Counselor reflects on Sino-Pakistani relationship

The first years

Awan came to Beijing in 1980. He said he was comparatively open-minded coming from a country that had long been affected by British culture, but he felt China was very conservative.

“On the street, it was hard to find people willing to talk to me,” Awan said, adding that he felt locals were afraid to speak with foreigners like him.

After a year of language study at the Beijing Language and Culture University, Awan went to Shanghai in 1981 and spent six and a half years there to finish his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in engineering.

“Shanghai was more open to foreigners than Beijing,” he said. “My teachers and classmates helped me a lot whenever I had difficulties. I could feel their warm-hearted kindness.”

At the same time, however, Awan felt those teachers and classmates kept a careful distance from him.

Awan said at that time, the school prohibited Chinese students from going to foreign students’ dormitory. Even teachers were afraid to have close contact with foreigners.

Awan’s class only had two foreigners, and the other was from Africa. When either of them asked questions in class, the teachers would respond. But when they asked outside of class, the teachers would be curt.

“I don’t know what they were afraid of at that time,” Awan said. “I felt like the country had contradictions. While it tried to open up, it was afraid of doing so.”

Things gradually got better. It wasn’t just people’s attitudes toward foreigners that were changing – it was their attitudes about everything.

And it was their surroundings that changed, too. Every month, Awan recalled, a new road or a new building would be finished. And with that, a new culture was being born.

Hope for the

younger generation

After leaving China, Awan worked in many other countries as an engineer, then in the Ministry of Science and Technology in Pakistan. In every new country, he’d find himself making Chinese friends.

Last year, Awan was appointed technical affairs counselor to China and returned to the country.

He said he felt the two countries are getting closer on many different levels.

More Pakistani students are choosing to study in China. Awan said more than 6,000 Pakistani students are currently studying in this country, including his son.

But Awan also said he doesn’t think the relationship between the two countries’ younger generation is as close as it can be.

The young have a different attitude towards Pakistan, he said.

“The older generation in China has a great affection for Pakistan. In their mind, Pakistan is China’s best friend,” he said. “But the younger generation knows less about Pakistan.”

Awan said he has often heard young people tell him, “My father told me Pakistan is a good friend of China’s.” But then they’ll ask elementary questions such as, “What is Pakistan’s capital?” and “What’s Pakistan’s primary language?”

“These young Chinese in fact represent the younger generation’s understanding of Pakistan,” he said.

He added that Pakistan once had many Chinese students, in the 1980s and 1990s, but fewer and fewer Chinese have chosen to study in Pakistan in recent years.

“An old Chinese saying goes ‘Man struggles upwards, water flows downwards,’” he said. “Younger Chinese have more choices now. They have higher dreams and are willing to go to developed countries. But people in the older generation have a duty to pass on our long-standing friendship to the next generation.”