Ma Ma, 27, real-estate lawyer
‘I am proud to be Chinese. I’ve lived in Shanghai all my life and things have changed so much. I think we have always considered ourselves a great country and now others are seeing that too. Yes, there are problems, but what country doesn’t have them? We’re getting better at caring for the environment and doing our best to help people less fortunate than those in the big cities. I am confident that, in time, things will get even better.’
Zhu Yu, 29, chemical engineer and Luo Jing, 27, estate agent
Zhu ‘Chinese cities like Beijing and Shenzhen are visions of what the future could be like, but we as a country have a long way to go before we can call ourselves a developed nation.’
Luo ‘Maybe when I’m 90 I’ll look back and see that China has come a long way – but change is slow. We’ve just got married and believe China is a great place to raise a family. I’ve never thought about living abroad, but I ‘d like to show our child other cultures.’
Qian Keng, 30, resource manager and Wang Yishi, 24, nurse
Qian ‘Reading about China is not enough to experience what life here is really like. There are certainly problems and those aren’t going away. But China has come so far, even during my lifetime. It is good to seae we are beginning to take a bigger role in international politics. More people are coming here than ever before and that makes Chinese people proud. We enjoy sharing our culture with others and we’re excited to learn from those who visit. There might be a few bumps along the way, but we will all be better for it.’
Rosie Mamat, 21, cook
‘I don’t really think about the rest of the world. My home is in Yili [in northwest Xinjiang province] and I’ve only been in Shanghai for six months – it’s like a different country. I will be here for another six months and then I am going home to marry my girlfriend and start a family. I like it in Shanghai, but it can’t compare to Yili where my family and friends live. Shanghai is bigger than I could have imagined. It’s a good place to make money for a time, but it is not home.’
Gong Wei, 51, shipbuilding engineer
‘I have spent most of my life working hard and have seen a dramatic increase in my standard of living. So for me, China is a modern and developed nation on a par with any country in the West. I feel I have a good life. My son has had opportunities to travel abroad that I never had. But no matter where he goes, he is always excited to come back home to Shanghai. There are things to see and do here that you can’t get anywhere else.’
