World丨Getting world drawn to China

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Editor's note   China Daily presents the series  Friends Afar  to tell the stories of people-to-people exchanges between China and other countries. Through the vivid narration of the people in the stories, readers can get a better understanding of a country that is boosting openness. China is very, very different. Jessica Rawson repeatedly underlines this point.    This idea might seem obvious, but she believes that people often underplay the divergence that China inherits.    "The big trouble is Westerners don't think they need to study China. They think, if China had a past, it would be like the Greeks, the Romans, or something they're familiar with here," she says. "The West doesn't really notice China, doesn't understand the difference, doesn't understand why your culture is not like ours."    Rather than digging into the similarities we share, recognizing how ancient China charted its unique course may lead to adjustment, and then better mutual understanding, she argues. ………………………………