China suddenly “discovered” me last year. As if it was waiting for its turn, until I was mature enough to be able to embrace all of its wonders.

It found me and showed its smiling and kind face, saying: “I am here for you to visit me, to explore me, to tell the story about me.”

I did not plan it. I had just a rough idea of its existence somewhere there “on the other side of the world”.
Now, after visiting China, I wonder what the definition of “the other side of the world” is – so typical of us living on “this side of the world” to look at China in that vague, and very often undermining way. By the way, who decides which side of the world is … the other side?

I had, like so many egocentric Europeans, just a few keywords and a couple of images in my brain carved into it from the geography and history lessons in the eighties i.e. sad-faced, rather poor and hard-working people wearing same blue workers blouses, bicycling the streets of Beijing and additional China-related negative narrative coming from the main stream media chiseled in my perception by the algorithms in the 2000’s e.g. the devouring behemoth from the East and similar.

Oh boy, have the times changed! Risking to be perhaps too cruel when it comes to judging our ignorance, but our lack of knowledge about China and the ever-present lack of right information is causing the creation of a severely divergent picture of this amazing country, as if China is still the same country we remember from Elementary school books.

The other day, when I listened to a podcast “Radio correspondents China” on Swedish radio, I heard that according to the Democracy Perception Index, the annual study that measures citizens’ perceptions of democracy in their respective countries, more countries hold a positive view of China than the US now. This research is from April 2025 and is quite an extensive one, i.e. more than 100,000 people participated from 100 countries in the world.

Perception of China from five years ago, with negatively charged words like “China virus,” etc. has changed to China being more popular than ever. First and foremost, because of its “let’s follow the international laws and rules and cooperate for the benefit of all” approach in the international arena, which is in sharp contrast to the voices and clear messages starting with “We first” coming from the West.

Looking at the Charts in the mentioned DPI, China is on the plus side and the USA is on the minus side. So, China has “jumped over” the West.

Mentioned findings by the Copenhagen Democracy Summit- a most comprehensive global snapshot of public opinion on democracy are significant, and it will be interesting to follow this research in the future.
Recent developments and tectonic changes in the world were a “Carpe diem” signal for China which has been very successful in using this “gap” and a rare opportunity to change the perception in the eyes of people who now see a different role of China as an international player, which in the atmosphere of protectionism and so many ongoing conflicts in the world, sends a new message from the nations that advocate for a “multipolar world”, a world which is not dominated by the West, where the regional super powers have a stronger control in their regional power spheres. China appears now as the one who tries to help calm down the “situation” and remind of the values and policies the world was built on after the 2nd World War- a leader in a group of nations, an alternative for those who now “suffer” from the Western protectionist way of “steering a boat in a different not so friendly direction”.

The trade wars definitely helped the opinion shift, as well as the fact that Trump announced that the USA is going to leave the WHO, which China used to inform about their huge donation to the same Health Institution in the amount of 500 million dollars – a very big sum for China but a smart move that shows that China is a country that is a world leader that takes responsibility, a true “fighter” for multilateral system.

It seems that “figuratively speaking,” every time someone in the West makes a move that is not so favourable, you can almost hear the sound of a Champagne cork flying up in the air and a “jubilation” in China because those moves open doors for China to offer an alternative that is perceived as better. What seems like a minus for the West turns out to be a plus for China. Interesting!

But those are just impressions based on what you can read and conclude, but the real kick is to travel to China and experience everything with your own eyes, with all 5 senses. Sipping jasmine tea during sunset on a rooftop bar in central Beijing with the view over the Forbidden City, the Hot pot steaming and teasing your taste buds, the touch of silk on the Qipao – the traditional Chinese dress, and the Chinese traditional music playing from the radio in one of Beijing’s Hutongs – traditional alleyways are memories I carry with me forever. But most of all, coming back to Europe, I carry with me the images of kind, polite, and smiling faces of my Chinese friends that remind me of the Yugoslavia times when people were so much more motivated and positive, and most importantly, kind to each other.

The trip to … the other side of the world is not any different from the trip from the Continent across the Atlantic, which is in many cases related to the journey filled with big expectations; the West wow-effect that is expected when travelling to the countries from the movies that depicted and still depict the West so inviting, promising, something everybody dreams of thanks to Hollywood cinema, and a filmmaking style developed in the 1910s that powerfully helped the promotion of the West. So many movies and TV series supported the narrative that everything coming from the West is great, cool, and modern. A Western lifestyle longed for by so many. Decades of campaigns in the media with soft power influence resulting in “All eyes on me” (me being West) effect.

When it comes to miles, the trip to China is a bit longer than across the Atlantic, but not significantly. The expectations are often blurred by so much disinformation, and the feeling of travelling to the unknown territory, followed by the usual: “I do not know what to expect.” sentence.

There are as many as 50 flights from China to CEE Countries and back per week – so what are you waiting for- The amazing China waits for you! Two words that will open many doors are: Hello: 你好 (nǐ hǎo) and Thank you: 谢谢 (xiè xie).

Air China is reliable, comfortable, the food is solid, and the staff is pleasant and friendly. Good experience overall. There are, also, of course, several direct flights from Belgrade with Air Serbia, which is priceless, and there are good connections with Turkish Airlines via Istanbul or Lufthansa via Munich.

Oh yes, the Jet lag – something everyone deals with differently. The body needs anywhere from a few days to a few weeks to acclimatise to the new time zone – approximately one day for each hour of time zone changes.” In my case 3 days.

And by the way- did you know that the world film industry is going through changes too? Recent trend shows that movie fans are now looking for something fresh and different. There is a huge fan community of Chinese movies and games in the world, and it is getting bigger as we speak. Namely, the most anticipated Chinese animated movie of 2025 – Ne Zha 2, a sequel to the 2019 hit, is a ”Fantasy action-adventure based on Chinese mythology and Xu Zhonglin’s novel, Investiture of the Gods.” The film was released on January 29, 2025, in China, coinciding with the start of the Chinese New Year. It quickly became a global (so not only in China) box office sensation, surpassing its predecessor and becoming the highest-grossing animated film of all time.

Modern digital technologies help China tell stories about its ancient times – and the preservation and a comeback of importance of everything related to Chinese ancient tradition and values are in focus now.
These new trends and everything mentioned are resulting in soon-to-be even more present Chinese soft power world supremacy; just wait and see.

We are witnessing the era of the world in which building bridges with China and getting to know it and its people better will be a valuable skill for future times.

To be continued …