China, a country not like I thought it would be

As soon as I landed at Shanghai International Airport, I realized the difference between worlds. Large airports, large buildings, highly developed rail and road networks, etc., all the while admitting that everything was beyond my imagination and that the environment that could be seen in Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan's films no longer suited the new era of China.

Saint Augustine said, "The world is a book, and those who do not travel only read one page". And Victor Hugo joins Saint Augustine when he writes: "To read is to travel; to travel is to read".

For exactly one year now, I have been reflecting on democracy as it applies in Africa in general and in the Democratic Republic of Congo in particular. However, it is not insignificant to admit that to better understand the essence of a governance philosophy, it would be necessary to know in advance the existence or veracity of other governance philosophies. The trip to China allowed me to really get in touch with two philosophies of political governance: Democracy with Chinese characteristics and democracy in the Democratic Republic of Congo and gradually to have a cross-look between these two political systems.

While American ideologues had considered that democracy would be an unavoidable prerequisite for the economic development of a given society, the People's Republic of China has demonstrated that the opposite is also possible. It should be noted that in only 30 years, China has seen its status as one of the poorest agricultural countries in the world transformed into the world's second-largest economic power. 650 million people have been lifted out of poverty (World Bank). And during this period, 80 percent of global poverty reduction occurred in China. In other words, all democracies (new and old) together represented only a tiny fraction of what the so-called "one-party state with no voting rights" has done. The graph below shows that China now has the capacity to eradicate absolute poverty by 2020 throughout China's national territory (CGTN March 2019).

While Europe is disconnecting itself from the world and consequently losing the sense of the future, China has for nearly 30 years illustrated itself as the real future of the world. If you want to taste the future, then try China!

China - a great empire, and without a guide, you get lost

The announcement of the trip to China was harmonious since I was leaving my country, death in my soul, having touched with my fingers the limits of humiliation and cowardice, deceit and mediocrity of a conglomerate of kleptocrats, majority and opposition that unfortunately stand out as a political class. It was a long journey, a journey in search of a second wind, a journey that allowed me to meet, to leave a trace, to discover and therefore, to write.

As a scholar in my state, I landed at Shanghai International Airport on September 9, 2016 at about 4 p.m., with the hope that all the conditions were in place for me to be immediately taken to the university site. However, upon my arrival, no arrangements were made for my welcome. So I was supposed to manage alone in a country where everything seemed unknown to me. Not knowing where to go, I left the airport at 8pm (by bus) for Hangzhou and it was around 11pm that I arrived in Hangzhou. Since it was late, I had to find a hotel to stay the night and try to reach the university the next day. But then, until midnight, I was looking unsuccessfully for a hotel to stay overnight. I was refused in almost all the Chinese hotels where I made the request, especially since they did not have the authorization to welcome foreigners. Until about one in the morning, a hotel agreed to accommodate me.

The next day, Saturday, Sept 10, 2016, I was lost among the Chinese. I experienced my very first real tour of Babel. Because, when trying to find out how to get to my university, all the Chinese people answered me in Chinese so often that I didn't understand anything they were saying to me and they didn't understand my reactions either. I fought that day and miraculously, I finally reached the Normal University of Zhejiang around 5pm.

Man discovers himself when he measures himself against the obstacle, said Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. I might as well acknowledge that this travel experience allowed me to understand the importance of language and to gauge cultural differences. The trip to China like a great book, I have learned enough.

Joseph Mimbale Molanga is pursuing his studies in the master of international relationsspecialty Sino-African relations at the Institute of African Studies of the Zhejiang Normal University.

The opinions expressed here are those of the writer and do not represent the views of China Daily and China Daily website.