mark lin, a famous australian sinologist, gave an exclusive interview to the global times: the biggest change in china is its attitude towards the outside world.
2024-09-30
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[global times reporter xia wenxin and xu jiatong] colin mackerras, who is 85 years old this year, is an honorary professor at griffith university in australia and a famous australian sinologist. he has published "changing china". marklin began learning chinese in the late 1950s and visited china for the first time in 1964. his eldest son was born in beijing. he is particularly interested in topics such as traditional chinese culture, australia-china relations, and western perceptions of china. in the 1970s, marklin co-founded the department of asian studies at griffith university. since then, he has been busy teaching, writing books, and traveling to various countries, especially china. he has visited china more than 80 times in 50 years. in 2014, he won the chinese government friendship award at the great hall of the people. recently, in an exclusive interview with a reporter from the global times, marklin described the changes he has seen in china over the past 60 years and why china has been able to persist on its own path to modernization.
global times:as a famous australian sinologist, how did your story with china and sinology begin?
marklin:it all started in the late 1950s, when my mother saw an advertisement in the newspaper for a scholarship for an asian studies course in canberra, australia's capital, with a particular focus on china. my mother understood at the time the importance of asia to australia's future, and i have always been deeply grateful for her insight.
later i went to cambridge university in the uk to continue my studies. at that time i completed a graduation thesis on the history of the tang dynasty in china, and then continued to study traditional chinese music. in the summer of 1964, i met a friend in cambridge and he told me that he was going to teach in china. later, at my request, he recommended me to the chinese agency in the uk.
soon after, i also went to china and taught english for two years at beijing foreign studies university (now beijing foreign studies university). at the time, few australians taught there. this experience really changed my life for the better, and i gained an understanding of china and its culture that i wouldn't have gained otherwise.
global times:you have always been concerned about china's image in the eyes of westerners. how do you use what you see and hear in china to dispel some of the misunderstandings from the outside world?
marklin:the sad current situation is that the mainstream western media cooperates closely with the government on the issue of perception of china, which has a certain negative impact on people's impression of china in the united states and other western countries. but i belong to a group that has a different attitude towards china. i try my best to use the influence i have to tell people that china has its own views and encourage people to go and see china for themselves. i firmly believe that only by visiting china, and especially living in china, can people truly understand china and its culture. recently, i took several grandchildren and other family members to china at my own expense because i wanted them to learn about china.
global times:you have visited china almost every year since the 1970s. in your opinion, in which aspect has china changed the most over the years?
marklin:from 1977 to 2020, i basically visited china at least once every year. after the covid-19 epidemic is over, i will visit china again in 2023. this year, i have also stayed in china for 7 weeks.
over the past 50 years, china has changed in many aspects. but in my opinion, the biggest change in china is its attitude towards the outside world. i remember that when i first went to china, my students and colleagues were not interested in the outside world. but later, they gradually became very interested. they continued to travel abroad and maintained a positive and wise attitude towards the outside world. while i’m talking about “the outside world” primarily in the west, i see this chinese interest extending to central asia, latin america, africa, and other parts of the world.
i would also like to add that the united states has been trying to "decouple" from china in fields such as technology and economy in the past few years, but i am surprised by the extent to which china wants to maintain ties with the united states. i think the vast majority of chinese people realize that "decoupling" is extremely harmful to all parties, not just china.
global times:this year marks the 75th anniversary of the founding of the people's republic of china. why do you think china has the courage and confidence to pursue its own path to modernization? what supports this courage and confidence?
marklin:it’s time to look back at china’s progress over the past 3/4 centuries. i believe that china’s economic, social and other aspects of progress can be said to be unprecedented in world history. china is vast and gets relatively little help from rich countries, so it relies largely on itself.
i think there are several reasons why china has the courage and confidence to adopt its own development model: first, china has a proud long history and cultural achievements; second, china has suffered from western colonialists and imperialist dictation, exploitation and invasion, in my opinion, china believes that this experience must never be repeated. what is particularly important is that the leadership of the communist party of china has undoubtedly given the chinese people courage and confidence, and has set goals and pointed the way for china's independence.
