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Preface
As a person of Chinese birth, naturally I have natural feelings for the land of my birth, and I still see things from my own perspective. Having lived outside China since 1945, I have returned to China three times. The longest time was in the year 2000, for one whole year. During this year I visited twenty-seven out of thirty provinces and special administrative regions such as Hong Kong and Macao. Besides lecturing in China’s protestant theological colleges and churches, I also was invited to appear in China’s Catholic Church and its theological colleges. On top of all these, I also lectured in some thirty-five universities and colleges during that same trip.
Upon my return to Canada, I received many invitations to share my experiences in China. In my presentations, I avoided as much as possible praising or condemning China, but only told it like it is. In doing so, I discovered to my great surprise that the Canadian general public by and large understands China through negative perceptions of the country. They expected to hear me confirm their prejudices against China, and when I failed to satisfy their preconceived perceptions, they became very angry and rude with me. Many have accused me of betraying the Canadian values and as such have said that I had no right to return to Canada, and that I should go back to China.
There have been Canadians who have been to China and have seen the progress and positive aspects of China, and who upon their return to Canada have been unwilling to share their true feelings about China because it seems more politically correct to condemn China than to speak in favour of China. For me, good Canadian values are fairness and mutual respect for others. It is in the best interests of Canada to have China as a friend in this world of ours where peace and understanding are lacking.
In this present book, I would like to inform the public of some of the basic facts about China, and my own views of China which the reader may call the other side of the story. I do not claim that my views are true and correct, but at least Canadians should hear the other side of the story. Some of the negative perceptions by the Canadians of China are correct, but China should not be judged nor understood merely by singling out the negative aspects of China, such as the Tiananmen Square killings and the Tibetan independence issue. Most Canadians seem to limit their understanding of China in terms of these two issues. This book will not avoid these two issues, but will discuss them in some depth.
China today is the only oldest continuous civilization on Earth. Whether you like it or not, there is something to learn from this. Together, we can still help China with fairness and respect for friendship and good will which will be good for future generations and world peace.
Victoria, B.C, Canada
Easter Sunday
April 16, 2006