An old friend retraces his routes

US professor revisits impoverished places and observes rapid progress resulting from government policies

Xiamen University business professor William Brown, 63, has spent more than half his life in southeastern China’s Fujian province, and his only regret is that he didn’t come sooner.

Fluent in Mandarin and the Fujian dialect, Brown, from the United States, has lived in Xiamen, one of China’s first five special economic zones, for 32 years.

Brown’s fascination with China began in the 1970s when he was stationed in Taiwan with the US Air Force. In 1988, after graduating from university and selling his company, Brown moved to Xiamen with his wife and two sons.

He became the first foreigner to obtain permanent residency in Fujian in 1992, and in 1994, he and his family spent three months driving over 40,000 kilometers around China. Retracing routes

In July, Brown, along with professors and students from Xiamen University, made a 32-day 20,000 km drive around China to revisit the places he’d seen in 1994 and to gauge the pace of the country’s changes.

“I was surprised when I traveled to remote places in the Ningxia Hui autonomous region and Gansu province back in 1994 that the government had already started building roads to remote villages,” Brown said.

“I understood the humanitarian aspect, but it did not seem profitable from a business perspective. How could the government ever earn back the investment in roads in such poor places with so few people?”

When he revisited those remote places last year, he was impressed to see that the government had continued to develop even the poorest areas. “Every place we visited, from the Inner Mongolia autonomous region in the north to the Ningxia Hui autonomous region, Gansu, Qinghai province and the Tibet autonomous region in the west, had beautiful concrete roads,” he said.

He said two farmers from remote villages in Ningxia and Yunnan told him: “We were like frogs in a well. Without roads, we could not leave our remote villages to sell products or seek jobs. Today we’re free.”

China’s world-class infrastructure has helped the nation gradually lift people out of poverty, Brown said. “And another major change is that every place I visited, the government has helped build new houses for the villagers.”

In most places, the government has shouldered 30 to 40 percent of the cost of the houses and the villagers pay the rest.

However, in extremely poor places, the government has shouldered 100 percent of the cost for new homes and handed the keys to the impoverished villagers, he said. “For the poorest, they even supplied furniture and bedding,” Brown said.

The government has also offered free education to impoverished children and vocational training to help adults get jobs, he said. Moving as one

“What impressed me most is that the entire country is so standardized in poverty alleviation,” Brown said.

“Every province, every county, every town and every village is very clear what they have to do to get people out of poverty and there is no cheating because they watch, check and inspect everything very carefully.”

Brown said despite China’s changes, some people in the West still have biased views of the nation. To counter those views, he said, it is important to tell the stories of ordinary Chinese people to let them share how their lives have changed.

“The only way to understand China is to understand the Chinese people themselves,” Brown said.

“Some foreigners insinuate that I’ve cherry-picked only the good stories,” Brown added.

“For those people, no matter what I say, they will find fault. I don’t think you can do anything to change those people’s minds. Life is too short to waste my time on them. Some people are receptive to the truth, so I speak to them.”

To help foreigners better understand China’s story, three years ago Brown became one of the editors for New Channel International Education Group’s bilingual book series,

Stories of China Retold in English, which was released in April by the People’s Publishing House.

The series not only introduces readers to China’s rich history but also reveals its dynamic modern development, he said, adding that the stories allow overseas readers to understand that China has always valued peaceful coexistence, which is why it is one of the world’s oldest living civilizations.

“The book series is good not only for foreigners to learn about China, and Chinese youth to learn English, but also helpful for Chinese to better understand their rich history and modern development and for foreigners to improve their Chinese,” he said.

Hu Min, chief editor of the series and president of New Channel, said that as more Chinese students learn English, they often absorb foreign culture but neglect their own. The series wants to change this, he said.

When asked about his future, Brown smiled and said, “China is so exciting, with so much to learn and so much to see.

“My China dream is to have another 30 or 40 more years to witness its development.”

Some foreigners insinuate that I’ve cherry-picked only the good stories. For those people, no matter what I say, they will find fault.” William Brown, Xiamen University business professor

PHOTOS PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY Clockwise from top: William Brown poses with colleagues and students from Xiamen University, during a 32-day drive around China in July. Brown, his wife and children in Xiamen in 1989. Brown talks with local people during last year’s trip around the country.