Are you perplexed by China? Still don’t know what to make of the “Chinese Dream” proposed by President Xi Jinping? Why not have everything explained to you by a foreigner?
That’s what a video series called China Review hopes to do. Though it is still very new, China Review has established a panel of experts ranging from diplomats to consultants to help explain the intricacies of Chinese government policies to a captive English-speaking audience.
Though the interviewees all speak in English no matter where their foreign home is located, China Review is readily accessible to a Chinese audience with provided Chinese subtitles. The Nanfang found it after it was forwarded by Sina Media.
One of the recent episodes of China Review featured Sameh El-Shahat, a representative of UK-based risk management consultancy Huayu (literally meaning “reputation of China”). When asked the difference between a Chinese dream and a “Western dream”, El-Shahat explained:
A lot of people have made the comparison between the Chinese dream and the American dream. They are two very different things. One is based on invading other countries. Okay? One is based upon a universal view of the world. This is the American dream. The Chinese dream is different. It’s… it’s… the Chinese—the great rejuvenation of the Chinese people. Right? It’s about the Chinese people doing what is good for themselves.
El-Shahat then describes what can only be summarized as a “win-win” situation:
But the history of the last 40 years has shown that when the Chinese do what is best for themselves, they also end up helping the world. So by having a dream, the Chinese are unintentionally going to share the dream with the rest of the world.
While El-Shahat began talking about the “American dream”, he continues his explanation by talking about the “Western dream”:
The big dream over the last four, five hundred years has been the Western dream. But the Western dream (touches face), its origins are not maybe the most peaceful. It started in colonialism. The Chinese dream is not going to be based on colonialism because China is going to be the first great power to have been a victim of colonialism, and not a colonial power itself. The dream already starts in a good place. So, it’s a different kind of dream.
El-Shahat reserves some key praise for current President Xi Jinping:
And it’s a dream that is needed, because if you can not dream of China as a foreigner, you can not spend more money on Chinese products, you will not do more business with the Chinese. Because China is not so big; it’s very size makes it even more suspicious. How can a country this big not have a dream? So he (Xi Jinping) was right.
Even better, El-Shahat says the “Chinese dream” is already being shared:
The Chinese dream has already started in many ways, if you think about it. In the last forty years, China has taken four, five hundred million people out of poverty. Isn’t this a dream? It will never happen again in the history of humanity. Those five hundred million people caused enough growth in China to trigger growth all around the world. China has been the engine of the world together with America for the last forty years. Without China, the West will not have developed the way it has. So, China has already been sharing the dream.
When asked how China has shared its dream with the world, El-Shahat explains how China is not a zero-sum society despite how US Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky had to teach the concept of “win-win” to Chinese officials in 2001:
The world has changed. We’ve just watched an entire—let’s call it the “Washington Consensus”—has collapsed. You know, we’ve had the economic crisis, there’s no growth in the world. The world is not well. Why? Because of a particular vision of doing business has been shown to be wrong. That vision has been.. it’s a zero-sum vision, you know. Somebody had to grow at the expense of somebody else. China has come and say, “hey, we can all grow together”. That’s a vision. Also, the world needs an idea. And China is a responsible player in the world. You know, it’s, it’s, it’s very interesting.
Watch the entire video below:
Photos: Youku screencaps