What we should learn from the Chinese, among other things, is humility, attention, kindness, gestures, how they respect others, treat them as equals, despite the fact that they are smaller, poorer and more vulnerable than them.

Writing by Mária Schmidt, director general of the House of Terror Museum, on the Látószög blog.

In October 2023, as a member of Viktor Orbán's delegation, I was able to participate in the international military review held on the tenth anniversary of the Beijing New Silk Road and the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Before this, I had never been to China, despite the fact that I had read dozens of books dealing with China, especially its history, and had written about it several times, so far I had not had the opportunity to face everything I thought I knew about this huge country with personal experiences. Even now, I only collected one or two impressions and made a few superficial observations, on the one hand, because I was only in Beijing and Shenzhen, and on the other hand, the density of official programs and the huge distances narrowed the field where I could see what I could see.

Beijing welcomed me with blue skies and very friendly weather, suitable for the summer of the most beautiful old ladies. Obviously, due to the city being closed for the delegations and perhaps partially evacuated, we did not experience the smog and the bad air. And, of course, I didn't see a bustling crowd of people either, and only very limited car traffic. Of course, this is natural for 130 delegations. In Beijing, we only turned around in the innermost city center and our convoy traveled only on main roads. The city was spotlessly clean, the people forced to wait due to the uninterrupted progress of the delegations were friendly and did not seem impatient. All of this was different from the hurried and tensely nervous, impatient atmosphere experienced in Tokyo and Seoul, which I experienced there almost heartbreakingly. Everyone there was running so as not to be late, everyone was very busy and aware of its importance.

I saw kindness, well-organization and teamwork here. Some kind of calmness that comes from the fact that everyone is an eye in the chain, everyone knows their job, and as long as everything goes according to plan and no distractions arise, they do their work smoothly and naturally. Spontaneity is not their strong point.

We were received with great attention and respect everywhere. While we are not the size of a medium-sized Chinese city, they negotiated with us at eye level, as equal parties. I have never experienced this in the West. There, the message was always that we feel honored to be there at all, that they speak to us, but we should not think that this means that we can open our mouths.

What we should learn from the Chinese, among other things, is humility, attention, kindness, gestures, how they respect others, treat them as equals, despite the fact that they are smaller, poorer and more vulnerable than them.

Prime Minister Li Xiang, who held talks with Viktor Orbán, gave a dinner in his honor, and was received by President Xi Jinping, the president of China's and the world's largest bank, ICBC, the president of two other giant banks: the China Construction Bank and the Bank of China, the BYD electric car factory, which is the world's first, and the founding presidents of Huawei. Everywhere he was welcomed and discussed with him at the highest level, namely in a meaningful way, carrying on a real exchange of ideas, and at each of these meetings the general staff of political, financial and economic life was present.

President Xi welcomed the Prime Minister as an old friend, recalling that they met for the first time in 2009, when he was still vice president and Viktor Orbán led the largest opposition party.

The Chinese negotiators were very disciplined, prepared and gave substantive answers to substantive questions. We did not disappoint them either.

The general staff of the giant banks, whose headquarters we visited and where the members of the delegation dealing with the economy continued their negotiations, or the managers of the two world-class companies in Shenzhen, both welcomed us with Hungarian music, folk songs and excerpts from operettas. For Puskás, the artistically constructed dishes evoked a soccer field or were in the shape of a Rubik's cube. In Huawei's magnificent guest house palace, we were welcomed with a portrait of Albert Szentgyörgyi, an installation referring to the discovery of the ballpoint pen, the match and the Rubik's cube, while beautiful young Chinese girls played Monti's play on Chinese instruments. It was touching.

Attention, respect, attentiveness, politeness. It would be nice to learn something from it.

You can read the article in its entirety on the Látószög blog by clicking on the link.

Cover photo: Prime Minister Viktor Orbán (b) is received by Chinese President Xi Jinping (j) in Beijing on October 17, 2023. MTI/Prime Minister's Press Office/Zoltán Fischer