Andy Boreham is from New Zealand. He has lived in Shanghai for 10 years, and he has visited many cities in China. By producing and publishing the short-video series, Reports on China, on social media, he has been showcasing the real China to the world. 

Boreham thinks China is massive, diverse, historical, independent, and global. "China is one of the world's most-massive countries, home to 1.4 billion people. Everything here is done on a giant scale," he says. 

He said while the population is massive, China is not a monolith. The country is mind-bogglingly diverse. There are 56 ethnic groups, each with differing customs and stories, from north to south, east to west, and everywhere in between. 

"China is a historical place; despite the People's Republic of China having been born in just 1949, China has thousands of years of continuous history, and arguably more accumulated wisdom than any other country," he says. 

One of his favorite aspects of China is how independent it is. "China doesn't follow the lead of other nations. China doesn't bow to peer pressure. China is successful, vibrant and strong — because it exists based on its own history, its own needs, and its own people. 

"While China is staunchly independent, it is also — perhaps ironically — extremely global. China has win-win relationships around the world. China acts in the interest of other states, from massive superpowers to tiny island nations. Chinese live all around the world. China knows its part in the future: A shared, global community," he says. 

"I think China is very definitely moving from being the factory of the world to becoming an innovative world leader, in numerous areas. Probably the most obvious is 'green research and technologies,' which China already leads, but will continue to innovate and make more accessible to everyone. 

"China will also continue to change the face of science and technology. It is already a world leader in scientific research and new patents, which, in many ways, is a continuation of its thousands of years of innovation and creation," he adds. 

He expects China to reshape and revolutionize the world, in ways people have yet to imagine, in the near future. "That will almost definitely center around AI (artificial intelligence), a tool that — if used wisely — has the power to change humanity for the better."

Photos from Interviewee

(Women of China English Monthly October 2024)

Editor: Wang Shasha