These days, more than anything else, I am urging those far away to see for themselves. They may lament something lost-the “9 million bicycles in Beijing” to quote the words of a popular English song-but it was never theirs to begin with. What they may really be lamenting is the imminent change in the worldwide status quo, and their place, as “Westerner” in it.

Yes, I do think we can lament some things, but only in as much as the change has created some unwanted side effects. For example, the wide lanes devoted to bicycles that existed in front of Tiananmen Square when I was living at Erwai seem to have been replaced by traffic jams, increased levels of pollution, and higher rates of obesity. But with this, the outside is forced to leave the old idea behind that only they had access to the modes of modernity and the benefits thereof and could bestow their favors on the developing world on their own, self-serving terms.

When I tell people abroad that China is no longer some economic backwater and that not everyone is toiling barefoot in the paddy fields like Wang Lung in Pearl Buck’s old classic The Good Earth, they seem surprised. When I go back to my birth-country and look at major Canadian cities, such as the one I was raised in, I see outmoded and insufficient public transportation systems (and the resulting social inequality), I see communication systems that need to catch up to what exists on this side of the Pacific. And now, we know that China’s leadership is doing as much, if not more, than other Western governments to tackle global issues such as climate change and carbon emissions. In fact, as time goes on, I am convinced that some leaders “across the pond” cannot come to grips with what needs to be done in terms of seeing economic development as a global, environmental issue.

Where’s the backwater now?