Better understanding makes it a less dangerous world

Alistair Michie is a keen observer of China. [Photo by Feng Yongbin/China Daily]

"Working in the Parliament is extremely valuable for understanding politics and government while the BBC taught me about communication," Michie says. "I was fortunate to be able to accumulate experiences in many areas before my China adventures."

In 1993, Michie arrived in China as a private consultant to Malcolm Williamson, the head of Standard Chartered. They traveled widely through China, seeking business opportunities. China in the 1990s surprised them with dizzying spectacles that media and books from the West did not describe.

"I remembered vividly that day in Tianjin when I looked out of my hotel window. What I saw was a river of bicycles," Michie recalls. "I had never seen anything like that. For half an hour, I just watched."

Since then, he has not stopped traveling in China and his footsteps have covered 28 of China's 34 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions.

"Everywhere I went in the past 19 years, I've been treated with great kindness by the Chinese people and that hasn't changed," he says.

Chinese history and ancient technology enthrall Michie.

Once, on a trip from Shanghai to Nanjing, he was amazed by the enormity and the busy river traffic of the Grand Canal, the longest artificial waterway in the world. Curious about the stories behind the river, he searched everywhere and eventually found a book by Joseph Needham called Science and Civilization in China.

Needham, a renowned British scientist and Sinologist, gave detailed explanations which inspired Michie to film a TV program about Chinese ancient science and technology.

The Dragon's Ascent was collaboration between the Needham Research Institute of Cambridge University and the Chinese Academy of Sciences. From 1998 to 2001, Michie traveled through China with TV crew, gathering facts and materials.

The Dragon's Ascent, the longest China-themed documentary series in Western media history, had eight one-hour episodes on subjects such as ancient agriculture, papermaking and Chinese medicine.

"We tried to look at China through the eyes of the Chinese and explain it to the world," he says.

The documentaries were first telecast in Hong Kong in 2001 and the director of the Needham Research Institute, Christopher Cullen, commended it as "an outstanding series of research achievements based on independent thinking of scholars from both the East and the West".

Such collaboration is what is needed to bridge the gap of understanding between China and the world, according to Michie. People in the West know very little about life in China because there is a lack of China studies in the education system. On the other hand, China often presents itself to the world in a way that Westerners cannot comprehend.

Michie's long-term research is on how to bridge that gap in understanding. He believes the global financial crisis that started five years ago has made it even more urgent for a robust China to be correctly interpreted by Europe and the United States.

A recent meeting with China's top political leader Xi Jinping together with some 20 other foreign experts gave Michie the perfect opportunity to address his concerns about China's ability to communicate better with the world. He also found the changes in Chinese leadership style delightful.

"Xi came out very approachable and relaxed. And what's more important, he de-politicalized his language," Michie says.

"From a Western point of view, it was hugely impressive."

puzhendong@chinadaily.com.cn.