DELEGATES representing Friends of Socialist China from Britain and the US were invited by the International Department of the Communist Party of China (CPC) for an 11-day educational exchange on the topics of building people-to-people relations between China and the rest of the world and building an ecological civilisation.

Fourth dialogue on exchanges and mutual learning among civilisations

Visiting Dunhuang in Gansu Province, delegates took part in the Fourth Dialogue on Exchanges and Mutual Learning Among Civilisations, an international conference which aimed at expanding China’s Global Civilisational Initiative, an organisation aiming to promote mutual respect among different civilisations.

The conference began with an opening address by Han Zheng, the Vice-President of the People’s Republic of China, followed by addresses from representatives of Laos, Nepal, Botswana and others, before the delegates from over 60 countries took part in meetings and cultural events. The speakers highlighted the need to respect, share and learn from each other’s varied cultures, acknowledging that cultural exchange and not cultural isolation enhances cultural value.

Youth forum participation

Two delegates from Friends of Socialist China, one representing the Qiao Collective in the US and another the Young Communist League of Britain, were invited to speak at a parallel forum by Tsinghua University on the issues facing young people in their respective countries.

They outlined the material struggles in housing, employment, the threats of war and climate breakdown, which have combined to form a pessimistic fog over the minds of young people in the respective countries, while contrasting this with China’s success in overcoming these struggles and subsequent optimism for the future.

Delegates remarked it was astonishing that young people from the US and Britain had been invited to China to talk about such issues when their own respective governments had not once asked for their input on such issues.

Environmental achievements

Following the conclusion of the conference, delegates were taken to see Dunhuang’s solar plant, hosting 12,000 individual solar panels, each 115.5 square metres, making it one of the world’s largest solar plants. This is only the first of many such solar plants, with plans to construct similar plants in Qinghai and Xinjiang.

It was clear for all to see the commitment socialist China has made towards an environmental economy. Later in Jiayuguan, delegates were taken to the smart grid and localised new energy consumption demonstration project, which powers 40 per cent of the city with renewable energy, with plans to increase this to 52 per cent by the end of the next five-year plan. While in every city visited, delegates noticed the sheer amount of green spaces and greenery on practically every single road and path.

Cultural experiences

At the end of our time in Dunhuang, delegates took part in the dragon boat festival in the sand dunes. Here, over 10,000 people climbed the dunes, rode camels, flew in gliders, and sang along to live music all night long, while a visual show was displayed on the dunes.

What was astonishing to many in attendance was the fact that this was entirely free. In fact, much of the culture that we had been lucky enough to partake in doesn’t cost a penny for ordinary people to participate, a far cry from the barriers many working-class people are facing to access culture and the arts in Britain and the US.

Historical sites and revolutionary heritage

While the key themes of the trip were on building people-to-people relations and on building an environmental civilisation, the delegates also keenly noticed the achievements of 76 years of socialist construction in China.

On the second day of the trip, delegates visited Yan’an, where nearly 100 years ago, members of the Communist Party of China had concluded the Long March. An event which saw 100,000 communists march around 10,000km, over 25km per day.

When arriving in Yan’an, their forces were depleted, with only a fraction of those who started the march taking part in the seventh national congress, which established the basic political and tactical line which would eventually lead the CPC to success in the civil war.

It was also here that Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, Zhu De and Liu Shaoqi lived in what are referred to as cave homes, small and simplistic homes with little distraction or extravagance. Much of what would later be referred to as Mao Zedong Thought, or the application of Marxism-Leninism to the concrete conditions of China, was developed here, including important writings such as On New Democracy, In Memory of Norman Bethune, Rectify the Party’s Style of Work and many more.

Delegates were also privileged to see the site of the first national congress in Shanghai, seeing the modest, small room where the first meetings took place. The humble beginnings of China’s great revolutionaries were easy to contrast against what we saw during our trip in China.

Transformation and achievements

In 1949, China was one of the poorest nations in the world, had a life expectancy in the 20s and 30s, had literacy rates barely above 10 per cent and suffered greatly under the boot of Western and Japanese colonialism.

As we saw during our delegation, China is today the world’s largest economic power; it has rid itself of its former subjugation, in the process laying the foundation of what a model country of the future looks like.

It is a country where every citizen is guaranteed the right to education and healthcare, where not one single person goes without a roof over their head, where humanity’s challenge against the threat of climate catastrophe is being solved. All this is only possible because of the success of the Chinese revolution and the continued commitment to constructing socialism.

You may think that after such an enlightening experience many of the delegates were sad to return to dreary Britain, or the deeply troubled US; however, after seeing the achievements of socialism with our own eyes, we were all filled with such a level of optimism that we can only return to our respective countries and work even harder for a future which guarantees the end of homelessness, poverty and solutions for climate breakdown and peace, a future which can only be guaranteed with the construction of socialism in our respective countries.