Transcript of We Were Almost Entirely Wrong About China
BZ Travel – Unfiltered Journeys
0:00We had a theory about China.0:01>> [music]0:02>> We had read things, watched the news,0:04talked to people who had been there. We0:07thought we had a reasonable picture of0:08what to expect.0:10We were wrong. Not a little wrong.0:13Almost entirely wrong.0:15This is the first video in a series0:17about 22 days inside China.0:20We traveled privately, just the two of0:22us, with a different local guide in each0:25city.0:27No tour buses, no group schedules, just0:30us.0:31Moving through one of the most0:33extraordinary countries on Earth, trying0:35our best to understand it.0:37We are going to show you the landscapes0:40and the food0:41and the things you come to China to see.0:45But we are also going to try to explain0:47something harder.0:48What this country actually is, how it0:51thinks, what it has been through, why it0:54ended up here.0:56Because if you only watch the pretty0:57pictures, you will miss the whole story.1:00My name is Tressa.1:02That guy you keep seeing on screen,1:04exploring everything, sitting in every1:07car, that's my husband, Sarko.1:11Together we run this channel and1:13together we spent [music] 22 days1:15traveling China privately.1:18We came back with more questions than1:20answers, which honestly is the best1:22possible outcome from any trip.1:25I'm American, born and raised in the US,1:29which means I grew up with a pretty1:30specific picture of the world.1:33Communism was the enemy. The Soviet bloc1:36was gray [music] and scary.1:38And China was this distant, mysterious1:40place you only heard about when1:43something went wrong.1:45Sarko's story is different. He grew up1:47in Bulgaria under communism, not reading1:51about it, living it. One party, state1:54control over everything. You kept your1:56head down and you did not ask the wrong1:59questions.2:01He left at 25 as a political refugee,2:04built a business in Seattle that2:05supported 125 families,2:08and when we retired,2:10we moved back to Bulgaria, to Burgas on2:13the Black Sea. That was 7 years ago.2:17I'm telling you all of this because it2:19matters for everything you're about to2:21see.2:22When I look at China, I'm looking2:24through American eyes.2:26When Zarko looks at China, he's looking2:29through the eyes of someone who actually2:30lived inside a communist system.2:33Our questions are completely different,2:35[music]2:35and when we compare notes at the end of2:37the day, neither one of us has the full2:39picture alone.2:41But together, we get a little closer to2:43something real.2:45That's what this series is about.2:47Getting closer to something real about2:49China.2:51Before we left, we spent weeks trying to2:53prepare.2:55Reading, watching documentaries,2:57talking to anyone who'd actually been2:59there.3:01And we kept coming back to the same3:02question. How?3:05How does a country running a communist3:07system,3:08the same basic system that gave Bulgaria3:10empty shelves,3:12that gave the Soviet Union the gulags,3:15that gave the world North Korea,3:18how does that same system produce the3:20world's second largest economy,3:23bullet trains, cashless cities,3:26more new billionaires every year than3:27anywhere else on the planet?3:30It didn't add up. And for Zarko, who3:32actually lived inside that system, it3:34made even less sense than it did for me.3:37So, either China was doing something3:39very different from what the textbooks3:41[music] say, or the textbooks were3:43missing something important.3:45We booked 22 [music] days to find out.3:49We flew out of Istanbul. Turkish3:51Airlines is practically on our doorstep3:53from Burgas, and Istanbul has become one3:56of the great travel hubs in the world.3:58Connected to almost everywhere.4:01With business class fares that are a4:03fraction of what you'd pay on a European4:05carrier.4:06On a 10-hour flight, [music] business4:08class stops being a luxury. It becomes4:11self-preservation.4:13We landed early morning at Shanghai4:14Pudong, and for our very first4:16experience of China, we decided to take4:19the Maglev into the city.4:22Magnetic levitation. No wheels on the4:24track. Top speed of 430 km/h. [music]4:29It felt like exactly the right way to4:30arrive.4:32Honest review is 20 years [music] old.4:35The technology is actually German.4:37Invented in Germany, built here, then4:40largely abandoned worldwide4:42>> [music]4:42>> because it was too expensive and too4:44inflexible to scale.4:47The train was nearly [music] empty on a4:49weekday morning. The interior felt4:51dated, and the top speed we actually hit4:54was around 300 km/h.4:57Which sounds impressive until you learn4:59that China's regular high-speed trains5:02now reach similar speeds across the5:04entire country.5:06We'd see [music] that for ourselves on5:07our first bullet train ride a few days5:09later.5:11Our hotel was right on Nanjing Road. Not5:13near it, on it. We opened the curtains,5:17and there it was, directly below us.5:19The most famous commercial street in5:21Shanghai, running from the Bund straight5:24through the heart of the city.5:26It never stops, day or night.5:29We slept for a few hours.5:30>> [music]5:31>> The 7-hour time difference from Bulgaria5:33is not kind.5:35And then we went walking.5:37This is the moment. The one I'd heard5:40other travelers talk about, but hadn't5:42quite believed.5:44When what you expected and what you're5:47actually standing inside quietly come5:50apart.5:52The streets are spotless. The5:54architecture is extraordinary. [music]5:56Every luxury brand you've ever heard of5:58is here.6:01Alongside Chinese brands I'd never6:03encountered.6:05>> [music]6:06>> People are well-dressed, unhurried,6:09going about their lives.6:11Everything moves with this purposeful6:12efficiency I can only describe as6:15organized.6:16People compare Nanjing Road at night to6:19Times Square.6:20I've been to Times Square.6:22Times Square is loud and chaotic in a6:24way that feels almost accidental.6:27Nanjing Road feels deliberate, like6:29someone asked what a great city street6:32should actually look like and then built6:34the answer.6:37There's a robot that makes coffee right6:39there on the street. You walk up, tap6:42your order on a screen, and a mechanical6:44arm makes your espresso.6:48We walked to the Bund as the sun was6:50going down.6:51The famous waterfront promenade along6:53the Huangpu River6:55with grand colonial-era European6:57buildings on one side6:59and the futuristic towers of Pudong7:02rising on the other.7:04It's one of the iconic images of modern7:06China.7:09The old world that came here and built7:11something and the new world that rose to7:13completely dwarf it.7:16The crowd was enormous and almost7:18entirely Chinese. Families, young7:21couples, older people in groups, very7:24few Western faces.7:26That turned out to be a pattern for all7:2822 days.7:31China has become a massive internal7:33tourism destination.7:40The next morning, we had something7:42unusual planned.7:44We wanted to understand how China thinks7:47about technology7:48because even before we arrived, that7:51felt like one of the keys to7:52understanding the country itself.7:56So, our guide took us to the Huawei7:57flagship store.8:00In the West, Huawei is complicated. In8:03the US, the products are outright8:05banned, considered a national security8:07risk.8:09In Europe, there's ongoing debate.8:13And then you walk into their flagship8:15store in Shanghai, and you immediately8:17understand why they make governments8:19nervous.8:22This is not a phone company. Huawei is8:24an entire ecosystem.8:27Smartphones,8:29tablets,8:30laptops,8:31smartwatches,8:33home automation, and cars.8:36Full electric vehicles, multiple models.8:39Beautiful [music] things.8:41Zarko moved through that showroom like a8:43kid the week before Christmas.8:45He sat [music] in every single one.8:47The ST9,8:49the Z7, the M9, every one of them.8:54What stopped [music] us both was a8:55laptop called the MateBook Fold.8:58It opens like a normal laptop.9:02Then the screen unfolds into a full-size9:04display.9:06>> [music]9:07>> Something between a tablet and a9:08workstation in a single piece of9:10hardware.9:13The engineering is genuinely remarkable.9:18Zarko stood at that table for a long9:20time.9:23Then, the Xiaomi store. [music]9:25Xiaomi makes everything. Phones, TVs,9:29rice cookers, scooters,9:32robot vacuums,9:34and a car. The Xiaomi SU7 is an electric9:37sedan that's been making European and9:40American automakers quietly nervous.9:43It looks better than most of what it9:45competes with.9:47And it costs considerably less.9:51The DJI store. Everything you're9:53watching right now was filmed on [music]9:55a DJI Osmo Pocket 4, Zarko's camera of9:59choice for this channel. Walking into10:01the DJI flagship felt a little10:03ceremonial.10:05Walking store to store that morning,10:07something kept pulling at me.10:09>> [music]10:09>> This isn't innovation arriving from10:11nowhere. China graduates more engineers10:14every year than any other country on10:16Earth.10:17The government identified AI, electric10:20vehicles, and advanced manufacturing as10:23national priorities10:24>> [music]10:24>> and then sustained that investment for10:26decades.10:28Whatever you think of the political10:30system behind those decisions,10:32>> [music]10:32>> the output is sitting right in front of10:33you and it works.10:35>> You can go 1,000 km on this.10:381,40010:40hybrid.10:41>> One of the most remarkable things we saw10:43in Shanghai10:45wasn't a landmark or a tech showroom. It10:48was a supermarket. Hema Fresh, owned by10:51Alibaba, looks like an upscale grocery10:54at first.10:55Seafood tanks where you point at your10:57fish and they prepare it for you.10:59Beautiful produce.11:01A hot food section.11:03Normal aisles.11:04But look up. Running above the entire11:07store is a conveyor belt. A whole11:09network of ceiling tracks with bags11:12hanging from them moving in every11:14direction. A silent river of orders11:17flowing overhead while people shop11:19below.11:20Hema isn't just a supermarket. It's a11:23fulfillment center that also lets people11:25shop in person.11:27Employees walk the aisles filling online11:30orders in real time.11:32Bag them, hook them onto the overhead11:35system, and the bags travel to the back11:38where delivery riders are waiting. 3011:40minutes or less within 3 km.11:44We were told some people specifically11:46choose where to live based on whether11:49they're inside a Hema delivery zone.11:52The delivery infrastructure across11:53Shanghai is unlike anything I'd seen11:56before.11:57In the financial district at lunchtime,12:00we stopped to watch the office lunch12:02system in action.12:04Smart lockers built right into building12:06lobbies.12:07A driver arrives, taps the code, drops a12:10bag of food in a specific compartment.12:12The person upstairs gets a notification12:14on WeChat, comes down, opens their12:17compartment, takes their lunch. No12:20contact, no confusion.12:23While we were standing there, a drone12:24arrived. An actual drone descending from12:28above the buildings with a food bag12:30hanging underneath it.12:32Landing precisely on a marked drop zone.12:35The food came from a restaurant on the12:36rooftop of a nearby mall.12:39From the moment someone placed the order12:41to the moment the drone landed, 1212:43minutes.12:46Our guide told us her mother, an elderly12:48woman living alone, gets almost12:50everything delivered this way.12:52Groceries, meals, household items.12:56She orders on WeChat, pays on WeChat,12:59and it arrives at her door. She never13:01has to carry heavy bags or fight through13:04crowded markets.13:05I found that genuinely moving. And13:07that's when I started to understand why13:09everyone in China is on their phone.13:12It isn't mindless scrolling. Their phone13:14isn't a distraction from their life. It13:17is the system that runs their life. And13:19in China, it runs it remarkably well.13:24We also spent time in the BYD showroom.13:27Build your dreams.13:29Now the largest electric vehicle13:31manufacturer in the world by sales,13:33bigger than Tesla,13:35bigger than Volkswagen.13:37In China, electric vehicles aren't a13:40trend or a glimpse of the future.13:42They're just what cars are.13:45One of the malls we visited had car13:47dealerships on the ground floor,13:50inside the shopping mall, not in the13:52parking lot, between the restaurant and13:54the clothing store. You could buy an13:56electric vehicle and then go up two13:59floors for dinner.14:00The contrast with the Tesla showroom14:02nearby was hard to ignore.14:05Huawei had eight or nine models filling14:07the floor. [music]14:08And Nio is similar, multiple models,14:11lounge atmosphere, sales people who14:14genuinely wanted to walk you through14:15everything.14:17Tesla had two cars.14:19It felt sparse by comparison.14:22On our last morning in Shanghai, our14:24guide did something we weren't14:26expecting.14:27Instead of another landmark or another14:30showroom, she took us to a park.14:33It was early, maybe 7:30, 8:00 in14:35[music] the morning, and the park was14:37full. Not full like a tourist site, full14:41of people who belonged there,14:42>> [music]14:43>> retired people mostly, spread across the14:45whole space in different groups, each14:48one doing something completely14:49different.14:50>> What is the name of this park?14:51>> Fuxing Park.14:52>> Fuxing Park. Fuxing Park.15:04Tai chi in one corner,15:06a ballroom dancing group nearby,15:08>> [music]15:08>> 20 people partner dancing on the paving15:11stones to music from a small speaker on15:14a bench.15:18>> [music]15:18>> Further along, a group of musicians15:20playing traditional instruments15:22together.15:26And then, further still, a group just15:28singing together, like they did this15:31every single morning.15:36I joined the Tai Chi [music] group. It15:38looked deceptively easy, slow, balanced,15:41graceful.15:42But the moment I tried to follow along,15:44I realized [music]15:46I had completely misjudged it.15:48Balancing on one foot, moving through15:50those sequences, it takes real muscle,15:53real concentration, [music] real15:55practice.15:57Tai Chi is not what it looks like from15:58the outside.16:06We spent almost 2 hours there. We hadn't16:09planned to.16:10>> [music]16:10>> We just couldn't leave.16:11At some point, our guide mentioned that16:13women in China retire at 57, men around16:1762 or 63.16:20Earlier than almost anywhere [music] in16:21the Western world. And this is what they16:24do with that time. Every morning,16:26together, not at home in front of a16:29television, out in the fresh air,16:31moving, playing, singing, connecting.16:35Sarco said something afterwards that I16:37keep coming back to.16:39He said, "This is what retirement16:41[music] should look like."16:43I couldn't argue with him.16:45After those first few days in Shanghai,16:47one question kept coming back. We walked16:50Nanjing Road, stood at the Bund,16:53watched a drone deliver lunch in 1216:55minutes,16:56danced with strangers in a park at 8:0016:58in the morning.17:00How did this happen? Here's what I knew17:02going in.17:03In 1950, [music]17:05China was one of the poorest countries17:06on Earth. The average person here earned17:09less than the average person in17:11sub-Saharan Africa.17:13A century of war, invasion, famine,17:16[music] and political upheaval had torn17:19the country apart.17:20No electricity in most villages, no17:23paved roads, no real industry, and then17:26it got worse before it got better.17:29In 1958,17:30Mao Zedong launched what he called the17:33Great Leap Forward. The plan was to17:35transform China into a modern industrial17:38power [music]17:39within 15 years.17:41Private farming was abolished.17:44The people at home had nothing left to17:46eat.17:47Between 15 and 45 million people died in17:50the famine that followed.17:54This is the China that existed within17:56living memory.17:58Many of the older people we met on this18:00trip, guides, hotel staff, people who18:03looked roughly our age, were born into18:06that world, or their parents were. Real18:09hollow-stomach starvation isn't distant18:12history here. It's one generation back.18:15Then, in 1978, something changed. Mao18:19had died 2 years earlier.18:21A man named Deng Xiaoping took power,18:24and Deng looked at the wreckage of the18:26previous 30 years, and made a decision18:29that was remarkable for how simple it18:30was.18:32"Whatever works," he said, "if a cat18:34catches mice, it doesn't matter if it's18:37black or white."18:38He opened China to foreign investment,18:41allowed private business alongside the18:43state, created special zones where18:45market capitalism was explicitly18:48permitted, just to test it, to see what18:50happened.18:52He sent Chinese students abroad to study18:54in Western universities.18:56He rewarded results. He kept the18:58Communist Party in political control,19:01kept the one-party system, the state19:03surveillance, the control of19:05information.19:06But onto all of that, he grafted a form19:09of capitalism so aggressive [music]19:11and competitive, It makes most Western19:14economies look cautious.19:16And the result,19:18China today is not communist [music] in19:20any way Marx would recognize. It's19:22something with no clean name.19:25A one-party political structure running19:27on top of an extraordinarily dynamic19:29market economy.19:31The government sets direction, the19:33market does the work, the people get19:35richer, and in exchange for that rising19:38prosperity, they accept a level of state19:41control over their political lives and19:44their access to information that would19:46be unthinkable in a Western democracy.19:50From Shanghai, we flew south to Guilin.19:53A landscape so ancient it's been19:55appearing in Chinese paintings for 2,00019:57years.19:58We cruised the Li River.20:00We climbed into the rice terraces of20:02Longji.20:04And we started to understand that China20:06is not one thing.20:08It's many things at once, and they don't20:10always agree with each other.20:13Over the next videos, we'll take you20:14through [music]20:1511 cities and 22 days.20:19Landscapes unlike anything in Europe.20:22People who were warmer and more generous20:24[music] than either of us had any reason20:26to expect.20:30And we'll try to understand, without20:32looking away from the complicated parts,20:35what China actually is.
2,826 words · 540 lines
