China has never been on my must-visit list of countries. One reason is perhaps my impression that it is a secluded Communist state, despite the famous Cultural Revolution, launched by its historic leader Mao Tse Tung.
China continued to be a castle of socialism even after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the transformation of its former republics, including Russia, into the Western-capitalist style, since 1990.
Another reason was my thought that a country whose population surpasses a billion people must be swamped by many problems, such as poverty, beggary and congestion. Also, I believed that such a country would be suffering from backward services and infrastructure as well as from chaos that is usually seen in those multimillion populated cities.
No one would consider visiting cities such as Mumbai, Delhi, Cairo, Mexico City and other cities more than once, unlike other developed cities in Europe, where order, discipline, accuracy, quality services and good treatment are seen and felt.
The visit to China by His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, allowed me to see another China and explore its deep-rooted-history.
Apart from the Great Wall, I thought that China has little to offer to tourists, as the country lacked museums, cultural landmarks, luxury hotels, restaurants and other attractions. The visit to China's largest two cities of Beijing and Shanghai shattered my personal misconceptions, which were shaped by biased media coverage that highlighted the dark side of China.
The Western media in particular focused on human rights violations, lack of freedom, fake goods and poor services in China, thus ignoring the country's rich history and civilisation and making it an unattractive place for tourism and business alike.
I was both surprised and impressed by what I saw and learned during this visit, starting from our arrival at Beijing airport.
We did not see the expected traffic congestion and chaos in the streets of Beijing due to the city's sophisticated infrastructure of modern road networks, including bridges, tunnels and modern transportation. I noticed that the city's streets, and even the old and popular markets, were very clean and well organised.
This reminded me of another misconception that I had earlier carried in my mind. Earlier, I used to believe that Switzerland was the world's cleanest country, until I visited Japan in the 1980s, when I found out that Japan was the world's cleanest country. After visiting China, I discovered that it is among the world's cleanest countries.
With a population of 18 million, Shanghai reaffirmed what I saw and felt in Beijing in terms of the city's impressive order, quietness and discipline. The city was characterised by its modern infrastructure, luxury hotels and the numerous and impressively designed skyscrapers, which made the high rising towers of Hong Kong and Singapore just a thing of the past.
Moreover, I was surprised by Shanghai's markets and shopping malls that offer a wide range of products, including traditional Chinese products and international brands that include clothes, perfumes, watches, electronics, accessories and jewellery, which attract tourists and visitors.
The city also houses an array of restaurants such as international chains of fast food outlets and luxury restaurants alongside traditional Chinese restaurants. Everything I saw has made me change my negative pre-impressions, which were shaped by the media, and made me see the true image of China. Yet, this does not give this great nation its due.
Although China's people constitute a quarter of the world's population, we did not see a single beggar during our visit, nor did anyone overcharge us for any service or wait insistently for a tip.
Taxi drivers charged us the exact amount displayed on the meter, and turned down any tips with politeness and dignity, which is the same behaviour of hotel and restaurant employees as well as of shopkeepers and salespeople.
It was not clear whether this behaviour is attributed to cultural factors or personal discipline, which reflects the strict political system in the finest details of peoples' lives.
From a political point of view, this strict political system may be the reason behind keeping the country unified and invulnerable towards political chaos and conflicts witnessed by many countries around the world.
It also contributed to achieving self-sufficiency and providing the basic needs of health, education and food to the Chinese people.
Meanwhile, many countries with much smaller populations than China failed to provide the same needs. This includes some Arab countries where people stand in long lines to buy their daily bread from the wee hours of the morning and hospitals fail to provide the most basic treatments.
Moreover, illiteracy is on the rise in these countries, while education declines together with industry and national income, as well as with deficit budgets and the increasing domestic and foreign debts.
In a country such as China, the population of over 1.3 billion people may constitute a misfortune, but China managed to turn it into a blessing through the proper utilisation of human resources in agricultural and industrial production to become a self-reliant economic power.
Through this power, China managed to gain a global status and respect of the world, where no place or respect exists except for the powerful.
China also achieved self-sufficiency and became a major exporter feared by advanced industrial countries, not only in the field of traditional commodities, but in non-conventional commodities, including electronics and advanced technologies.
Such technologies were limited to Western countries and some Asian countries such as Japan and Korea, with generous assistance from the West.
Unmatchable consumer market
China's huge population serves as an unmatchable consumer market and investment attractor. Any factory that manufactures a million or half a million shirts, packs of cigarettes or household items would find a demanding market for its products and a chance to reap continuous profits and expand its business.
This explains the rush of international companies to enter the Chinese market. This also justifies the success of Chinese companies and their expansions beyond their country's geographic borders as well as the transformation of some into global and multi-national companies.
Undoubtedly, China is an amazing country.
The combination of modern creativity and old wisdom must be the key factor behind the great achievement of the Chinese people which starts with attention to detail, cleanliness, and discipline, and does not end with excellence in production and economy.
The firm political system, which is accused by the West of isolationism and violations of human rights, apparently knows the nature of this country's people and problems, and manages them the Chinese way.
This not only secures the status and power that this great nation deserves, but the daily bread, job opportunities, and the education and health requirements of this people. The Chinese government realises that there is no freedom with hunger, nor is there dignity in beggary.
Our Prophet Mohammad (Peace Be Upon Him) told us 1,400 years ago to seek education, even in China. We travelled to China to learn from Chinese creativity and wisdom, since the West is not the only source of education, and is not the sole haven of freedom, even with the well-known saying "Man does not live by bread alone".
