China — my second homeland

It was a mid-winter's cold evening of the year 2005 when my plane landed at Shanghai's Pudong International Airport. My family including my father, wife and two little daughters were accompanying me as I was appointed here by my foreign invested company as a Deputy General Manager. We saw the smiling faces of our Chinese staff which came to receive us all the way from Haiyan County at Jiaxing, Zhejiang Province where my company was located. This was my second visit to China but first with my family. Right after arrival I observed the kind act of one of my Chinese colleagues who provided his own warm jacket to cover my little daughter to help protect her against the severe cold.

Haiyan was a beautiful small county with a population of less than 400,000 at that time. East China Sea was just at a walking distance from my home at Haiyan. People at Haiyan were so friendly and welcoming that it didn't take much time for my family to make Haiyan our home.

When you first visit China as a foreigner you feel like that you have arrived into a whole new world and many things around you felt as strange or totally new. But just after spending a couple of weeks over here you'll feel like everything is just normal and perfect.

Meihuazhou is a beautiful place to visit in Jiaxing area. I photographed some pictures of the natural beauty over there and one of those won the second prize in the photography competition arranged by the local Chinese Government among the foreign citizens in Haiyan.

One of the great aspects of the Chinese people is their kindness and sense of friendship. I'd gone through a personal tragedy just after three months of my arrival to China when my father who accompanied me as a family member left us for his heavenly abode. It was a time when I was thousands of miles away from my other family members. During that difficult time my Chinese friends and co-workers did not leave me alone and just acted like my own family members to let me get through all this. Over and above to that the officials from Haiyan county and Jiaxing local governments' offices not only extended their support but also helped making arrangements for my father's funeral under their own supervision. I'll always remember this great act of kindness.

As the Chairman Mao Zedong has rightly said, "不到长城非好汉" (means "You're not a real man if you haven't climbed the Great Wall."), visiting Great Wall of China at Badaling, Yanching district — about 80 KMS to northwest of Beijing, with my family was a life time experience. You feel like travelling into ancient times and pass through a journey of thousands of years in a matter of moments.

Riding single fastest operational train on the planet i.e. Maglev was another unique experience you go through while living in this great country. We observed a train speed of 433 KMS/hour while travelling from Pudong International Airport to Longyang Road Station at Shanghai city within a matter of few minutes.

I also witnessed the miraculous construction of Hangzhou Bay Bridge — the world's longest bridge over the sea at that time which had been constructed not very far from my home at Haiyan. The bridge connects Haiyan with Ningbo and it reduces the travel time by more than half between the two cities.

China has remained a hub for foreign direct investment for decades now. So there's no second opinion that Chinese Government has created a conducive environment for the foreign investors and my personal experience about doing business in China is the same. Sometimes few foreign companies especially those competing with the local products in the Chinese market do not feel themselves operating at par. The reason behind this in my opinion is that you cannot solely rely upon Western management style while operating in China. China enjoys a rich cultural history of thousands of years and you have to understand this fact.

Although I used to live in the Eastern province of Zhejiang but got opportunity to travel to Xinjiang — a Muslim majority population area, for quite a few times. I witnessed people over there going freely to mosques to offer their prayers. They used to lead a routine a life but the region as compared to Eastern and Southern parts of China looked less developed due to its specific geographical conditions. Chinese Government looks quite concerned about the development of this region and to uplift the living standard of the people to bring it at par with that of other parts of the country. One of the many objectives, as set by the Chinese Government, for developing China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is also to bring economic prosperity in this autonomous region of Western China.

I have been lucky enough for having an opportunity, though in the line of my duty, to travel from Shanghai (East) to Urumqi (West) and from Beijing (North) to Guangzhou (South) all across the country during my seven years' stay at China but China is too big to see and to be understood in one life time. The places I missed to travel were Tibet, Inner Mongolia, Terracotta Warriors at Xi'an and the Shaolin Temple. Hope to visit the beauty of these places some time next.

To conclude the topic, let me mention it in the end that over and above of all the mentioned wonders, the foremost wonder I observed were the Chinese people themselves. Their hard work, loyalty towards their own people and motherland, a strong belief in developing a harmonious society and their pride in the sense of being Chinese are truly admirable.

I returned back to Pakistan for nine years now but my heart is still in China not only because my late father's final resting place is there but also because it is my second home on the planet.

I am Rana Faizan ur Rauf (Mr.) from Pakistan. I worked for Jiaxing Sunergy Electrics Co. Limited, located at Haiyan County, Jiaxing in Zhejiang Province from July 2005 to April 2012. Jiaxing Sunergy Electrics Co. Limited was a Pakistani foreign invested company mainly engaged in the business of manufacturing and exporting of solar water heaters. I'm an MBA with specialization in Marketing and Management Information Systems. I served with the company for about seven years initially as a Deputy General Manager and then as a General Manager later on. I also attended a Chinese language course at Hanfeng International Chinese School at Jiaxing.

My two daughters at that time used to go to local kindergarten and then to school at Haiyan. My colleagues and friends at Haiyan include, but not limited to, Mr. Zhang Xue Xiang, Mr. Zhang Xue Fei, Mr. Gu Yi Feng, Ms. Luo, Ms. Zhu and Ms. Ding. My late father who died at Haiyan in February 2006 is buried at the Muslim Graveyard of Jiaxing.

The opinions expressed here are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of China Daily and China Daily website.