1. 1PLUS

2. 3CHINA PLUS 3
CONTENTS
2
UK CHANCELLOR george osborne:
MAKING THE CHINA UK RELATIONSHIP SECOND TO NONE
THE CHINA UK RELATIONSHIP
IN FOCUS
- UK AMBASSADOR on
PRESIDENT XI’S VISIT
china’s new cohort of
overseas students
- MAYOR OF LONDON on
bilateral trade
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p10
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BUSINESS IS GREAT
YOUNGER & YOUNGER
business through culture
and culture through business
britain and
the rmb p18
training the next
generation p25
the academic opinion
soft power & cultural diplomacy
p28
a british writer’s take
on writing historical fiction in china
A musical conversation
through time
a voice to join britain and
china
CHINA GETS A
TASTE OF THE
FAB FOUR
President Xi Jinping’s State visit to the
United Kingdom marks the first such
visit by a Chinese president to the UK
in a decade. The visit comes fresh off a
successful year which saw the first ever
UK-China Year of Cultural Exchange,
and a commitment from the UK to
become one of the founding members
of the Asian Infrastructure Investment
Bank, an initiative spearheaded by
China. Looking to build on these ties,
UK Chancellor George Osborne visited
China in September in the hope of
drumming up business. The relationship
between these two countries is without a
doubt burgeoning, and the benefits to be
gained are great for both sides. But in or-
der for the relationship to progress, there
is certainly a need for greater cultural un-
derstanding from both sides. This issue
of China Plus explores the foundations of
the China UK relationship, and shines a
light on the path ahead. It highlights the
growing awareness of Chinese culture
within the UK and vice versa. The issue
also presents thoughtful analysis on
economic issues relating to the Chinese
currency and cultural diplomacy under-
taken by both nations.
Editor’s Message
Editor-in-chief
Stuart Wiggin
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3. 5PLUS4
D
uring his trip to China, in October,
the UK Chancellor George Osborne
said that his country is willing to
further deepen economic cooper-
ation with China and to become China’s best
partner in economic development. Osborne
said that as an open economy, the UK wel-
comes Chinese investors and is trying to
attract more Chinese investment.
Speaking at TechTemple, a Beijing start-up
scheme set up to encourage tech entrepre-
neurs, Osborne said, “There is so much more
we can do together, Britain and China. And
there is a phenomenal potential here in this
country. And where some people are cautious
about getting more involved with China; we
say quite the reverse.
We want to get more involved with China. We
think this is going to be a source of jobs and
growth of both our countries. And we want to
have a golden decade and we want Britain to
be China’s best partner in the West.”
The Chancellor stated that a higher level of
bilateral cooperation will benefit both coun-
tries. According to Osborne, China is not only
a place with huge potential in terms of the
traditional economy, but also in the emerging
new economy.
As Osborne explained, “We want to make sure
that the British-China relationship is second-
to-none. And I think we’ve started off well.
Britain gets more investment from China than
many other European countries all put together.
We export a huge amount to China and exports are
increasing. So, there is also a change in the kind of old
pattern of the economy, as China itself changes and
becomes that more consumption-led, service-driven
economy.”
China has become Britain’s fourth largest trade part-
ner, and Britain is China’s second largest trade partner
within the European Union. Osborne says China cur-
rently is going through a transition; but it is still very
important for global growth, which actually provides
opportunity for Britain.
Osborne told reporters at the Beijing based startup,
“Britain’s strengths which are high-tech manufactur-
ing, great services, these things are exactly the kind
of things that the economy of China is becoming; it’s
going need more of. And there are fantastic British
businesses here. Everything from advertising agencies,
television production companies, insurance compa-
nies, and this is what Britain is good at.”
Osborne arrived ahead of President Xi Jinxing’s
planned state visit to the UK; the first such visit by
a Chinese president to the UK in a decade. Treasury
minister Lord Jim O’Neil, Business Secretary Sajid
Javid and Energy Secretary Amber Russ accompanied
the Chancellor on his China trip, which also saw him
travel to Shanghai, Chengdu and Urumqi.
We want to get more in-
volved with China. We
think this is going to be a
source of jobs and growth
of both our countries. And
we want to have a gold-
en decade and we want
Britain to be China’s best
partner in the West.”
4 5
CHINA-UK
CHINA PLUS
"there is so much more
we can do together"
George Osborne
UK Chancellor of the Exchequer
Beijing , September 2015
United Kingdom’s
Chancellor of
the Exchequer:
Making the China
UK Relationship
Second-to-none

4. 6 7CHINA PLUS
CHINA-UK
C
hina and UK carried out its latest
round strategic talks in Beijing in
August, 2015. Chinese State Councillor
Yang Jiechi and British Foreign Secre-
tary Philip Hammond co-chaired the dialogue.
Speaking at Peking University, Hammond said,
“The global stability we seek as the fundamental
underpinning to our continued prosperity is best
realised through the framework of laws, norms,
and institutions that together constitute the rules
based international system developed after the
second world war. Like China, the UK takes very
seriously its responsibly as a P5 member of the
Security Council for stewardship of that system
and is deeply committed to maintaining and
strengthening it through careful evolution while
protecting its essential effectiveness.”
Shen DingLi, Associate
Dean of Institute of Inter-
national studies at Fudan
University talks about the
UK China relationship with
China Plus.
UK China strategic dialogue started in 2005.
Why did it come about and how useful is it in
promoting China UK ties?
The UK is a first generation superpower. It is no
longer a superpower but it is still a regional and
global heavyweight. America is a second gen-
eration global superpower. China is certainly a
regional and global power and is looming to be a
third generation of a new type of great power and
possibly a benign super power. How could these
powers peacefully coexist?
Expand common interests, working together to
stabilise the region, Eurasia, the middle east and
Asia, and fighting together against terrorism and
the spread of weapons of mass destruction. And
also incorporate China as the new rising status quo
power to lay a proactive role in stabilising global
economy, trade and finance. That is the impetus of
the UK China strategic dialogue.
What are the shared areas of interest?
There are two main areas. Security and the Economy. UK
and China need resources. We are both resource rich but we
also need to import resources. We depend on energy, oil and
gas, from elsewhere, especially from the middle east. if some
countries would spread weapons of mass destruction in the
region, that would upset regional stability or possibly pro-
voke regional tension. UK has a stake not to allow anyone
in the region to attain nuclear weapons. That coincides with
the interests of China so we will work together.
China UK strategic cooperation does not allow anyone in
the middle east to have such weapons, be it Iraq, Libya, Iran,
Israel, we don’t allow it. But our two countries need to talk
and need to censure a country like Iran in the name of the
UN, and the UK would also use the EU platform to punish
those who do it. We work with Iran, eventually , with other
members of the P5 plus Germany, we succeed. That’s how
a first generation power and a looming third generation
power have common interests. Not only for themselves, but
for every member of the international community. The next
step is we need to implement the joint comprehensive plan
of action.
As for the economy, China wants to stabilise Eurasia, wants
stabilise Asia by developing Asia. China proposed the AIIB.
The UK warmly embraced the idea to join it. First, it’s a
common interest. We have a lot to stabilise and make the
region prosperous.
Phillip Hammond mentioned during his trip, while
speaking at Peking University, that China might be
particularly influential in bringing about a similar
agreement like the one achieved with Iran in relation to
North Korea and their nuclear weapons progreamme.
How influential might China be?
China has been doing this for ten years. A decade ago, Chi-
na proposed a peaceful programme to make North Korea
free from nuclear weapons programme, but also to strength-
en its security and development. We played host for all 6
countries including ourselves. We have made the commit-
ment that the entire Korea peninsula will be rid of nuclear
weapons. But this is a package of three items. 1, peninsula
free of nuclear weapons. 2, North Korean security would be
respected. 3, how to make the entire region to have security.
So, it’s a package.
North Korea insists if it had no nuclear weapons who would
guarantee its security? The US is unwilling, even in the 6
party framework, to offer a security guarantee; even in the
North Korean US bilateral framework, to offer North Korea
a security guarantee. So, despite China’s best ideas, similar
with that of the programme with Iran, other partners are not
cooperating. China cannot make this good idea bear fruit.
Now we can see that China’s approach has been applied to
Iran and has been kind of successful this time. So, could we
revert to this idea to give North Korea a security
guarantee? China, Russia, the US, others would do
it together, they would pledge to North Korea that
at any time they would not attack North Korea in
the first place. And if anyone would attack North
Korea, they would go to the UN Security Coun-
cil to make a joint decision on how to defeat the
aggression.
Hammond suggested China find a “rules
based solution” to solve maritime disputes
in South China Sea. What is your interpreta-
tion of this comment?
He is using both good and ambiguous language.
Rules based, meaning that the UN charter is the
biggest international public law. So, we should
abide by the UN charter, which means that if there
is a dispute, the (parties involved) should find
peaceful means to help solve the dispute; not resort
to violent means.
So, China should not use violent means to handle
Vietnam and the Philippines, and Vietnam and the
Philippines should not use violence to impose war
on China. They should smile, shake hands, drink
and negotiate to find a deal. So, this is good. But
at the same time it’s ambiguous, because the UN
also allows a country to defend. If it’s my territory,
I don’t need to go to the UN to defend my territory.
When Japan carried out the rape of Nanking, we
wouldn’t have needed to go to the UN, though it
did not exist at that time; we have the right to self
defence.
So, China has the right to use violent means to
defeat aggressors, because they use violent means
to occupy Chinese territory. So, he has eluded that
despite the fact that Vietnam has invaded Chinese
territory, China should still accommodate Vietnam
to respect the reality that they have taken your island, you
should still smile and shake hands with Vietnam. And we
say that a dispute could develop. You take my island, but
we need to develop fisheries and oil together in the region;
that’s what Vietnam denied. That would make real trouble.
So, he is both saying nice things, but is also trying to restrain
the freedom of China’s options.
Were the Chancellor’s words damaging to China UK
relations?
This is diplomacy; he does not say that China cannot do
anything, so this is how it’s ambiguous. But he tried to say,
“Even though there is a dispute, don’t use violence.” So, that
is something to restrain China’s freedom of action. If Viet-
nam has invaded why can’t we use our national sovereignty
to resolve this problem. But China UK relations has a vast
spectrum: trade, mutual investment, middle east, AIIB. The
South China Sea is a tiny, tiny portion of the relationship.
That does not involve the UK’s direct interests in the region.
UK’s commercial shipping to the region may pass the South
China Sea. Even if it passes (the region), our dispute with
Vietnam may not affect it. Even if it is affected, that would
be due to Vietnam’s fault. Even if it is Vietnam’s fault, that
is a very tiny portion of the China UK relationship. So, we
should be able to cope with various aspects of the relation-
ship to make it stable; to make it largely productive.
Is the UK losing out on high spending Chinese tourists by
not being part of the Schengen visa zone?
It should (allow Chinese tourists with Schengen visas to enter
the UK). It’s not a subject of whether it should or not. It should!
Otherwise, China will lose. Chinese people who are rich
enough to spend in the UK will find it harder to get a UK visa,
therefore they will lose the opportunity to spend in the UK;
it’s our loss. In the meantime, they have lost an opportunity,
because these rich Chines people can go to France or Belgium
to spend. So, why should they lose out in this competition
with France or Belgium etc… Even though they are not a part
of Schengen, they could make a new rule that they would
join Schengen, only in the sense that it would be applicable to
Chinese tourists, meaning any Chinese citizen with a Schengen
visa would automatically qualify to enter the UK without an
additional UK visa. They should make the change.
The China-UK
Relationship in
Focus
Even though they are not a part of
Schengen, they could make a new
rule that they would join Schen-
gen, only in the sense that it would
be applicable to Chinese tourists.
CHINA-UK

5. 9PLUSCHINA8
W
e’re delighted that President Xi Jinping has
accepted the invitation from her majesty
the Queen, Queen Elizabeth, to pay a state
visit to the United Kingdom. It’s something
that happens maybe once every ten years for the UK-China
relationship.Sowewanttomakethisareallyverysuccessful
visit by President Xi Jinping. We want to use it to showcase
thestrengthanddepthofthecooperationbetweenour two
countries.Andwewanttouseittoshow,too,anewlevelof am-
bition, as we approach together the challenges of the twen-
ty-first century, both of our partnership on the UN Security
Council, our partnership in trade, the challenges we face
around climate change, around wider global development,as
wellasthecommitmentwearemakingtothenext generation of
young people. So I think it will be a very excitingandavery
memorablestatevisit.Andweareverymuch looking forward
to welcoming President Xi Jinping to the UK.
E
arlier this year, the Mayor of London
led a business delegation to China to
explore closer business collaboration,
spending time both in Hong Kong and
the Chinese mainland.
The Lord Mayor of the City of London, Alderman
Alan Yarrow, says despite the recent depreciation
of the Renminbi, the currency is still on a course of
internationalisation. In reference to the devaluation
of the Chinese currency, Yarrow said, ”You use
these tools to make sure to manage your economy.
The RMB devaluation I think is just purely a stage
on the journey, it is a perfectly natural position if
the government feels it would enhance economic
growth; not so surprising. So I do not think in any
way the government, particularly in the UK, will
take a different view towards the Renminbi because
of its devaluation. “
The RMB is now the world’s fifth largest payment
currency and Hong Kong handles about 70 percent
of international RMB transactions. Yarrow says
London will remain the hub of offshore RMB busi-
ness, despite increasing competition from other
cities worldwide, stating, ”We believe in high levels
of services to customers, the British rule of law, the
time clock, the Lingua Franca, English language;
we have a huge advantage. I think it is fair to say
that everyone wants to be involved in the interna-
tionalisation of the RMB, and the more the merrier
as far as I’m concerned. But at the end of the day,
we will be the largest Western hub in the interna-
tionalisation of RMB. “
During Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to
the UK, the first visit from a Chinese President
in a decade, the Lord Mayor will host a banquet
in the City to cement even stronger ties between
the two countries. “It is important to make sure
that the President, the Prime Minister, and
the Queen, inevitably, have those senior levels
diplomatic links open. We are very supportive of
lot of the changes that are taking place, we want
to be involved, particularly in the City of London, in
helping China, supporting China to its next development,
particularly in the financial services. “
The United Kingdom is among the first European econo-
mies to embrace China’s new initiatives including the Asia
Infrastructure Investment Bank and the “One Belt, One
Road” initiative. Yarrow also says the UK has a lot to offer in
the process and is keen on promoting bilateral cooperation
in financial and professional services.
Business is
Great:
Promoting Bilateral
Cooperation in
Financial and
Professional Services
UK Ambassador to China,
Barbara Janet Woodward
on President Xi’s UK visit
I do not think in any way the
government, particularly in
the UK, will take a different
view towards the Renminbi
because of its devaluation
BUSINESS

6. 10 11CHINA PLUS
We used to hear a lot about Chinese high school
or middle school students going overseas on
study tours. But now it seems that more and
more elementary school students are joining
these tours. From your own work experience, is
that the case right now?
Yes, that’s true. Senior high school students are
(still) the majority in these programmes, but now,
more and more junior high school students and el-
ementary school students are participating in these
tours. Their ages range from about 6 to 8.
What programmes or activities are included in
these study tours?
In general, the summer programme includes the
EFO courses, activities like sports, art, and also
cultural tours. That (gives them) a taste of overseas
education. Usually these programmes take place
a long way (away), so Chinese (students) can also
learn how to be independent, self-disciplined, and
learn some leadership (qualities).
How can children learn about leadership
through these kinds of tours?
In one group, we have 30-40 children. We will divide
them into different small groups, so in one group, we
usually have two student leaders who will be the assis-
tants to the group leaders, (helping to) manage the
students. The small group leaders also help each other
to manage their small groups. That is leadership.
Why can’t they achieve these kinds of skills
through domestic tours? Why do they have to go
overseas to practice leadership?
In China, whether the students are in school, or a
classroom, or at home, they have teachers to look
after them, or parents look after everything. So, the students
who participate in these overseas education tours, they will
look after themselves and also look after one another. We
travel to different places, like London, New York; you need
to look after each other and be disciplined.
You mentioned London or New York. So what are the
favoured destinations for these young students?
At the moment, because most Chinese schools teach En-
glish, so the English-speaking countries are the favoured
destinations of the education tours, like America, a very
popular country, and the UK, because they have boarding
schools, which are good places for summer programmes,
and also Europe. At AcademicChina, we have programmes
including a two week stay in UK boarding schools, or one
week in other European countries. They are very close.
So what do the students usually do when they go to those
countries? For instance, if they go to the US, what would
they do?
Usually they have English classes. They will be hosted by
(and stay with) local families. America is very different from
the UK. The US does not have many boarding schools, so
for the summer programme, usually, the students will be
hosted by host families. They stay with the American fami-
lies, they meet American children or local students; they can
understand more about American culture.
How much do these tours cost?
Two weeks or three weeks are very popular. The two-week
(programme) in America costs 30,000 RMB. For the three-
week (programme), that’s over 40,000 RMB.
By staying in an overseas country for two to three
weeks, do you think these students can actually learn
anything, culturally speaking, or can they actually im-
prove their language skills?
From my 17 years of experience, for the most part,
students do experience positive changes after the pro-
gramme. We have a boy who is about 12 years old. He
did not like English because he said ‘I am Chinese. Why
should I learn English?’ That’s a young boy. They attend
our programme going to the UK, to a class with English
teachers. For the younger ones, the English class plays
games; they use games to learn English. They love it.
During the stay with students and teachers, they enjoy
(themselves). They feel that English is not that difficult
and it’s very useful, because yes, we are Chinese, but we
can’t speak Chinese in the UK, because local people, most
of them, can’t understand that. When he goes shopping,
to buy a drink, to buy ice cream, English is so useful.
When he came back, he told his mother that he wanted to
go to the English class by himself.
Are there any challenges in carrying out these
tours? The students are quite young. Do you find
them hard to manage overseas?
Yes, it’s a big challenge. Usually we want the stu-
dents to be prepared in advance. The education
tour, I don’t think it is the same as general travel-
ling. We encourage students to be prepared to learn
more about the information; about all the itiner-
aries. When they go there, they can learn more,
feel more and get more. Another (aspect) is safety,
because the students, most of them, will have their
first (experience) of being independent.
And they need to look after their clothes, their mobile
phone. They need to be aware of their own safety. Be-
cause it’s education, education, education; we design
the programme, we have the courses suitable for the
students, and we have to find very good local families,
like in America, to be the host family. Before depart-
ing, we provide training for the students. Our group
leaders are also trained intensively.
C
hina Plus also spoke to Dr. Wolfgang
Arlt, director of the China Outbound
Tourism Research Institute, which is
headquartered in Germany.
According to your research, why do you think
it is becoming popular for Chinese elementary
school students to go on overseas study tours?
I think this is something we have seen in the
past few years, happening more and more. It
is connected, first of all, to the general trend
of outbound tourism from China, which has
been growing more and more. China is now the
biggest outbound tourism market in the world,
so travelling overseas has become for the more
affluent people in China, part of normal con-
sumption pattern in the last ten years.
So I think, firstly, from the experience of travel-
ling overseas, it is becoming apparent that it is not
dangerous (for children) to go to another country.
(Parents) dare to send their children abroad, and
are confident nothing will happen to them. This is
something that has become much more normal to
think about. As we can see, more families are trav-
elling, and more Chinese travellers take their chil-
dren with them. Very simply, in the last few years,
the number of people in China who can afford to
have this idea has been growing. And with the one-
child policy, as most children in China grow up in
a single child family, all the money (goes towards a
family’s) one child, that’s another reason.
C
hina Plus provides a series of inter-
views focussing on the growing trend
of Chinese parents sending their
young children abroad to learn. Our
first interviewee is Sui Jin’e, managing director
at AcademicAsia China, an overseas studying
consulting firm.
Younger and
Younger, China’s
New Cohort
of Overseas
Students
But China is relaxing its family-planning policy. Many
couples are now able to have a second child. Do you think,
even with that relaxation of the family-planning policy,
the trend will continue?
Yes. Because we can see that even now many couples
are allowed to have two children, especially in the cities
and especially among richer people. There are still many
couples that have either one child or no children, because
everything in China is quite expensive. If you have high
expectations, if you think your child should be the best in
class, should have piano lessons and dancing lessons, or
like everyone else in the world, like people living in big
cities, have a chance in business, having more than one
child will not change the trend.
Do you agree that if a student’s family can afford the fees,
it is necessary for the child to study overseas for two to
four weeks at an expense of 20,000 to 40,000 yuan? Is it
more about receiving western education or more about
travelling abroad?
I would agree, if you can afford it, it’s a good thing to have
the experience of going abroad. Of course, it’s quite different
if you learn English just in school, for examination purpos-
es. If you are in unfamiliar surroundings, (you) find that
English is necessary, children gain the experience that not
everybody in the world speaks Chinese.
It’s quite useful. It is not only about language; as we all
know, a lot of the children (from one-child families) are rather
spoiled; they are growing up in a situation where they don’t
hear ‘No’ very often. So, I think it will be a different situation
when they are abroad; they will find that not everything is
always goes their way; so I think it is a useful experience. Of
course, staying two weeks, four weeks, will not be a big step
for one’s formal education. What you’ll learn is not (related
to) formal teaching, but it’s a very good way to learn about
EDUCATION EDUCATION

7. 12 13CHINA PLUS 13
In the year of the first-ever UK-China Year of
Cultural Exchange, what’s new when it comes to
trade cooperation between the two nations?
Dr. Catherine Raines,
Minister at the British
Embassy in Beijing
and Director-General
for UK Trade and
Investment in China
discusses some of the
new trends in Sino-UK economic relations.
British Institutions as a Benchmark
It is true that since 2010, goods exports to China have
morethandoubled.Thisispartlybecausetheeconomies
of China and the UK are kind of converging in the
sensethatthethingsthatwe’rereallygoodatintheUK,
particularly around creativity and innovation, across
all the sectors – not just those sectors that are typically
thought of creative – some of the areas in particular
for example might be healthcare. China ofcoursehas
anenormouspopulationandisveryproud of the fact
that it provides universal healthcare to everybody.
The challenge now for China, I think, is very similar
to that in the UK; you have an ageing population.
Healthcare is an expensive thing to provide. You want
to be able to provide it in a way that is equal for ev-
erybody. The UK has the most fantastic model in the
National Health Service, recently described as the best
healthcare model in the world, and we’re very keen to
share our experience of developing that with China.
So, there are lots of areas where we can collaborate.
Core Competencies of Chinese Enterprises
One of the things that I think is tremendous here is
the innovation and the appetite and the ambition. It’s
one of the things that I first noticed when I came to
Shanghai in 2006; the energy of the place. Everybody
works very, very hard; very diligent. I think people
work very hard in the UK as well, so I think that’s a
really good match. But one of the other things that
I think we have in common, which will be a strong
point for Chinese businesses, is that our creativity is
based on a real respect for our culture.
IwastalkingtothechairwomanofWensli,thebig
(Hangzhou-based)silkcompanytheotherday;wewere
talkingabouthowfantasticitistohavethatcultureun-
derpinningyourcreativityandreallytakethattoanew
BusinessThroughCultureandCultureThroughBusiness
level.WeweretalkingabouthercompanyandIwasdrawingacom-
parisonwithacompanycalledGievesandHawkesintheUK,which
isagentlemen’sfashiondesigncompany.They’redoingasimilarthing;
they’rereallytakingtheverybestofheritagedesignsandputtinga
moderntwist.So,actually,IthinkChinesecompanieswillfinditvery
easytointegratewiththeUKjustbecausewehavethisdeepunder-
standingofculturebutarealdriveandambitiontoputamoderntwist
onitandgoforwardintothe21stCenturywiththat.
Challenges that Chinese Companies Face in the UK
Of course, any country that is a long way away and has different
systems, then you have to get to know those systems. And you
have to be aware of what the market is, and you have to be aware
of how to operate in that market; different culture, different rules.
One of example of the cultural differences that I can give you is
that public relations are very, very important in the west. It’s less
important here in China. So there are differences like that.
We’ve got a great scheme at the moment at one of our universities
in the UK. Chinese students are now being given placements in
UK companies and the reason we’re doing that is because we want
to try to get over the problem that are inherent in the question (of
what challenges Chinese companies face). We think that if Chinese
studentsgotoworkinBritishcompanies,thenthat’sarealwin-win.
The Chinese students will learn about what it’s like to work in a
British company, and the British company will get the benefit of
having a Mandarin speaking employee that also understands the
Chinese way of doing business; so everybody benefits from that.
There are 135,000 Chinese students in the UK, more than any
other foreign nationality actually, where we’re really getting this
fantastic cross-collaboration between our two cultures, between
our two nations. I really believe that education is hugely important.
Cultural Exchange in 2015
We were talking about education and how important that is.
Cultural exchange is the same really. It’s almost the twin, if you
like, of education because it’s the other way that we can really
share experiences together; really get to know one another. The
cultures are different and it’s very important to be respectful
of those cultures. But there’s a famous saying about friendship
first, business second. So I think culture, it’s sometimes referred
to as soft power.
I don’t really always like that quite so much, because it makes
it sound like a power thing, which I don’t think it is. I think
it’s a relationships thing actually. The more that we can have
really great, really constructive relationships and friendships,
and many of those are created over cultural activities, it will
really help us in a number of ways. It will help us do business
through culture and culture through business; it’s both.
BUSINESS
how other parts of the world (function). In Europe,
this is quite common, that for 15 to 16-year-olds
to go on exchange programmes where you can go
for one semester to a school in another European
country, or go for summer holidays and do some
holiday jobs. That’s quite common.
I think the difference is that in Europe, these are
supported by national programmes or by Euro-
pean Union programmes; it is not only for kids of
rich families who can do that. There is also a big
chance for talented children from poorer families
to do that. Certainly in Europe, everybody agrees
it is a good idea for children to be exposed to other
countries, to other surroundings, so that they have
a wider view of the world.
That means, it should not be a summer camp
where all the pupils are again Chinese; it only
works if it is organised in a way that this is a mixed
group, in the daily life, encountering people from
other countries, maybe from many different coun-
tries on a daily basis.
How are those tours received by local people,
especially by local business people?
Of course, this is part of the overall outbound
tourism wave, which is coming at the moment.
People are now becoming aware of the fact that
more and more Chinese are coming here and Chi-
nese children are coming here for summer schools
or some other schooling. And of course they are
welcomed and we are happy to receive them. For
some companies, they can earn money from this
(trend), either directly by organising the activities
or indirectly by having them as customers.
So, as I said before, many of these children have to
accept that something cannot be done the way they
like it to be done. Things are different from how
they are organised in China. Of course, they are
welcomed here by those people who organise the
summer camps. From my point of view, these pro-
grammes are useful for children who are at least 14
years old. I do not think it is a very good idea for
an 8 or 10-year-old; it may be too much of a shock,
being in a faraway place. So I think it is a useful
thing to do for children who are 13 or 14 years old.
There are actually a number of reports about
these young tourists spending a lot of money on
buying sportswear as well as toys. I want to know
your take on that.
I think a lot of people in western countries are
astonished at how much buying power these chil-
dren have. They spend a lot of money when they
are here, obviously the reason is that they come from really
affluent families and it is a good opportunity to buy things,
which either cannot be bought in China or are more expen-
sive in China. From the general public’s point of view, this is
not noticed too much. But it is part of the overall awareness
that there are more and more Chinese people coming to the
western countries.
F
inally, China Plus gained the views of Ma Zhengmei,
who sent her 8-year-old daughter to a local summer
camp in Oxford, Britain last year.
So, can you tell us, what did your daughter do in the sum-
mer camp in Britain last year?
My daughter attended a summer camp course which I chose
that aimed to give children creativity. The main activity is prac-
ticing children’s handicrafts. The teacher gave the students a
rough idea and asked them to hand-make the objects according
to their own understandings. She is very happy there.
So what do you think she learnt through as a result of
attending a course outside the country?
I think the biggest achievement for her was that she made
full use of her imagination. She became much more
self-confident. Through this course, my daughter came to
realise that she was very capable and she even thought her
hands were magical. She became much less afraid to try new
things and I think that is a very precious quality.
Did she improve her English as a result of staying in Brit-
ain and attending the course?
During the course, she also made a lot of new friends and
greatly improved her English. So, her ability to commu-
nicate with her classmates and her English level is much
better now. (Her classmates) were all British and they spoke
English every day, every minute.
I understand that your relatives have also sent their chil-
dren on study tours organised by domestic travel agents.
How would you evaluate those tours?
My opinion is that they are solely businesses, so the
organisers won’t put the children’s study needs as their
top concern. I know one regular activity of these tours
is visiting campuses, but it’s usually summer time when
the kids go there, so there isn’t much to see apart from
empty buildings. I do think those study tours have
their own value as long as the parents can afford it.
It’s still worth paying the money to let your child go
abroad and have a taste of foreign culture. But I would
suggest that those study tours learn from local summer
camps in the UK and really put the effort into nurtur-
ing children’s studying abilities and creativity, so that
the tours can really be worth the money.
EDUCATION

8. 14 CHINA
F
ans of the Beatles are situated all over
the world. China is no different, and you
would be hard pressed to find someone
living in a major Chinese city that hasn’t
heard the songs “Hey, Jude” and “Let It Be.”
Earlier this year, images and detailed stories of
this exceptional British band were exhibited in
Shanghai.
Chen Luying, a coordinator of the exhibition titled
“The Beatles, Tomorrow” at the Lafayette Arts
Centre in Shanghai says that she was able to trans-
port visitors back to the 1960s via the exhibition
that came to Shanghai. It is a tribute to all things
about the best-known rock n roll band.
“Several days ago, a visitor holding a white
rose went in to the exhibition hall alone,” Chen
explains. “After observing every item, he laid the
rose beside the white piano on the third floor.
John Lennon used that white piano to record
one of his most famous songs, ‘Imagine’.”
According to Ma Chencheng, the curator of the
show from Shanghai Media Group, visitors were
able to see 100 photos and a large number of
personal items of John Lennon, Paul McCartney,
Ringo Starr and George Harrison as well as more
than 250 newspaper clippings and magazine
articles about the Fab Four, from the time of the
band’s establishment until they split up.
The exhibition, according to Ma, provided Chi-
nese fans of the world’s most famous band with
a chance to experience things up close and per-
sonal, like never before. “It’s a show that you can
experience with all your senses. Besides photos,
there are also the band’s posters, records, news-
paper features, a reproduction of The Beatles’
first US television show, the Ed Sullivan Show,
China Gets a
Taste of the
Fab Four
By Chi Huiguang
and the 3D scenery of their album cover, Abbey Road. In
addition, we also broadcast the documentary of the Beatles.”
The reproduction of the famous Abbey Road album cover
proved to be one of the most welcomed highlights of the show,
allowing visitors to act out the iconic scene on the most well-
known zebra crossing in the world, with a little help from their
friends.
Another highlight was the Beatles lifestyle area, including
a live house performance every night. DJs and bands from
home and abroad performed at the venue each and every
night while British style snacks and drinks were served to
bring The Beatles era back to life.
Rather than just showcasing the band’s history, the curators of
the exhibition wanted to be ambitious and tried to deliver an
altogether different experience to visitors. As Ma Chencheng
explained, “We pay much more attention to delivering a differ-
ent lifestyle to our visitors by a specially designed show with
rich content and connotation.”
The impact of the Beatles has often been noted. The “Fab Four”
from Liverpool, England, startled the ears and energised the
lives of virtually all who heard them. Their arrival triggered the
musical revolution of the Sixties, introducing a modern sound
and viewpoint that parted ways with the world of the previous
decades.
Ma Chencheng, of Shanghai Media Group, notes that, “The
Beatles were a great band because of their innovation. They
were real pioneers. They set an example for the following
bands and the youngsters at that time. Before, the process of
creation and performance were separate. It was the Beatles
that first merged the two concepts together.”
In a career that lasted less than a decade, the Beatles changed
the course of rock and roll and popular music. After launch-
ing the British Invasion of the United States and scoring 20
Number One hits, the Beatles went on to indulge their creative
energies in the studio. They have always been considered the
creative apotheosis of rock and roll, managing to make rock
music a “serious art” without losing its sense of humour.
The group continued to break new grounds before calling it
quits in 1970. All of the band members, from then on, went
on to lead successful solo careers. In droves, fans of the Beatles
would still flood to what them perform solo. As for the take
of Chinese fans during this year’s Shanghai exhibition, the
response was overwhelming.
One young female visitor claimed that, “It takes me back to the
sixties and seventies. I believe the exhibition may remind many
Beatles’ fans of the memory of their youth.” Meanwhile, even
hardcore Beatles fans were surprised by the experience on offer.
One young man noted, “I am a big fan of the Beatles. Actually
I know a lot about the band, but it’s a different feeling to see the
real photos and news reports with my own eyes.”
PLUS 15
MUSIC

9. 16 17CHINA PLUS
The idea of nationalism was actually created in
the 1920s. All the elements of China’s future
are in those ten years, but it is like a crucible, a
sort of chemical experiment.
F
or many novelists, writing historical
fiction is quite a challenge, since the
fidelity of history must be shown while
the story needs to be appealing to the
readers of today. When writing about the his-
tories of other countries, the difficulties could
not be greater. But British writer Adam Wil-
liams is not afraid to make some bold moves
and his engrossing China-themed trilogy is
winning international acclaim as a result.
Williams’ most celebrated saga: The Emperor’s
Bones, or in Chinese, “Qianlong De Gutou,” is
a prime example of such boldness paying off.
What would be the first thing to come to your
mind at the mention of the 1920s? Gangsters and
bootlegging? Or flappers in “The Great Gatsby”?
China did not experience the apparent glamour
of the Roaring Twenties, so the answer to such a
question would be starkly different from what you
might expect an American or even a British person
to say. Trapped in a power struggle, China was
nearly torn apart by warlords and military cliques,
while the Japanese troops lurked in the northeast
in hope of getting a piece of the country.
Besides the history textbooks, very few literature
works, even written by Chinese writers, have tried
to reexamine that period extensively. Therefore,
focusing on 1920s China, British writer Adam Wil-
liams’ novel “The Emperor’s Bones” is a rarity.
As Williams explains, “The great thing about
the 1920s is nobody knew what will happen. If
you were taking a bet on the Communist Party
in 1927, people would think you were mad. I
mean they had been slaughtered in Guangzhou
and Shanghai, they were running off to the
mountains. How can they come to rule China?
At the same time, with Japan slowly invading,
how would the big Japanese Empire be defeated? Nobody
would know. I think it was so full of ideas. The idea of
nationalism was actually created in the 1920s. All the ele-
ments of China’s future are in those ten years, but it is like
a crucible, a sort of chemical experiment. So I thought
that was a very good time to test all sorts of differences in
that chaos. It’s wonderful to have human stories.”
“The Palace of Heavenly Pleasure” is the first instalment
of William’s China trilogy, which features the turmoil
of the country in the late 19th Century. Loosely based
on the experiences of his family, who lived in northern
China during that period, the author creates an uneasy
world similar to T.S. Eliot’s Wasteland. From the brutal
battlefields of the Northern Expedition to the blood-
soaked “Shanghai Massacre “ of 1927, the novel follows
the eventful and thrilling lives of two young women to
wipe away the dust and cobwebs of those long-gone days.
“Women are often victims of historical events in
a sense, but the virtues of women are often more
compassionate ones. So for the theme of my book,
because the book is about suffering and strength out
of suffering, I think some of the feminine charac-
teristics are much stronger,” Williams points out.
One of the protagonists is a feisty, enduring English
woman named Catherine, who comes to China to find
her father but gets caught in a love triangle with two
brothers. Another key character is Catherine’s Oxford
schoolmate Yu Fukui, a mistress of a warlord intelli-
gence officer as well as an idealistic mole getting lost
in the revolution of her country.
Occasionally, the paths of these two females would inter-
lace together, but in most parts of the book, their fates and
people around them are swept away in different directions.
In that turbulent age, when love could be questionable
and betrayal was regarded as routine, all those characters,
whether fictional or not, were trying to find themselves and
make changes, even though their endeavour or ambition
always availed them naught.
Williams says he has no intention to pro-
file paragon and stereotypical figures, but to
showcase the complexity of humans without
making any judgment. “I intend not to find
people are good or people are bad, because
people tend to be both. Everybody has their
reason for doing things.
I mean nowadays in history textbooks, you
have the sort of inevitable communist rise and
the good people were communist revolution-
aries and socialists of the time, the bad people
were the nationalists. But it wasn’t so. You have
idealists on every front. So I think it’s wonderful
(that) in a novel, you don’t have to stand on this
person’s side or that person’s side.”
Fast paced and tautly written, “The Emperor’s
Bones” is a wondrous historical epic flavoured with
adventure and romance and spiced with a dash of
spy story. Thanks to its strikingly grand scenes,
evocative language and richly illustrated characters,
the book is hailed as the female version of “Doctor
Zhivago” by the media.
But is the Chinese history portrayed in this book
accurate or not? Williams’ take is that, “History is
fantasy really; you can’t write real history. Every
generation will interpret history in a different
way. You always interpret history according to the
present. So actually when you’re writing history,
you are writing (about the) world of today, our life
and what it means.”
The above graphic is adapted from a photograph taken in 1913
featuring British medical missionary Dr. David Muir (man sitting)
and his family on leave from China. Muir practiced medicine in
northeastern China from the 1890s and received a medal from the
Qing Emperor for his contribution of dealing with the plague. The girl
standing, wearing white, was Muir’s daughter and Adam Williams’
grandmother, Catherine.
A British Writer’s
Take on Writing
Historical Fiction
in China
By Li Shiyu
An exploration of the
themes and motifs in Adam
Williams’ historical novel,
The Emporer’s Bones
Women are often victims
of historical events in a
sense, but the virtues of
women are often more
compassionate ones.
History is fantasy
really; you can’t
write real history.
Every generation
will interpret history
in a different way.
HISTORY HISTORY

10. 19PLUS18 CHINA
M
a Yue, Chair Professor of Finance at
the City University of Hong Kong
speaks to China Plus about the Brit-
ish government’s decision to issue Renminbi
(RMB) denominated bonds.
Great Britain is the first country outside Greater
China to issue RMB denominated bonds. Why is
this deemed historically significant here in China
and also in the UK?
This is the first western government to issue
RMB denominated bonds. Although the amount
is relatively small, it is less than 1 percent of the British
government’s new bonds to be issued this year, but it is a
significant amount because it will have a benchmark ef-
fect. After the British government issues the government
Renminbi bonds, investors who have bought them may
trade on the bonds market in London. This will set up a
risk-free benchmark interest rate for other RMB bonds to
be issued by private firms in the London market.
We can use a hypothetical example to illustrate this point.
For example, if Rolls Royce would invest in China in the
future and wished to raise its finance in London, Rolls
Royce may just issue RMB corporate bonds, priced for
Britain and the Renminbi
example a few hundred basis points over the
British government RMB bonds. So this is a
benchmark effect; it’s very significant.
UK Chancellor George Osborne said the issuance
of Chinese bonds will mean jobs and investment
in Britain. How will RMB denominated bonds
create jobs and investment in Britain?
Together with the recent RMB clearance ser-
vice center in London, this is the British gov-
ernment’s strategy to ensure that London will
remain as the leading international financial
center; to compete with New York, Hong Kong,
Singapore and maybe Shanghai for the financial
products and services.
That will create a lot of jobs and employment
related to financial centers. Probably another
question you may ask is what the British gov-
ernment will do with this 2 billion RMB cash.
Maybe it just adds it to British official reserves.
Although it is relatively very small, less than 1
percent of their foreign exchange reserves, it is
still quite a significant amount.
Some analysts say the bonds are likely to sit in
quiet corners of investment account for years.
With this in mind, is this issuance not just a
drop in the ocean and more symbolic than
anything else?
I don’t think this will be insignificant. As I
mentioned, this will set up a benchmark for
the private corporate bonds to be issued on the
London market. Without the benchmark, which
is a risk-free benchmark, then it’s very difficult
for the private corporations to issue RMB bonds
in London based on the benchmark reference
interest rate. Then it will be difficult for them to
issue the private corporate bonds.
Just look at the US New York market, it is ex-
actly because the US government issued a huge
amount of different maturities of government
bonds, they set up a benchmark, interest rate
free rate. That’s why the bonds market in the
US is so active and so big. And so I think in
order to kick start the RMB bond market, the
British government issuance is important for
establishing this benchmark so that the private
corporate bond issuers can follow up. So, the
significance is on the benchmark and not the
amount of the issuance.
Do you believe that private corporate bond issu-
ers will follow up in the future?
The London financial markets are relatively more devel-
oped than the other markets in Asia. So, the financing
cost is lower in London. So, that’s why British investors,
or in fact any investors who want to invest in China
and need to raise finance, they would prefer to raise the
capital in London’s market because it is relatively cheap.
So, after the British government sets up the benchmark
interest rate, it is easier for them to set their own private
interest rate for their own private corporate bonds to
raise the finance to invest in China.
We know the Chinese financial market is relatively unde-
veloped so far. So, there is still a long way for the Chinese
financial market to catch up with the London market. I
think that’s why the British government wants to take the
lead, to issue the RMB bonds so that more foreign inves-
tors may raise their finance in London’s market, so that
the London market would compete with other interna-
tional financial markets on the RMB financial products.
So far, the British foreign exchange reserves are denom-
inated in US and Canadian dollars, Euros and Japanese
Yen. And now according to the British government, the
bond will be used to add RMB to Britain’s foreign ex-
change reserves. How will the inclusion of RMB make the
British reserves any different?
I think without a doubt, the RMB will make the British
reserves more robust against any shock that may hap-
pen in China. I think it’s beneficial for Chinese RMB to
become an international reserve currency and also maybe
an international currency. This will help the Chinese
RMB to fulfill its internationalization process.
I think after the British government issued RMB bonds
and puts RMB into their foreign reserves, without a
doubt there will be more countries and more foreign gov-
ernments follow suit. They will try to issue in their own
financial markets the RMB denominated government
bonds, and of course that will boost the private sector to
hold RMB as assets or liabilities. This will push the RMB
internationalization process further.
One of China’s mega state-owned banks, ICBC has been
granted by Britain to expand its operations in Britain. Is
this move connected with the issuance of the bonds?
I think all these are consistent with the RMB internation-
alization process. With a clearing bank in London, then
it will help the foreign traders, international traders to
settle the services and payments in RMB. It will also help,
of course, Chinese traders and investors to settle their
service payments in RMB.
Then this will of course also encourage the Chinese gov-
ernment to deregulate the control of our capital account
and make the capital mobility more flexible to fulfill
investment and international trade demands.
ECONOMY

11. 20 21CHINA PLUS
B
orn in the 8th century, Li Bai is prob-
ably one of the most prolific poets
in Chinese history. His legendary
drunkenness, playful imagery and ro-
mantic nostalgia have enraptured generations.
Even to this day, his poems are widely recited
and memorised by elementary school children
and Chinese literature lovers. But what hap-
pens when a Welsh folk singer lays his hand on
those well-known verses?
Endowed with the title “the Immortal Poet”, Li Bai
is unquestionably the Chinese equivalent of Geof-
frey Chaucer. Although nearly 1,200 years have
passed since his death, the works of this legendary
bard are not only compulsory reading for Chinese
schoolchildren, but also have become the inex-
haustible treasury for many Chinese songwriters.
But when Welsh musician Gareth Bonello buck-
led to those far-reaching verses, he married them
off to the spirit of the 1960s British folk revival
and Welsh melodies. As Bonello explains, “What
I did was I took several different poems and read
those to see what Li Bai says, and try to keep the
mood of that poem and use some of his imagery,
but then write a new song. So, most of the lyrics
are written in meters that you get in traditional Welsh
folk songs. That meter basically forces you to write in a
different way, because you have to try to make it rhyme in
the right places..”
Wearing square-frame glasses and a pair of blue jeans, the
curly-haired singer looks more like an average joe rather
than a rising star in the British folk music scene. Awarded
Composer of the Year in 2011 by BBC Radio Cymru, the
33-year-old guitarist is skilled at combining language, po-
etry and melodies of his native Wales to produce ballads
in both English and Welsh.
So when this budding artist was selected by the British
Council and Performing Rights Society (PRS) for Mu-
sic Foundation to come to China for music collabora-
tion, he immediately went to poetry for his inspiration.
Surprisingly, he found resonance with Li Bai, a Chinese
poet from the 8th century, noting, “I always find that
if you read poetry, you get a little bit into that culture’s
characteristics. So I thought I was about to read some
Chinese poetry, obviously in translation. Pretty soon,
I found Li Bai’s poetry and really, really enjoyed it. His
ways of saying really huge life-changing things with small
sentences, small images and lots of very great metaphors
really appeal to the way I write music and it’s very similar
to things written in Welsh. As I read more about Li Bai, I
realise his life was so interesting and because his poems
are so biographical, that I would be able to actually do an
album told (telling) his life story.”
Bidding goodbye to family and friends in Britain, Bonello
arrived Chengdu, the populous provincial capital of
southwest China’s Sichuan Province. For a newcomer, he
was intrigued by everything, as he himself admits. “It was
probably one of the biggest cities I have been to. Coming
from Cardiff, it is a very small place with only 350 thou-
sand people, so to me, it’s very big, bustling (and) busy.
By part I was staying there, there were so many interest-
ing places for me to go and see.
There were lovely teashops, parks, temples just
around the corner. And of course –well, it’s
going on, you got all the constructions and huge
buildings going all around you as well. So it’s
really kind of place where I can see the modern,
expanding, growing China and traditional China
right there next to each other. That was really
fascinating to me.”
From the Wuhou Shrine, Dufu Thatched Cot-
tage to the Sichuan Opera House and even the
Panda base, the British singer sought inspira-
tion in some of the most unexpected places.
As a keen observer, he recorded some usually
overlooked audio, such as common birdcalls,
chatter in a teashop, the chanting of monks,
and sounds of people playing chess, then
carefully blended them together in the album,
“The Immortal Bard”.
Bonello wanted to create a sound portrait of
Chengdu, “to give people an audio idea about
where I was when I recorded the album and
wrote the album. To me, it was good. I can put
all these sounds; I can see them telling a little
bit of a story. The idea was they went from
the city to the countryside and it would start
off Li Bai’s story with him wondering around
the countryside.”
Produced in a sort of biographical manner, the
Welsh-language album “The Immortal Bard”
traces back the eventful life of Li Bai. Delivered
by the tender yet sturdy timbre of the singer, the
musical journey starts off with the poet’s vigor-
ous youth as a traveler, to middle age when he
suffered loneliness and frustration after political
setback, and ends with Li Bai’s mysterious death,
when the poet fell from a boat while drunkenly
trying to reach for the moon in the water.
Gareth Bonello says the life story of Li Bai actu-
ally reflects some universal emotions of humans.
“At the end of day, it’s all human story, isn’t it?
The things he is dealing with and the things all
people deal with (are) the indecision of youth, the loss of
being away from your loved ones, the ageing process and
all that kind of thing. Li Bai in many ways is quite a vain
man. I think that was particularly difficult for him. You
can see that until the end of his life, he wrote lots of po-
ems to do with ageing and how he doesn’t really believe
that he is getting old.”
From “Quiet Night Thoughts”, “Question and Answer” to
“Drink with the Moon”, many noted pieces of Li Bai have
been borrowed by Bonello to pay tribute to the splendour
of nature, joy of drinking, and the desolation of the heart.
As the musician reads more about Chinese poems, he says
many themes are echoed in ancient Welsh ballads.
As Bonello says, “(Li) also has lots of poems about love,
his family, his wife and children. I need to tell that side of
A Musical
Conversation
Across Time:
A Welsh Singer’s
Discovery of Li Bai
By Li Shiyu
Li Bai’s ways of saying really huge life-
changing things with small sentences, small
images and lots of very great metaphors
really appeal to the way I write music and it’s
very similar to things written in Welsh.
(Chengdu is) a place where
I can see the modern,
expanding, growing China
and traditional China right
there next to each other.
ARTS ARTS

12. 22 CHINA
his story as well, not just his travelling side. That
aspect is very similar to Welsh traditional music
as well. You also have Wales surrounded by the
sea so lots of men will go away to the sea and
leave their wives behind. So lots of Welsh folk
songs deal with that issue. “
The Welsh singer-songwriter worked with
local musicians from the Chengdu Associated
Theatre of Performing Arts, who accompanied
him during his six-week residency. As Bonello
explains, “The British Council had been sort
of writing in advance to set me up with these
musicians. So as soon as I met anyone who could
do anything musical, I would ask them to play
something and record it. And then I would get
the guitar out and we would try to play some-
thing together and all kinds of things.
I got to know some of the musicians, particularly
Huang Weizhi, who is the director of the tradi-
tional music in the theatre. Mr. Huang kept telling
me to write something happy, because I have the
tendency to write some quite morose, sad things,
but that’s what Welsh folk music is generally. I had
lots of suggestions from the musicians about what
would work. They would give my encouragement
(when) they felt that was the good representation
of the works of Li Bai. So that gave my confidence
carrying on working with it. “
The co-productions of Bonello and his Chinese
counterparts are slick and flawless, as two totally
distinctive styles dance around each other; teas-
ing, lifting, swinging, and eventually spinning in
unison. But the collaboration had a rough start
as Bonello points out. “Obviously the language
barrier is a difficult thing and also you got this
sort of difference in music way. I am not a classi-
cally trained musician.
I can read music, but when it’s written in Chinese
traditional script, it is different to the western
notation. So if someone showed me what this part
means, I can’t really say because to me, it doesn’t
make any sense. So I had to listen and it would
take me a long time. I think probably musicians
felt quite frustrating that I would be slow some-
times with that kind of thing.”
Bonello was helped by 51-year-old Huang
Weizhi,the director of Chengdu Folk Art Troupe
who told China Plus, “When (Bonello) sang, I
realised how different his style is compared with
ours. So I helped him to write a score. I asked him
to sing sentence by sentence and recorded the
music in the Chinese way. Then, we hammered out
a fixed tune based on his voice and pitch. “
During his cooperation with Chinese artists, Bonello
says he even found some connections between eastern
and western music. As Bonello discovered, “A lot of
Chinese traditional music is written in a pentatonic
five notes scale and this five notes scale is quite ubiqui-
tous across large swathes of the world. These five notes
are also the foundation of the blues in America, which
then sort of vastly influenced the British folk revival in
the 1960s. So it comes around in a whole circle. I think
there is a connection that is longer than people realise,
because the world has been connected for a lot longer
than people think.”
Gareth Bonello’s residency in Chengdu only lasted for six
weeks. Due to the time limit, he didn’t finish the record-
ing of the whole album until he came back to Britain
to continue the work with local composer and string
quartet. He spent half a year going through the 20 hours
of music that he recorded in China and trying to find the
right mood to capture the essence of Li Bai’s poetry.
After two years on the road, the collective effort of
Bonello and his fellow musicians finally came to
fruition in the biographical record, “The Immor-
tal Bard”. Reflecting the Welsh songster’s rendition
of Li Bai’s poems and life, the 12-track album has
received widespread critical acclaim and was award-
ed the Welsh Album of the Year at the 2014 National
Eisteddfod, a major celebration of Welsh literature,
music and performance.
He performed his songs at venues around Britain but
Bonello says he wished there was a Chinese ensemble to
assist him in his performances. This year, that wish came
true. In March, as part of the program of the China-UK
Year of Cultural Exchange, Bonello was invited to visit
China again to share his music with Chinese audiences.
And as for Bonello’s connection with Li Bai, the singer is
sure that this isn’t the end. “Definitely I’ll carry on reading
his poetry for inspiration, so I wouldn’t surprise if I write
more songs based on his amazing poetry. I always like read-
ing poetry to influence my music and writing.”
PLUS
The co-productions of Bonello
and his Chinese counterparts
are slick and flawless, as two
totally distinctive styles dance
around each other; teasing,
lifting, swinging, and eventually
spinning in unison.
23
ARTS

13. 25PLUS24 CHINA24
Training the Next
Generation of
Film Talent in the
UK & China
By Li Shiyu
T
he British film industry is no doubt the
subject of admiration throughout the
cinematic world. While Chinese inter-
est in film suffered some bumpy days in
the past, the country has now overtaken Japan to
become the world’s second largest movie market,
behind the United States of America. However,
there are few intersections between British and
Chinese cinema. However, young film talent in
Britain and China will soon have the chance to
learn from some of the masters of cinema from
each respective nation.
Being coached by Academy-award winner Ed-
die Redmayne or learning tricks from Chinese
ink-wash animation masters may sound im-
plausible for newcomers in the film industry,
but the British Academy of Film and Televi-
sion Arts (BAFTA) has announced that it is no
longer a far-fetched dream for Chinese talents
and British nationals.
As part of the latest expansion of the Acade-
my’s global scholarship activity, it is expected
that from 2016, this leading British institu-
tion will enable people from both countries
in financial need to study film, television, or
game design as an international student in the
UK or the Chinese mainland respectively (The
scholarship program in Hong Kong has been
active since 2014).
In explaining why the academy chose to focus
specifically on China, Anne Morrison, Chair
of BAFTA said, “So much is happening in
China and beyond. We really want and need to
extend our reach to China, because it’s such a
fast-developing industry here. China is second
only to the United States in terms of box office
revenues. So it’s a huge, huge market. Increas-
ingly our members are looking to China as
they develop their art forms. So we thought
it’s a tremendous opportunity here to promote
creative collaboration between people in Chi-
na and in the UK.”
According to Tim Hunter, Director of Leaning and Events
at BAFTA, successful applicants not only receive financial
support for their tuition and living expenses, but more im-
portantly, they will be appointed a personal mentor from the
Academy’s large pool of distinguished members. As for what
the role of mentor entails, Hunter pointed out that, “A men-
tor is not only advising you on your study, on your career
direction. They also become a champion for you. They can
introduce you to their network and really show you how the
industry actually works.”
More than four hundred students have applied for the British
scheme so far, and even though only ten to twelve lucky ones
will be selected, Hunter says the enthusiasm remains high,
adding, “I think students nowadays are very aware that the
industries become more global. Being familiar with all the
aspects of China, being able to speak the language, being able
to understand how these industries work and what audiences
like and have a network with people having all those different
things really set you above other people. It’s very much open to
everyone. They can then become the ambassadors for the UK
industry in China and the Chinese industry in the UK.”
According to Anne Morrison, Chair of BAFTA, since the key
mission of the Academy is to identify, support and promote tal-
ents; the scholarship scheme in China is merely the beginning.
As the Year of UK-China Cultural Exchange proceeds, this
creative collaboration will likely lead to further engagement
among the next generation of filmmakers.
As Morrison explains, “You have all these agreements in the
world, but you need people to know each other and get excited
by a conversation, which might just spark an idea, then leads
to an amazing film. So we are hoping to put people together.
That’s what we are good at; running events, letting people
network with each other and see each other’s work, and be
exposed to different cultures. That’s our program over the next
few years in China.”
The BAFTA programs in China also include the estab-
lishment of master classes and online networking, which
will allow practitioners from both Britain and China to
share experiences.
Increasingly our members
are looking to China as they
develop their art forms.
CINEMA

14. 26 27CHINA PLUS26
C
hinese people are among the fast-
est-growing ethnic minorities in the
UK. However, in areas such as arts, me-
dia and politics, they are still the quiet
section of the population. But London-based
writer, performer and broadcaster Anna Chen is
reluctant to remain silent. Actively involved in
comedy shows and radio programs, she is using
her voice to conjoin the British Isles with the
Middle Kingdom.
In a dimly-lit room in Beijing, accompanied
with rhythmic music, stand-up performer
Anna Chen rapped a trenchant, witty song
about Anna May Wong, a Hollywood legend
and one of the most misunderstood talents
back in the Roaring Twenties.
Anna Chen sees a lot of herself in the image of
Anna May Wong, a little known Hollywood starlet
from China. “This is what fascinated me about
Anna May Wong, who was a Chinese American
movie star, Hollywood’s first Chinese superstar
(and) the most famous Chinese woman in the
world in the 1920s and 30s,” explains Chen. “The
things she was up against then, I felt I was still
bumping up against at the end of the 20th century.”
Off stage, Chen acts like a typical Londoner.
Born to a Chinese father and British mother,
she admits that she has always been conscious
of her dual heritage. “I grew up as an English
girl, feeling very English, but also very aware
of the Chinese side of my family.
So, I always say that I have Beatlemania yelling
at me in one ear, and Red Guards yelling at me
in the other. It’s a very, very strange mix, but I
think it’s quite interesting,” says Chen.
Immersing herself in the cultural extravagan-
za of 1970s Britain, Anna Chen developed a
strong interest in the entertainment industry
at an early age. But when she started to go to
auditions, this fledgling performer was not satisfied
with the stereotyped roles being offered.
Chen thinks back to her early auditions and recalls,
“One of the things that I came up against was (that)
there were no parts written for Chinese women. The
only Chinese women you saw on the screen, either on
film or on TV, were very demeaning roles. See, (it was)
either the Dragon Lady: evil, being destructive; or else
you were the Lotus Blossom: very delicate, in need
of help, and a little bit feeble; or else, the third thing
(was) you are completely invisible. So after a while, I
wrote my first show called Suzy Wrong-Human Can-
non.”
In 1994, Chen took her show to the Edinburgh Fringe
Festival, the largest arts festival in the world and thus
became the first British Chinese comic to do so. A few
years later, she also made her acting appear-
ance in Stewart Lee’s Fist of Fun. That experi-
ence not only granted her as the first Chinese
comedienne to show up on British television,
but to a certain extent, it also promised her fu-
ture opportunities in broadcasting, particular-
ly after successfully launching her first radio
program on the subject of Yoko Ono.
“I started to make programs for BBC, for
Radio 3 and for Radio 4. One of the things I
always enjoyed was making programs about
Chinese culture and Chinese people that
showed a positive light. I always said that if
you dehumanize a group, if you make them
just a blank canvas, if you create a vacuum
and all sorts of really unpleasant monsters fill
the vacuum. So, I think it’s very important to
humanize. Because we are! That’s the reality.”
Besides offering her voice as a regular guest
talking about Chinese matters and current af-
fairs, such as the Morecambe Bay cockling disas-
ter and the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Anna Chen
has also written and presented China-related
documentaries and dramas for BBC and Lon-
don-based radio station Resonance FM. From
her screen heroine Anna May Wong, China’s
manufacturing industry and its relationship with
Britain, to Chinese sci-fi and chinoiserie clichés
in music; the topics are diverse while her style is
frequently labeled by critics as “witty, wisecrack-
ing and sophisticated.”
One of her most well-received programs is a
ten-part BBC series named “Chinese in Brit-
ain”. Present in an anecdotal manner, the pro-
gram explores the lives of Chinese people who
came to the UK before the immigration boom
in the 1960s and unveils some lesser known truths. For
example, the earliest Sino-UK cultural exchange can
be traced back to the 17th Century, when the Jesuit
scholar Shen Futsong met King James II; while during
the First and Second World War, there were a great
of number of Chinese sailors who joined the British
merchant navy and contributed significantly to British
victories during that turbulent time.
As Chen proudly points out, “I do get people
coming up saying: ‘You know, we really, really
enjoy your program.’ Because it’s such a rarity! Be-
cause what you normally get is that if they do look
at Chinese, it is normally from the outside, from
their point of view looking at something strange,
rather than what we did, which is saying: ‘This is
us. Look, this is us telling you our story and just
making it normal.’”
From stand-up, theatre to poetry and radio, this
multi-talented artist is using her voice, as Chen claims,
to “grapple with issues of politics and identity, sub-
vert stereotypes and poke the status quo with a sharp
stick.” Thanks to her projects, Chinese people are no
longer the takeaway owners or inscrutable Kung Fu
experts, but ordinary people with diverse characters.
Chen says her role model is Prometheus, who inspires
her to do her best to conjoin Chinese people with the
rest of the world.
“I think I am planting seeds. Whether (they) germinate, I
don’t know. But this is how I think of myself. I think with
this next generation, we are starting to see more people
coming up. So I think time is on our side.”
A Voice to
Join Britain
with China
By Li Shiyu
This is us. Look, this
is us telling you
our story and just
making it normal.
Anna Chen sees many similarities between herself and
China’s first Hollywood starlet, Anna May Wong.
Photo provided by Anna Chen
VOICES VOICES

15. 28 29CHINA PLUS
A
s the UK-China Year of Cultural Ex-
change reaches its conclusion, CHINA
PLUS presents the views of two aca-
demics from the respective countries,
assessing the use of cultural activities as part of
achieving foreign policy.
Prof. Gao Jian, deputy director of the British
Studies Centre at Shanghai International Studies
University
The role played by soft power and cultural diplo-
macy in the foreign policy of the UK
In the past few decades, soft power has been
a popular term in political studies. It was first
raised by Joseph Nye, the American scholar.
Highly relative to soft power, we have the term
Cultural Diplomacy; which has been regarded
as one of the important parts in terms of foreign
policy. Previously, especially in the Nineteenth
Century, and in the early part of the Twentieth
Century, the UK used to be a very powerful,
influential nation (both) politically and econom-
ically. However, after the Second World War,
obviously the UK declined politically.
Therefore, Cultural Diplomacy is a very import-
ant policy which was fully adopted previously
(up until) now in the UK’s foreign policy. We all
know they have a very important organisation
named the British Council, which focuses on
the export of language and culture. We all know
English has been a world language, and the UK’s
cultural industry has been regarded as one of the
most leading (examples) in the world. Therefore,
I would like to say Cultural Diplomacy has been
regarded as extremely important and indispens-
able in terms of UK foreign policy.
If Cultural exchange is ongoing, why do we need
a high-profile event at the official level like the
UK-China Year of Cultural Exchange?
The year of cultural exchange is a very good high-
light of the importance of culture. We all know
obviously (there is a) kind of misunderstanding be-
tween Western and Chinese culture. Therefore, in
order to ensure a promising future for the bilateral
relations between China and the UK, we have to
have a better, deeper and more profound mutual understanding
culturally, besides economic and political (relations). So we say
cultural mutual understanding would lay a consolidated foun-
dation for the China-UK bilateral relations’ future.
I would like to say that the Year of Cultural Exchange
would expedite and enhance the deeper and more pro-
found mutual understanding between the UK and China.
Another thing I would like to emphasise is that today we
say culture is business. Today, in terms of the bilateral
relations between the UK and China, business plays an
extremely important role. Therefore, I think the Year of
Cultural Exchange would be very meaningful not only
culturally, but also economically and commercially.
What is your take on the theme “Next Generation” for the
UK activities in China?
The UK is a very experienced country in terms of foreign
policy. Today they focus on the subject of the future,
because they’ve titled it the Next Generation. I think it’s a
very skilful and successful term to describe their strategy.
I would like to elaborate the Next Generation (concept)
from two perspectives.
Number one, if you refer to all the activities hosted by the UK
parties, these are very much characterised by innovation and
creativity. They have creative industries, cultural industries,
design, fashion shows, animation and movie dramas. These
are (examples) of innovation and creativity. The second part I
want to emphasise is that between China and the UK, there’s a
very important program focusing upon the exchange of youth;
called Generation UK.
(The UK) wants to send more and more young students to go
to China and study and work in China in order to get more
familiar with Chinese culture and Chinese people. So, between
the UK and China, we have an agreement that we should focus
on our future and our generation of youngsters would be
extremely important for our future bilateral relationship. So I
think Next Generation is very meaningful as a choice.
The Importance of Royal Figureheads
The visit of Prince William is really a shining part and
should really arouse tremendous interest, not only official-
ly but from the ordinary Chinese people, because Chinese
people have a fantasy about the Royal Family of Britain.
Let me give you an example; do you know which brand in
Britain is the most commercially profitable brand? It’s the
Royal Family.
The Royal Family as a brand in commerce is very market-
able. It’s quite easy for the Royal Family to arouse attention
from the public. It’s really very skilful and successful for the
British Government to choose William as a kind of selling
point to enhance the UK season in China, during their Next
Generation programme.
Cultural Diplomacy,
Soft Power and
Foreign Policy:
The Academic Opinion
POLITICS
Chinese Creation is the theme for the second
half of the Year of Cultural Exchange. Will the
stereotype of China as the “world’s factory” have
a negative impact on efforts to promote Chinese
cultural creativity in the UK?
I agree that previously China’s image very much
related to a “world factory”, or “Made in China”.
I’m not going to deny there’s some kind of nega-
tive impact if we are still going to be regarded as
a country like that. But I would like to say that it
would be very narrow-minded if we have no notice
of China’s progress in high technology and creative
industry in the past few years.
China is not as China was in previous years. If
you refer to some high technology in China, you
will find that actually we have been making a
lot of progress in a lot of creative industries and
hi-tech industries. The programme we are going
to hold in the next few months will be a very im-
portant opportunity and chance for us to modify
and change our national image in terms of being
the world factory.
UK Embracing Chinese Cultural Exports
We should be patient. Sometimes, there are a
lot of stereotyped ideas in terms of the interpre-
tation of China. As far as I know, especially in
the past 4 or 5 years, China’s image in this part
has very much changed. I have articles from
the leading newspapers in the UK that say ‘we
should learn a lot from China in terms of high technology;
because China has made a lot of progress.’ However, I’m not
going to deny that we still have a long way to go and to cov-
er. So, we should be open-minded and we should be active
in the mutual communication.
Gary Rawnsley, Prof. of Public Diplomacy at the Depart-
ment of International Politics, Aberystwyth University, UK
Assessing China’s Soft Power Profile in the UK
I think that China is more visible now in the UK than at any
time in the past. We are more familiar with China; we’re fa-
miliar with Chinese food and cinema. We have thousands of
students from China in the UK now. I think that the British
people are becoming more familiar with China, becoming
more comfortable about interaction with China.
I think that China’s profile is doing very, very well. Soft power
is different. Soft power means that China would be influencing
the way that people think about China and I’m not sure that
there has been enough research yet to understand whether
people’s behaviours and attitudes towards China are changing
because of China’s activities in the UK.
The Pros and cons of Cultural Activities led by Governments
There can be difficulties when these kinds of activities are led
by governments. Whichever government it is, whether it’s Brit-
ish, American, Chinese or whatever, there is often a suspicion
that what is happening is the government is pursuing its own
political agenda. And obviously, then the horrible word of ‘pro-
paganda’ can often arise in terms of those activities.
Photo: Tom Eversley
isorepublic.com
29
POLITICS
PLUS

16. 31PLUS30 CHINA
At the same time, even with non-governmen-
tal level cultural relations, governmental in-
volvement is important because they are often
the ones that provide the infrastructure for
non-governmental activities to take place; in
terms of arranging things, in terms of visas, in
terms of funding perhaps, in terms of facilitat-
ing some of the exchanges that take place.
I think what we have here is a very direct ex-
ample of how governments can be involved in
cultural relations but they’re not directly pur-
suing a political agenda. I think the fact that
the British Council is also very involved with
this activity shows that this is not as political as
perhaps some people would claim it to be.
Explaining the “Next Generation” Theme
There are multiple ways of understanding the
theme of Next Generation. In purely practical
terms, I think that this demonstrates that
we’re thinking about the next generation of
cultural actors; the next generation of artists,
musicians, cultural actors, the innovators I
think, and the creativity that is now being
seen in the next generation of artists.
I think that we need to remember that public
diplomacy, soft power, cultural diplomacy work
on a long term basis; it’s not something that can
happen overnight. The theme of Next Generation
highlights that very well. What we’re doing is devel-
oping relations between China and the UK for the
next generation of British and Chinese subjects.
We are deepening relations that will be long-lasting
and I think that that’s the most important aspect.
With regard to the Chinese season in the UK as part of the
Year of Cultural exchange, are there barriers to overcome in
terms of the Made in China label?
I think that there are fewer barriers now than there were in the
past. Obviously, China is still seen as the exotic other; it’s seen
as something that is less familiar perhaps than our European
neighbours. People are still a little bit wary of the language for
example, and the cultural barriers to understanding Chinese
cultural products. At the same time, Chinese culture is be-
coming far more popular in the UK than it was before. People
are watching Chinese films in ever greater numbers; Chinese
restaurants are flourishing; we have exhibitions by Chinese artists.
So, I don’t think that there are too many barriers now. I think
people are much more receptive to engaging with foreign
cultural products than at any time in the past. Rather than talk
about barriers, we have to talk about opportunities, and I think
there’s a wonderful opportunity here for deepening relations
between the UK and China on a non-political, cultural level.
Cultural Exchange = Business Opportunities?
I think we’ve already seen the fact that it’s not just about making
money. I think that culture is a vital part of today’s economic
environment. People depend for their jobs on culture. Economies
depend upon cultural exchanges and business can be a very profit-
able byproduct of cultural exchange.
I think that what is happening now is the fact that culture is first
and foremost the priority of our relationship this year in the Year
of Cultural Exchange and business will be a side issue. I don’t think
it’s possible to say that we should be very cynical about this and say
that this is all about profit and business. I think that people who
are not involved in business and not in it to make money will be
engaging both with Chinese and with British cultural products,
and enjoying those cultural products when not making money.
PPhoto: China Foto Press/Rob Stothard/Getty Images

17. 32 CHINA
Editor-in-chief Stuart Wiggin
Design Stuart Wiggin
Executive editor Xie Qiao