BY ZUZANA LECHANOVA
News Reporter of Slovak Television, Slovakia
A packed suitcase, a passport with fresh visas and an incredible chaos in my head to manage everything in my family and work. In just a few hours I will board a plane and set off on my first reporting trip to China. Although as a journalist I have studied all the basic facts about its economy, size and politics, I subconsciously feel that I am about to jump into a completely different dimension that I have never been in. I am flying into a world that will, by all accounts, completely tear me away from my Slovak comfort zone.
One of the things that fascinates me the most is the enormous cultural and historical paradox of this country. How can the current political system be combined with thousand‑year‑old traditions in one state? In order to understand this at least a little, I have spent the last few weeks and days at the computer and information not only about the second most populous country in the world, but also about Chinese history and philosophy. My guide on this trip will probably be the philosophical message of the philosopher Confucius. I know that 2,500 years ago, he laid the foundations on which China stands to this day. His emphasis on hierarchy, absolute respect for authority, the importance of family, and the subordination of the individual to the interests of the collective, all of which I want to see and experience live, as if on a live broadcast. I am extremely curious to see whether the proverbial social harmony and discipline on the Chinese streets is real, or just a carefully maintained facade for foreigners.
However, the image of modern China arouses the greatest emotions in me. I am not flying to the developing world, but to the global technological epicenter. From what I have read in the technology reviews so far, I feel that I am not flying to another country, but to the future. My expectations are huge and, I admit, accompanied by respect. I wonder how I will manage to function in a digital society where cash or my European payment cards mean nothing. Everything is said to stand and fall on QR codes and WeChat or Alipay applications. I am literally looking forward to the moment when I meet an autonomous robot in a hotel instead of a receptionist and admire the architecture that looks like it was cut out of a sci-fi movie. I am also fascinated by the idea of transfers by super fast trains and how efficiently cities with tens of millions of inhabitants can function without absolute chaos and collapse.
However, I know that I must not remain just a charmed tourist. As a reporter, I also carry a healthy dose of professional skepticism with me. I am already writing down questions in my notebook that I want to find answers to. How do local people perceive the massive surveillance system, ubiquitous cameras with facial recognition and the social credit system? We also have cameras in Europe and they are also elsewhere in the world, e.g. in the USA. I want to understand this huge paradox, how modern China can so perfectly connect ancient Confucian morality with a hyper-modern digital system. I know that when the plane takes off from the ground in Vienna, I will be in for the most intense cultural and technological lesson of my life.
*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.