A late learner's insights into splendors of China

Understanding people

"How is it possible to get to a closer understanding (of China)?" he says. "You can read as many books as you like about a place, but unless you actually go there, meet the people, you really don't get any strong impression."

Macfarlane's first visit to the country was essentially as a tourist, but as an anthropologist who had been preoccupied with England, Nepal and Japan, his curiosity was aroused by wanting to compare the models of different civilizations and observe the contrast between East and West, as well as similarities caused largely by China's heavy historical influence in eastern and southern Asia and the commonalities of mankind.

"I suddenly realized that the later part of my life would perhaps be devoted to understanding China," Macfarlane says.

When he returned in 2002 the country's transformation amazed him.

The reform and opening-up, which jump-started China becoming an economic powerhouse, had entered its 25th year of implementation. And in 2001 the country being granted admission to the World Trade Organization and Beijing being granted the right to host the 2008 Olympic Summer Games had brought the country forward, into the limelight.

"From then on our love of China and interest in it… blossomed."

The great changes were appealing to Macfarlane, drawing him back to further explore the land, and the following 17 years gave him and his wife, Sarah Harrison, opportunities to visit China nearly every year until COVID-19 interrupted things.

Macfarlane traveled over almost all of the country, from megacities to remote counties surrounded by sweeping mountains.

He also talked to people from all walks of life, from local government officials in charge of running cities, to people from the Hui ethnic group, who sat by the side of the road playing mahjong. Scholars, musicians, Buddhist monks, his Chinese students and their family members all became his consultants on China.

The vastness of the landscape, the hugely varied culture, the hospitality of the people and the transformation that took place within the period of extraordinary growth were encompassed in travel diaries and photos taken by Harrison, with notes by Macfarlane.

However, for an anthropologist, traveling is much more than sightseeing.