China: A Global Power That Wants the Whole World to Be Its Market

Several cameras are pointed directly at my face. And on it, despair. A police officer at Beijing airport is examining my passport, flipping through the pages, looking at the visa, reading my handwritten note we received on the plane stating where I am going and for what purpose. And he won’t let me go.

– What do you mean, you don’t have data on where exactly you are going? I can’t let you into the country – explains the Chinese police officer, who is not at all impressed that I am a journalist from Croatia.

I don’t know exactly where I am going even though I have a rough plan in my head. I have come to Beijing, I am also going to Ningbo and Hangzhou, but I have all the details about this trip only in my email. However, my mobile internet is not working, and I cannot activate the eSIM and VPN. Although I checked thoroughly whether everything would work, nothing is functioning, and that means I am cut off from the world and do not have all the information about why I actually came to China. I don’t know which hotels I will stay in and I am suspicious. The officer is not interested that all my fellow journalists traveling with me have passed the control. He is not interested that we will be greeted by a delegate from the Chinese Association for Public Diplomacy, nor that this person will travel with us the whole time. Only when I show him the printed schedule of visits does he finally let me go. Reluctantly, I see it in his eyes. I haven’t even reached Beijing, and I am already concluding that without papers and precise data, one cannot wander around China just like that.

I am also aware that I urgently need to solve the problem with my mobile phone, especially if I intend to buy anything there. Not only do I have no cash, I didn’t bring euros or dollars because I was warned back in Croatia that the Chinese no longer accept cards in many places. So how will I pay with Alipay, which I previously installed, if I am already stuck from the start and have no internet? After arriving at the hotel, I barely solve the problem by connecting to Wi-Fi. I buy a new eSIM, finally activate the VPN, bypass the Chinese firewall, and gain my window to the world, that is, access to all the applications I use at home, as well as my email. I screenshot everything at once so that if I get stuck somewhere, I have all the data. I should have done that right away, back in Zagreb…

Political Idol Worship

The first stop of our visit to China is a trip to the editorial office of the People’s Daily, the official newspaper of the Communist Party of China. As someone who has worked in several Croatian daily newspapers, which have been so decimated that the editorial offices are reduced to barely a hundred square meters, the People’s Daily leaves me breathless with its grandeur. The newspaper is located in an impressive complex that occupies several hectares! The delegation that welcomed us first shows us a small lake with a garden full of lotuses, where there are also traditional Chinese pagodas (where, presumably, journalists seek inspiration). Before heading to the newsroom in the stunning skyscraper and meeting with colleagues, we visit a room that reads the history of this daily newspaper. It chronologically displays the key phases of the development of the People’s Daily, from its founding in 1948 to modern digital transformations. Photographs, archival materials, and quotes from prominent editors and state leaders, primarily the current President of the People’s Republic of China Xi Jinping, and even Vladimir Putin himself, who has a place on the wall here as a particularly esteemed statesman and friend of China, give us the true context of the political role of the editorial office of the daily newspaper we are entering.

Here, it is as clear as day that journalism is not just a profession but also an instrument for shaping public opinion and state policy. The wall with historical anecdotes serves, presumably, as a kind of visual lesson on Chinese history and political upheavals, but also as a constant reminder of who the allies of modern China are, no matter what we think about it. And although it initially seemed to us that this historical reminder was reserved only for the media premises – a similar ‘lesson’ awaited us during our visit to the Chinese state news agency Xinhua News Agency and other media on our journey through China – such walls dedicated to the Communist Party and President Xi Jinping also adorn the walls of many other companies, whether state-owned or privately held, even those listed on the stock exchanges… Chinese ones, of course. Simply put, we are not used to such political idol worship, but here it is nurtured, no matter what we think about it.

Rapid Growth in the Number of Patents

Politics is not the only thing that stands out in China. The very next day, we visit the Zhongguancun Innovation Exhibition Center, which is a kind of gallery for showcasing the latest innovative achievements of Beijing and its entire Zhongguancun province, known as the ‘Chinese Silicon Valley’. It spans 10,000 square meters where the strongest technologies and products emerging in Beijing and its surroundings from more than 350 research institutions and companies are presented. Represented, of course, are AI technology, space technology, the automotive industry, energy, high-end medical devices, and much more, and we are on-site viewing the latest Xiaomi SU7 Max, the first electric car from the smartphone and consumer electronics manufacturer, which has captivated the entire Chinese market, as well as the rest of the world because, they proudly explain to us there, ‘it achieves acceleration from zero to 100 km/h in an impressive 2.78 seconds, firmly placing it in the club of ‘supercars under two seconds’.

We don’t know what Mate Rimac thinks about this, but we know that Xiaomi is trying to deliver all pre-orders on time, of which there are so many that this tech company could soon become one of the largest automotive companies in the world. In the Center, we also play with Chinese humanoid robots, view the latest helicopters, autonomous driving systems, spacecraft, clean energy generation systems, home 3D televisions while our hosts explain to us how China is the largest applicant for patents in the world, and the number of patents grows by 0.9 percent each year compared to the previous year. So it doesn’t surprise us, but perhaps what surprised us the most was what was said at the end of the tour.

– In the midst of a new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation, China is exploring cooperation models in which everyone wins, which promote global technology exchange and universally beneficial progress – they conclude at the end.

China, this mantra will be repeated during our journey, wants to cultivate good relations with the rest of the world. ‘We don’t have to fully understand each other, but we can trade and respect each other’, that is the message it wants to send to the world. Yes, China is different from Europe, and from the rest of the Western world. The Chinese language is incomprehensible to us, as is the script, but their history spans thousands of years. During that time, the country did not adapt to others, no one conquered it, except for a brief period when the British occupied part of it, which the Chinese still mention today as one of the more shameful parts of their history. Because of all this, they are proud of their history, tradition, culture, people, their language and script, as well as the fact that they are, above all, a global power. And they are, without a doubt! But it is a power that wants the whole world to be its market. Even small Croatia, which they speak of with respect all the time.

Children in Factories Are Not Needed

Just as the Chinese are interested in Croatia, we are also interested in China. Once we settled in, we talked with locals about many topics, after all, they follow us 24 hours a day, so we open topics with our hosts that, supposedly, should not be discussed. The Uyghurs, camps, the detention of the local, mostly Muslim population, we put that topic on the table… But just as we are ready to ask anything, they are ready to answer.

– Haven’t you seen Muslims on the streets? Why would we chase and detain them somewhere else, when here in Beijing or Hangzhou they walk freely? – they respond with a counter-question.

– Well, what about the factories where children work, how do you comment on that? – we press further. After all, we are journalists.

– Do you really think that in a populous country that is trying to maintain a high employment rate, which is not easy at all, children would be employed? We barely have enough jobs for the working-age population, children belong in schools anyway – our hosts emphasize.

And employment is a problem in China today, that is clear to us. Technological advancement has reduced the need for labor, which is why jobs for the large population are literally being invented, and that is a burden for local budgets, no matter how much they try to give the impression that it is not so.

In eight days in China, the schedule is tight. We didn’t make it to the Great Wall, but we did to the Forbidden City, a complex of 9999 and a half rooms (yes, half of the last room), because the number 10,000 is available only to deities. In that complex, every pagoda, passage, and new courtyard seems to whisper stories about Chinese emperors, their concubines, and various dynastic intrigues. Golden roofs with red and green details, monumental entrances and passages convey the power that has been untouchable for centuries. To some extent, Tiananmen Square is still untouchable today. To visit it, as well as the mausoleum of Mao Zedong, one must stand in line for hours in the sun, so in temperatures above 35 degrees, we give up on that endeavor and head to the main train station.

Beautiful Trains Don’t Smell So Nice

The option was to travel to the next destination by plane for two hours or by high-speed train for six hours, so of course, we travel by rail. We want to see how one of the symbols of Chinese technological ambition works, the high-speed railway that connects the capital with Zhejiang province in the south on the shores of the East China Sea. Although we expected to be dazzled by the futuristic design and speed of the train, something completely unexpected happened. The train is visually impressive, and it is fast, without a doubt, but the interior tells a different story, which is not so refined and technologically advanced. The fact cannot be hidden that long journeys and a high frequency of passengers have left their mark inside the train.

The seats are somewhat comfortable, but neither is the space clean nor is the smell that spreads through the crowded carriage pleasant. People eat, take off their shoes, sleep, argue, and watch Chinese soap operas… At least those who have internet, because there is no Wi-Fi on the train. For a country that prides itself on advanced technology, we find that the hardest to bear. As well as the squat toilets. The Chinese can squat without any problem and prefer to do it that way. For us, used to different toilets, such options are not something we would choose, so wherever we can, we opt for what the Chinese also call ‘civilized toilets’.

Beijing quickly disappears from the train. Industrial zones, residential blocks, and suburbs are replaced by green tea plantations and countless industrial facilities that just line up along cities that sometimes seem almost abandoned. Are these the metropolises that gape empty or is it that in the midst of that urban environment, no one is wandering the streets? But, to be fair, the speed of the train is mostly around 300 kilometers per hour, so it is possible that we do not notice all the details. After six hours of travel, we arrive in Ningbo, 1200 kilometers away, a port city and industrial and cultural center where modern skyscrapers and ancient temples share space.

It used to be a tourist center, and although the city is still visited by many Chinese tourists, domestic travelers at the end of June, when we were there, did not fill the main tourist street in the old part of the city, and the bars were almost pitifully empty. The streets are narrow, illuminated by neon signs and twinkling lights over empty tables. Despite this, singers in the bars sing loudly and passionately into microphones, as if competing to see who can be louder and whose song is sadder, which echoes through the empty spaces and makes the atmosphere of the city somewhat depressing.

But for us, the travelers from Croatia, then, at dusk, amidst the sounds of romantic Chinese songs that drown out the bars, the real spectacle begins. In the darkness, the skyscrapers begin their transformation, a true play of light and color begins. Neon signs and LED lights light up on the glass facades of the tall buildings, starting their dance to the rhythm of the city. Red, blue, and green lights highlight architectural details, and the reflection on the river creates the impression that the skyscrapers are floating above the water. This is that Instagrammable China, we conclude as we capture the best shot.

A City Where Packages Don’t Get Stuck

In the morning, we head to the port of Ningbo, joking: ‘So, our packages with Temu get stuck there!’ Hardly anything gets stuck there, everything is automated and very productive. We hardly encounter any workers, just the occasional truck driver, even though we drive for a long time through the port and pass under the enormous RA-LU cranes that lift containers. In the distance, ships slowly move through the mist of the East China Sea, waiting their turn to unload. By the way, the Ningbo-Zhoushan port is one of the largest and busiest in China, but also in the world.

The port infrastructure has so many modern logistics solutions that it can accommodate containers as well as bulk and liquid cargo such as oil and chemicals. In terms of container traffic, it regularly ranks at the top of global charts: over thirty million TEUs pass through it each year, which means it is almost crucial for Chinese exports, but also for the import of raw materials. And there is also a wall with important information about the port, as well as a photograph that testifies when the Chinese president visited the port with a delegation from the Communist Party. Just so it is known!

The last stop of our visit was Hangzhou, a city on the shores of the beautiful West Lake, whose calm waters, pagodas, and bridges attract tourists from all over China and the world. But Hangzhou is much more than a beautiful backdrop for social media. In the air, one can truly feel the energy of a different kind of prosperity: the streets and squares are bustling with people enjoying life, and our hosts tell us that incomes in this city are among the highest in China.

This does not surprise us, as it is home to the headquarters of the largest Chinese tech giants like Alibaba and DeepSeek. We would love to visit them, but Alibaba is not on the agenda this time, and you cannot enter DeepSeek anyway. They do not accept visitors, our hosts inform us, it is a closed system. But they do accept resumes, and as we hear, AI engineers are paid handsomely there. Salaries in tech companies are above all Chinese averages, which can be sensed in the city.

– And catching a guy who works in those companies, has a good salary, and an even better perspective is a real jackpot – the young representatives of the local authorities who accompany us reveal with a smile.

They clearly know what they are talking about, which is why they have moved to this city!