The Tribune

By RICARDO WELLS

Tribune Staff Reporter

rwells@tribunemedia.net

AT this point I would be misleading you if I said I was not apprehensive about the opportunity to travel to The People’s Republic of China and live among its people for four weeks.

I was.

More so, to my detriment, the western narrative of a country built on espionage, tech secrets and financial ploys, almost solidified my belief that I was walking into a circumstance where the truth would most definitely be hidden and all realities manufactured for my dubious enjoyment.

I was wrong.

While there were several cultural and educational activities predicated on getting me to see “a different side of China,” the organisers of my trip allowed me the opportunity to see the country for what it is.

The very moment I decided to put aside my preconceived notions and theories, I discovered a country very similar to the one I call home.

You see, away from all the global politics and technological advancements, China is just as much a country trying to find its way in the ever-changing global community.

When I arrived in Beijing last month, I was not rushed into fancy cars and sped off to some luxury property in the middle of Beijing.

Rather, I spent most of my time in Beijing at a community college dorm with students and professionals from all over the world who, like me, were brought to China to study and discover the country’s true characteristics.

For every shopping app pitched to “make life easier”, there was a father in a market, shopping for just enough eggs to feed his family for the night.

For every scientific discovery touted by some government agency or department during my month in China, there was some new report being broadcast of a lack of jobs.

Even more so, for every financial success celebrated, there was a failure being encouraged to try again.

That was the reality that greeted me and my colleagues. There was no cover-up, no hiding the obvious; China, despite its effort to aid developing countries in the Caribbean and Latin America, was struggling to help many of its own people.

Just maybe if we saw this side of China more often, we would recognise and better understand its activities in counties like The Bahamas and the rest of the Caribbean and Latin America.

The year 2018 marks 40-years since China’s reform and opening-up policy became a reality.

In that time, China has raced to the front of many world’s financial sectors.

In just 40 years, China went from a country of farmers, rice paddies and small, out-dated factories to skyscrapers, global companies, top-level tech firms and what seems to be a university on every block.

In 1973, The Bahamas gained independence, and since that time, has done very little to expand it economy beyond tourism and banking; and far less to service education.

To my mind - after this recent firsthand experience - it is time for The Bahamas, and to a far greater extent Bahamians, to examine its relationship and national exchange with China out of the “what will America think” prism.

To be frank, while we enjoy a great relationship with America, The Bahamas can no longer survive in the guarded playground of the US and its allies.

What my journey to China showed me was that a country, if it is to develop, must not only recognise what it is, but what it can be.

There are opportunities to be had.

The discussion should no longer be based around which world superpower we should better serve, but rather, how best to utilise the opportunities granted by them.

China and its development should be viewed as model by which The Bahamas could craft its way to financial security.

Yes, while it is clear that many of the of the success stories made popular in China could never work here, the strategy of encouraging insular development and transformation can be mirrored.

In China, there a social agencies built to problem solve; we are now lost in our problems.

In China, the family acts as the nucleus for society; we battle social ills daily due to the erosion of family and societal models.

In China, education and the power of youth are factored into every national discussion, we have grown to accept the belief that for the youth, their time will come.

I started this article with the intent of telling all about the moments I experienced in China - the Willow Festival, my trek up the Great Wall, my time at the opera and learning the ins and out of Karate.

However, my want and hope for a better Bahamas will not let me overlook the avenues of change and success I walked down in the People’s Republic.

As I said before, opportunities are there to be had.

I hope we take them. Then it really would be the ‘People’s Time’.