valley, which hopes to leverage the city's ophthalmic health industry to generate a new driver for growth.

Finally in Beijing, the experts got a chance to talk with Chinese officials and scholars on their understandings of Chinese modernization. The tour, titled Mingde Dialogue, was organized by Renmin University of China's Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies, a prestigious think tank based in the capital.

WANG WEN Executive Dean of Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies, Renmin University of China "This is just a starting point. In the future, as a think tank scholar, a director of a leading think tank, I would like to invite more and more U.S. and European scholars to China to strengthen mutual understanding between China and the developed countries."

China believes that its development is a positive force in the world, and that misconceptions about the country will be dispelled once people come to see it for themselves.