Recently, Prof. William N. Brown of our school has published his new book: Chasing the Chinese Dream-Four Decades of Following China’s War on Poverty (Hereinafter referred to as "Chasing the Chinese Dream") in English version by Springer Group.
In the Spring Festival of Year 2019, Chinese President Xi Jinping replied in an open letter addressed to Prof. William, “I appreciate your passionate role in the publicity of Xiamen and Fujian Province as an eyewitness of China’s Reform and Opening-up. I applaud your ‘feeling at home in China’ and standing ‘Off the Wall’ of China by introducing China’s stories and how you fell for China to the world. In your letter, you are very optimistic about China’s future. I believe that you will see a more prosperous China making itself a place of peace & stability and life happier & more fulfilling for its people, which also benefits a lot to the world and mankind. In the meanwhile, I believe that you will write more and more exciting China’s stories.” Here in Prof. William’s new book, he exactly records exciting stories from China one after another.
Chasing the Chinese Dream records and recounts so many vivid deeds of poverty alleviation witnessed by Prof. William after he came to China in the form of telling stories. Over the past 30 years, he has walked through countless villages across our country by various transportation, such as bicycles, boats, cars, trains, planes and sometimes farm tractors, even hikes into inaccessible valleys. By interviewing hundreds of people from all walks of life: farmers, fishermen, teachers, doctors, engineers, entrepreneurs, sanitation workers, barbers, scientists and athletes, he just would like to know how China had changed and developed over the course of reform and opening up under the leadership of the CPC. Prof. William was deeply impressed and inspired by his students like Robin (Chinese named in Fei Fei) always. Those stories were retold affectionately in Chasing the Chinese Dream. When Robin was 5-years-old, she started to sell medicinal herbs in the street, by this way to ease the financial burden on her family. Many years later, she enrolled in Xiamen University and excelled at the university just as she did throughout her first 12 years of school. After finishing bachelor degree, she was headed off for a Masters at John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University and then worked for McKinsey & Company and Google successively. At present, she becomes a working mom with two babies. There’s also one boy’s story written in the book, he was too poor to wear shoes when he was 10-years-old. But now, he becomes an expert on tunnel and philanthropist...In Chasing the Chinese Dream, examples like these abound. Those drastically changes of their lives are exactly a microcosm of China’s progress on poverty alleviation, which present the realization of China Dream for every ordinary Chinese to achieve a happier and better life.
On the title page of the book, Prof. William quotes words from Antonio Guterres, United Nations Secretary-General in 2017: “China’s targeted poverty alleviation is the world’s only way to help the poor and reach the goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.”
Springer Group is famous press, which provides researchers with access to millions of scientific documents from journals, books, series, protocols, reference works and proceedings. This new book translated into English version and published worldwide, contributes to promoting more and more foreigners to get familiar with China’s situation and have a profound understanding of China’s stories. The publication of Chasing the Chinese Dream has been of great significance for “telling China’s stories, conveying China’s voice” and presenting a true, multi-dimensional and panoramic view of China to people from all over the world.
