A Rewarding Experience

Last May, my wife and I returned from a month-long visit to Shanghai, Beijing and a number of other cities in China. It was a rewarding experience to see this vast country on its forward march. China recently overtook the United States as the world's largest market for car manufacturers, and indeed it seemed to me that the country's highways were packed with the latest models.

While the United States and other Western countries slowly recover from the Great Recession, China is growing at an amazing rate of 9.5 percent.

I witnessed China's industrial might while visiting Shanghai's huge container port – the world's largest. As far as the eye could see, a forest of red cranes was loading and unloading containers with robotic precision. It was an amazing display of China's industrial clout. China has also overtaken America as the world's greatest trading nation, and this was obvious to me in Shanghai. In fact, China is now bankrolling America's trillion-dollar budget deficit.

I also found Beijing to be a thriving city. Its ancient and modern buildings represent China's great historical past and promising future. Strolling around the Forbidden City is like stepping back in time, while visiting the Olympic stadium is glimpsing the future. Both Shanghai and Beijing represent China's glorious former days, its shinning, ambitious present and its even brighter future.

I fell in love with the ancient city of Suzhou, known as China's Venice. It is truly a charming city worth discovering. We enjoyed a good cup of tea and Pingtan (traditional Suzhou entertainment) performances in our lovely hotel. We felt and touched ancient China in the hotel, with its latticed windows and winding canal pathways, and stopped to ponder the timeless beauty of the Middle Kingdom. Suzhou's ancient Ming gardens are beautiful and tranquil. There is no better way to acquaint oneself with China's elegant charm than to relax in these green oases. We had a fantastic time on our trip to China. The only thing we would like to see changed in the country is a reduction in the levels of pollution in Beijing and Shanghai. 

Mahmood Elahi

Canada