China in my heart

Workers put up government posters related to the novel coronavirus in Beijing, February 20, 2020. /AP

Editor's note :

Brooks Robertson is a New York City based writer and executive. He has lived and worked in China over the past twenty-five years. The article reflects the author's opinions, and not necessarily the views of CGTN.

I was a professor at China Women's University (CWU) in Beijing from 2012-2015. It was a wondrous eye-opener for me in terms of beginning to understand, however slightly, the breadth and depth of the "Middle Kingdom" … China.

Students came from every corner of China, from northeast China to Yunnan Province, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region to Guangdong Province and everywhere in between.

I had students from big cities like Shanghai and Beijing and also those from farms and small villages. I think every province and autonomous region was represented in my class at one time or another.

Night view of Wangfujing Street, Beijing, China /VCG

One misperception by many is that the Chinese mainland is a monolithic whole. Far from it. Although connected by written language and thousands of years of history, there are many cultures, cuisines, spoken dialects and outlooks contained within its lengthy borders.

It is a far more diverse and fascinating place than many foreigners, and some natives, even realize.

I taught hundreds of students during my years at CWU. Dozens were from Hubei Province, many from Wuhan, its capital city of over ten million people.

I remember many of them clearly. Although some stayed in Beijing to pursue career opportunities, many returned home to family, friends and jobs as teachers, local government workers, shopkeepers and administrators.

A few pursued graduate degrees. Some married and began the next stage of their lives as full-time stay at home mothers, tending their children, their husbands and their gardens.

Many of my students were the first college graduates in their families. Each year, in all my classes, we stressed the ongoing importance, the intrinsic value of their college education no matter where life took them.They would serve as examples, role models and inspiration for countless Chinese girls throughout the country. Of this we were most proud.

As I now think of all those I know who are enduring this period of unease and temporary displacement and quarantine for many due to the coronavirus, my thoughts and heartfelt good wishes go out especially to those I know from Hubei.

It is a difficult time but I know my students' intelligence, strength of character, patience, forbearance, patriotic faith and desire to fulfill the limitless potential of their futures will see them through.

From a macro perspective, reform and opening-up in China will be hastened in a clearly direct way by this momentary national crisis. Its people and government will find a way to move forward stronger, more nimble and better equipped for future problems though the world’s hope is that one of this magnitude does not reoccur.

Although more predictable and pedantic geopolitical concerns will soon reassert themselves as the major government priorities in the primacy of things, for now first focus must be and is on helping those afflicted with this virus and finding a way to its complete elimination, its removal from society, never to appear again.

Knowledge gained, medically and otherwise, will make the world safer from the scourge of such viruses.

Mask manufacturers resume work during Spring Festival holidays to ensure supply of face masks in southwest China's Chongqing, January 27, 2020. /Xinhua

All nations must work together, realizing no continent, no country, no region, no peoples, no person is immune from the ravages of the unforeseeable unknown. Only by combining our talents, sharing our skills, knowledge and abilities can we survive, continue to prosper in the upward arc of civilization, the continued elevation of humanity.

Yesterday is gone; the past is irrelevant except for its only truly important gift - what we learn from it.

I look forward to returning to Beijing again in the near future to visit so many friends and to continue following the economic and social mobility miracle occurring in China.

I have lived in Beijing twice, visited many times and continue to be amazed at the changes and progress evident every time I return. It’s one thing to read about it but quite another to view it up close, "feet on the ground."

As this horrible virus is contained and ultimately defeated, China will continue to endeavor to enhance the lives of its 1.4 billion people and, directly and indirectly, the world at large.

But going forward it will be stronger and wiser from lessons only learned through the trial of this great national hardship.

My thoughts return to the inspiration for this article, my friends, colleagues and former students from Hubei Province and from throughout China who are enduring this moment in time. I quote an ancient Persian adage, reinterpreted and widely used by many cultures and societies throughout history the world over: "This too shall pass."

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