By Theofanis Zois
Journalist of NAFTEMPORIKI, Greece
I’ve never been to China. What I know about the country comes in fragments — images, articles, stories from others, a documentary here, a political analysis there, an anecdote from someone who went and, as they say, came back a different person. At school, we learned about China as a distant, almost mythical civilization — the Great Wall, Chinese porcelain, the Dragon Parades, Confucius. Later, during the years of economic crisis, China entered our lives through containers, Chinese shops, and COSCO’s presence in the port of Piraeus. It started appearing on store shelves with low-cost products, in investment news, and in conversations among journalists and friends who wondered whether China is ultimately an opportunity or a threat. Lately, I read about it in the news as a global superpower — a country sending rockets into space and investing in the far corners of the world.
And yet, despite all this, China remains for me an unknown land. And I don’t want to look at it solely through economic or geopolitical lenses. I don’t know what a Chinese morning smells like, or what it’s like to walk the streets of Beijing or any of its megacities, to speak — as much as I can — with people there, beyond the official and the orchestrated. What I care about is understanding the people. How do they live? What do they think about when they wake up? What is it like to be a young person, a journalist, or simply a citizen in a country with so many restrictions — and just as many ambitions? What is the truth, and what part of it is shaped by the filter we, in the West, often use when we talk about China?
I’ve heard many and varied things. That people there are serious, yet kind. That the cities are chaotic, yet organized. That there are strict rules, but also warm eyes. That everything feels very different from us, and yet something ancient — perhaps our shared sense of history — connects us.
Before I set foot in China, the only thing I truly know is that I’m eager to see with my own eyes what this country really is — a country that inspires fear for some, admiration for others, and for me — still — a question. And if you ask me what I expect personally from this trip, I won’t answer with certainties. I’m not going there to confirm or reject what I’ve heard. I’m going to experience. To observe. To step outside my “framework.” Maybe to discover new words, new rhythms, or simply to break that Western mirror through which we so often view what is unfamiliar. I believe this journey will give me the chance to witness a new world — a different perspective, a different philosophy. To get a taste of what China really is. Because maybe, in the end, China is less of an answer and more of an invitation — an invitation to see the world differently.
*The views and opinions expressed in the articles are solely those of the individual authors and do not reflect the position of the Secretariat of the Belt and Road Journalist Network.