China, Part One: The Country I Thought I Knew
A Journey Through China in Three Parts
At the end of August 2026, I departed for China, beginning a journey that would challenge many of my assumptions about a country I thought I knew.
I have organized my experiences, observations, and reflections into three essays:
Part One: The Country I Thought I Knew
Understanding a Civilization Beyond 1949
Part Two: The China I Discovered
From Imperial Beijing to the Mountains of Huangshan
Part Three: The China I Had Not Imagined
Modern China and the Perspective I Brought Home
Together, these three essays explore China's extraordinary history, the places and people I encountered, and the contemporary country that challenged my expectations.
Understanding a Civilization Beyond 1949
I was born and raised in communist Romania, in a country where the influence of Mao's China extended far beyond politics and ideology.
Growing up under communism shaped the way I understood the world, and especially the way I understood countries governed by communist regimes.
For decades, almost everything I associated with China's communist political system carried an overwhelmingly negative meaning.
In my mind, the system represented oppression, control, and the denial of individual freedom. I had learned early in life to distinguish between people and the governments ruling them, but my judgment of the system itself was absolute.
To me, it represented pure evil. I had lived under communism. I knew what it could do to people's lives.
Romania's relationship with China was particularly significant during the leadership of Nicolae Ceaușescu. In June 1971, Ceaușescu visited China and North Korea, where he encountered political systems built around powerful personality cults, strict ideological control, and mass political mobilization.
Shortly after returning to Romania, he introduced what became known as the July Theses, a program that strengthened ideological education, political censorship, and the Communist Party's influence over cultural and intellectual life.
Historians recognize the visit as an important influence on Ceaușescu's subsequent policies, although Romania's authoritarian development also had domestic roots.
For those of us growing up under his government, the consequences were part of everyday life.
My desire to leave Romania was deeply connected to my desire to live differently, to experience freedom, and to build a life shaped by my own choices.
For many years, my understanding of China remained closely associated with that experience.
Over the past decade, however, as my interest in world affairs deepened, I began reading more about China. I encountered information about its development, infrastructure, technological achievements, history, and society that challenged some of my long held assumptions.
The more I learned, the more curious I became.
I have always been intrigued when information contradicts something I believe I understand. It makes me want to investigate further, to ask questions, to examine different perspectives, and to discover what I might be missing.
Eventually, I decided to go to China and see for myself.
At the end of August 2026, I arrived in Beijing.
What followed was one of the most intellectually fascinating journeys of my life.
I found myself repeatedly saying, "This is mind blowing" and gradually, another realization began taking shape: what was most mind blowing was how little I had known about the China that exists today.
I realized that, before I could begin understanding contemporary China, I needed to understand something much older.
China did not begin in 1949: A Civilization Thousands of Years in the Making
China is one of the world's oldest continuous civilizations, with cultural traditions extending back thousands of years.
The country occupies an immense territory, making it the third-largest country on Earth by land area, after Russia and Canada.
Its population exceeds 1.4 billion people, and its geography encompasses deserts, grasslands, fertile plains, immense river systems, subtropical landscapes, and some of the highest mountains in the world.
The Himalayas rise along its southwestern frontier, while the Tibetan Plateau, often called the Roof of the World, occupies a vast region of western China.
Two great rivers played especially important roles in the development of Chinese civilization.
The Yellow River, flowing through northern China, supported some of the earliest agricultural communities and political centers. Its fertile plains encouraged settlement, farming, and the development of increasingly complex societies.
The Yangtze River, stretching across central China, became another great center of agriculture, transportation, trade, and cultural development.
Over thousands of years, communities living along these river systems developed increasingly sophisticated forms of social organization.
They cultivated crops, built settlements, created tools and ceremonial objects, established political institutions, and developed systems of belief.
Archaeological discoveries reveal complex societies in China long before the emergence of the first historically documented dynasties.
Chinese civilization is frequently described as having 5,000 years of history. The expression refers broadly to its ancient cultural origins, while the earliest surviving written records date primarily to the Shang Dynasty, more than 3,000 years ago.
That distinction is important because civilizations develop gradually, often centuries before their histories begin to be recorded in writing.
What makes China particularly fascinating is the remarkable continuity of many of its cultural traditions. Governments changed, dynasties rose and fell, territories expanded and contracted, foreign people conquered parts of China and, at times, established ruling dynasties, yet written traditions, philosophical ideas, artistic practices, and cultural institutions continued to develop and influence subsequent generations.
To understand this continuity, we need to understand the dynasties.
The Dynasties: How China Was Governed for Thousands of Years
Before traveling to China, I had heard many references to the Ming Dynasty, the Qing Dynasty, the Tang Dynasty, and the Han Dynasty.
But what exactly was a dynasty?
How did it function, and why did dynasties play such an important role in Chinese history?
A dynasty was a succession of rulers, generally belonging to the same family, who claimed the authority to govern a state or empire.
In imperial China, the emperor stood at the center of political authority, but governing such an enormous territory required far more than one ruler.
Over centuries, Chinese governments developed elaborate administrative systems involving officials, laws, taxation, military organization, infrastructure, and institutions responsible for managing public affairs.
One of the most influential concepts in Chinese political thought was the Mandate of Heaven.
Emerging during the Zhou Dynasty (1046-256 BCE), this principle held that a ruler's legitimacy depended on possessing Heaven's approval.
Importantly, that approval was conditional.
A ruler who governed unjustly, neglected the people, or allowed the country to descend into disorder could be understood as having lost the Mandate of Heaven.
Natural disasters, famine, rebellion, and political instability were sometimes interpreted as signs that a dynasty had lost its legitimacy.
The concept helped explain why one ruling family could replace another.
It also created an enduring ideal that political authority carried moral responsibilities.
The Zhou Dynasty was particularly important because it provided the historical setting in which some of China's most influential philosophical traditions emerged.
The Qin Dynasty (221-206 BCE) established the first unified Chinese empire under Qin Shi Huang. Although the dynasty lasted only fifteen years, its influence was enormous.
The Qin government standardized important elements of administration, including writing conventions, weights, measures, and currency, while connecting and extending earlier defensive walls.
The famous Terracotta Army, discovered near the emperor's tomb in Xi'an, remains one of the most extraordinary archaeological legacies of this period.
The Han Dynasty (206 BCE-220 CE), which followed, lasted more than four centuries, with a brief interruption.
It consolidated imperial institutions, expanded China's influence into Central Asia, and played an important role in the development of the Silk Roads.
The Han period also strengthened the relationship between Confucian thought and government.
Centuries later, the Tang Dynasty (618-907 CE) became one of the great cultural periods of Chinese history.
Its capital, Chang'an, present day Xi'an, was among the world's most cosmopolitan cities.
Merchants, scholars, monks, diplomats, and travelers arrived from distant regions, bringing goods, religious beliefs, languages, and artistic traditions.
At its height, Chang’an was home to an estimated one million people, making it one of the largest cities in the world. At a time when European cities such as London and Paris were much smaller, Chang’an had already developed into a vast international metropolis, where commerce, religion, scholarship, and artistic traditions flourished.
Poetry flourished, and the works of poets such as Li Bai and Du Fu became enduring treasures of Chinese literature.
The Song Dynasty (960-1279 CE), which followed several decades of political fragmentation, witnessed remarkable developments in commerce, urban life, science, technology, and intellectual culture.
Printing expanded the circulation of knowledge, while advances in navigation, manufacturing, and financial practices contributed to an increasingly sophisticated economy.
During the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368 CE), China was ruled by the Mongols under Kublai Khan and his successors.
The Ming Dynasty (1368-1644 CE) is remembered for major architectural and cultural achievements, including the construction of Beijing's Forbidden City in the early fifteenth century.
The Ming period also witnessed the maritime expeditions of Admiral Zheng He, whose fleets traveled across the Indian Ocean, reaching Southeast Asia, South Asia, Arabia, and East Africa.
The Qing Dynasty (1644-1912 CE), established by the Manchus in 1644, became China's final imperial dynasty.
During its nearly three centuries of rule, the empire expanded territorially, developed important cultural institutions, and eventually confronted profound internal and external challenges.
In the nineteenth century, wars, foreign intervention, economic pressures, and domestic rebellions weakened the Qing government.
The dynasty collapsed in 1912, ending more than two thousand years of imperial rule.
The Republic of China followed, but the country experienced decades of political instability, conflict, and war.
In 1949, following the Chinese Civil War, Mao Zedong proclaimed the establishment of the People's Republic of China.
This was the beginning of the political system that had dominated my understanding of China for decades even if it represented only the most recent chapter in a civilization whose history extended back thousands of years.
Confucianism and Taoism: Two Ways of Understanding Life
As I learned more about Chinese history, I became increasingly interested in the philosophical traditions that had shaped the civilization.
How did people understand their responsibilities toward one another?
What did they believe constituted a good life?
How did they think about morality, nature, government, and the relationship between individuals and society?
Two philosophical traditions became especially influential: Confucianism and Taoism.
Confucianism
Confucius was a Chinese philosopher and teacher, born in 551 BCE, during a period of political instability and social transformation.
Confucius believed that a harmonious society depended on the moral character of its people, particularly those holding positions of authority.
For him, education was fundamental to human development.
People could cultivate wisdom, improve their conduct, and become more responsible members of society through learning, reflection, and disciplined practice.
One of his central concepts was ren, often translated as humaneness or benevolence.
It expressed the importance of treating others with compassion, consideration, and moral responsibility.
Another important concept was li, referring to appropriate conduct, ritual practices, and the social customs that help maintain respectful relationships.
Confucianism placed considerable emphasis on family relationships, respect for parents and elders, education, personal responsibility, and ethical leadership.
It also emphasized that rulers should govern through moral example rather than relying exclusively on coercion.
Over time, Confucian teachings became deeply embedded in Chinese education, government, and social institutions.
For centuries, knowledge of Confucian texts played a central role in the imperial civil service examination system, through which officials were selected for government positions.
Taoism
Taoism, also written Daoism, is an ancient Chinese philosophical and religious tradition that explores how human beings can live in harmony with nature and the larger order of existence.
Its philosophical foundation developed during the later centuries of the Zhou Dynasty (1046-256 BCE), particularly between the fifth and third centuries BCE, a period of profound intellectual activity in China. Two influential figures are associated with its early philosophical development.
The first is Laozi, an ancient Chinese thinker traditionally believed to have lived around the sixth century BCE, although historians continue to debate whether he was a single historical person and when he lived.
Laozi is traditionally credited with Tao Te Ching, a foundational text of Taoist Philosophy that explores the nature of existence, simplicity, humility, and the art of living in harmony with the world.
Another important figure was Zhuangzi, a Chinese philosopher who lived during the fourth century BCE. His writings explore freedom, perspective, spontaneity, and the limits of conventional knowledge.
The central concept is the Dao, commonly translated as the Way. The Dao refers to the underlying way or process through which existence unfolds.
Rather than attempting to control every aspect of life, Daoist philosophy frequently emphasizes living in harmony with natural processes.
One of its most important concepts is wu wei, often translated as effortless action or noncoercive action.
It suggests acting with an understanding of circumstances rather than constantly forcing outcomes.
Nature becomes an important source of insight.
Water, for example, is frequently used as a metaphor for flexibility, humility, and quiet strength.
It flows around obstacles, adapts to its surroundings, and gradually shapes even the hardest surfaces.
The contrast between Confucianism and Taoism is fascinating.
Confucianism places particular emphasis on ethical relationships, education, and social responsibilities.
Taoism often explores simplicity, spontaneity, naturalness, and freedom from unnecessary conventions.
These traditions have interacted for centuries, and their ideas are far more complex than any simple comparison can capture.
Buddhism added another profound dimension to Chinese intellectual and spiritual life.
Originating in India, Buddhism entered China during the Han period (206 BCE-220 CE) and gradually developed distinctive Chinese traditions.
Its teachings about suffering, impermanence, compassion, and liberation influenced philosophy, literature, religious practices, and artistic expression.
Over centuries, Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism interacted, competed, and influenced one another.
Together, they helped shape the intellectual and spiritual landscape of Chinese civilization.
The Silk Roads: When Civilizations Exchanged More Than Goods
China's history also reveals how deeply interconnected civilizations have been for thousands of years.
The Silk Roads were networks of commercial and cultural exchange linking China with Central Asia, India, Persia, the Middle East, and eventually Europe.
Although silk became one of the most famous products transported along these routes, the exchange extended far beyond luxury goods.
Merchants carried textiles, ceramics, spices, precious stones, metals, and countless other products.
Monks, scholars, diplomats, and travelers carried religious ideas, scientific knowledge, artistic techniques, and cultural traditions.
Buddhism spread from India into China through networks of travelers and religious communities.
Chinese technologies and manufactured goods moved westward, while new crops, artistic influences, and intellectual traditions traveled eastward.
The Silk Roads were never a single road.
They consisted of changing networks of routes connecting cities, markets, religious centers, and political territories.
Among the most important cities was Chang'an, the capital of the Tang Dynasty.
China also made extraordinary contributions to technological development.
Papermaking, printing, gunpowder, and the magnetic compass are traditionally recognized as four great inventions associated with Chinese civilization.
Their development and transmission occurred across different historical periods, and their influence extended far beyond China's borders.
The history of knowledge preservation is equally fascinating.
Chinese scholars and governments developed extensive traditions of collecting, copying, organizing, and preserving written texts.
Imperial libraries housed important works of philosophy, history, literature, science, and government administration.
The invention and development of printing technologies transformed the possibilities for reproducing and circulating knowledge.
One extraordinary undertaking was the Yongle Encyclopedia, commissioned by the Ming emperor Yongle in the early fifteenth century.
Compiled by thousands of scholars, it attempted to bring together an immense body of existing Chinese knowledge.
The work comprised more than 22,000 manuscript chapters organized into thousands of volumes.
Most of the original compilation has been lost, but its scale reveals the intellectual ambitions of the period.
These achievements remind us that the history of human knowledge belongs to many civilizations.
Ideas have traveled across borders for thousands of years, influencing societies far beyond the places where they originated.
Chinese Art: A Different Way of Seeing the World
One of the most beautiful discoveries during my travels was the way traditional Chinese art often approached the relationship between humanity and nature.
Having grown up with European artistic traditions, I was accustomed to paintings in which human figures frequently occupied the center of the composition.
In many celebrated works of Renaissance art, including those of Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, the human body, religious narratives, and human emotions are presented with extraordinary attention to detail.
The figures command our attention. Their expressions, movements, and relationships become central to the visual experience.
Traditional Chinese landscape painting often offers a different perspective.
In a style known as shan shui, meaning mountains and water, the landscape itself becomes the central subject.
Mountains rise through layers of mist, rivers wind through valleys, trees cling to rocky cliffs, and small pavilions appear beside streams or among distant hills.
Human figures, when present, may be so small that they almost disappear within the vastness of the landscape.
The effect is extraordinary.
There is space.
There is contemplation.
The painting seems to breathe.
I became particularly fascinated by the use of empty space.
In many traditional Chinese paintings, areas of untouched paper or silk are essential elements of the composition.
They can suggest mist, water, sky, distance, or possibilities extending beyond what is visibly represented.
The empty space participates in the meaning of the work. It invites the viewer to pause, imagine, and contemplate.
This artistic approach has connections with Chinese philosophical traditions, including Daoist ideas about nature, balance, and the relationship between presence and absence.
Chinese landscape painting also developed through the influence of Buddhist thought, Confucian scholarship, and the practices of generations of artists.
Of course, European art includes extraordinary landscape traditions, and Chinese art encompasses portraiture, religious imagery, court painting, and many other subjects.
The contrast is therefore between particular artistic traditions rather than between two completely different civilizations and that distinction fascinated me.
I kept thinking about how, in many European Renaissance paintings, the human figure occupies the center of attention while in many traditional Chinese landscapes, humanity becomes part of something immeasurably larger.
I thought about this while traveling through Huangshan, the Yellow Mountains, where dramatic granite peaks rise above valleys filled with mist.
For centuries, these landscapes have inspired Chinese painters, poets, and philosophers.
Standing among those mountains, I began to understand the relationship between the natural world and the artistic traditions it had inspired.
The landscapes I had seen represented in paintings were suddenly surrounding me.
And the artistic language of mountains, water, mist, and open space became something I could experience directly.
Rediscovering the Past in a Rapidly Changing Country
Another observation that fascinated me throughout China was the interest I encountered in preserving and rediscovering cultural traditions.
In a country experiencing extraordinary technological and economic transformation, I noticed signs of curiosity about the past, including among younger generations.
Traditional architecture, historical sites, cultural practices, and artistic traditions appeared to be attracting renewed attention.
I found the relationship between modernization and cultural preservation particularly interesting.
China's rapid development is frequently associated with high speed railways, modern cities, advanced manufacturing, and technological innovation. Alongside this remarkable transformation, I was fascinated to discover a renewed interest in traditional Chinese culture, particularly among younger generations.
One example is the growing popularity of hanfu, clothing inspired by historical Chinese styles.
Young people participate in cultural events, visit historical sites wearing traditional clothing, and share their interest in Chinese history and aesthetics through social media.
Traditional crafts, tea ceremonies, calligraphy, classical poetry, and historical architecture have also become subjects of renewed public interest.
These trends vary across regions and generations, and they reflect a combination of personal curiosity, commercial activity, cultural initiatives, and public policy.
What interested me most was the larger relationship between the past and the future.
A society can pursue technological advancement while also exploring the cultural traditions that shaped its identity.
And perhaps rapid transformation makes questions of identity, continuity, and belonging even more meaningful.
Throughout my travels, I found myself thinking about how much of a civilization remains present in the lives of people who inhabit it today.
The dynasties have disappeared, but their architectural achievements remain.
The philosophers lived thousands of years ago, but their ideas continue to influence contemporary thought.
The ancient trade routes have changed, but cultural and economic exchange continues.
The artists who painted mountains and rivers centuries ago are gone, but the landscapes that inspired them remain.
History becomes something we encounter in buildings, gardens, traditions, language, art, and everyday life.
And this brings me back to the question that accompanied me throughout China.
How much of what we believe about a country reflects the country as it exists today, and how much reflects information, experiences, and assumptions inherited from another time?
Beyond What We Think We Know
When I arrived in China, I carried decades of experiences, memories, and beliefs that had shaped my understanding of the country.
Some of those beliefs were grounded in the realities of the political system under which I had grown up.
Others reflected the information available to me, the historical events I had studied, and the perspectives through which I had interpreted them.
Traveling through China did not erase my personal history, it gave me a broader frame of reference.
I began to understand that a civilization thousands of years old cannot be reduced to a political system established in 1949.
Its history encompasses extraordinary achievements, profound philosophical traditions, artistic beauty, periods of prosperity, devastating conflicts, political transformations, and the lives of countless generations.
Understanding that history does not require abandoning critical judgment about contemporary politics. It requires recognizing the complexity of the subject and perhaps that is one of the most valuable lessons of learning.
The more we discover, the more we become aware of how much remains beyond our understanding.
I traveled to China because I wanted to see for myself.
I wanted to move beyond assumptions, examine my own understanding, and experience a country that had increasingly captured my curiosity.
What I discovered was a civilization far richer and more complex than the image I had carried for decades.
And I had only begun to understand it.
In Part Two, I will take you through the places I visited, from Beijing and Tibet to Chengdu, Hangzhou, Huangshan, Hongcun, and Shanghai, sharing the experiences, observations, and moments that challenged my expectations and changed the way I understood contemporary China.
Because understanding a country's history is one thing.
Experiencing its present is another and for me, that experience was truly mind blowing.
Travel by Design, Not by Default.
Until the next horizon,
Coach • Traveler • Believer in Intentional Living
