US award-winning documentary filmmaker and development pioneer lauds major aspects behind China's success, Alexis Hooi reports.

Laurence Brahm works with the film crew on his latest documentary, Searching for Kung Fu. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

Editor's note: Many people from overseas have made a contribution to China's development over the years. As China celebrates the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China, China Daily looks at the lives and contributions of these friends from afar, who've not only witnessed, but also participated in, the country's transformation over the years.

For many people in the West, kung fu ranks as one of the most popular aspects of China. However, they may not realize that the martial art is actually about nonviolent traditional Chinese principles and values, "about the social harmony that one develops through perseverance and training", according to US award-winning documentary filmmaker Laurence Brahm.

The Chinese characters spelling kung fu include those that mean "dagger-ax" and "to stop", Brahm says.

"So it's the art of stopping fighting or the art of nonviolence. It's a very important principle that should be shared today."

The traditional values behind kung fu－of perseverance, loyalty, respect for harmony, nature, the center line and not going to extremes－should in turn be used to better understand Chinese culture, Brahm says.

Those crucial cultural foundations help form the basis of the country's successful development, which the Communist Party of China has led and maintained, he says.

Brahm used the kung fu analogy as he took stock of the country's achievements amid the centennial celebrations of the CPC this year. His latest documentary, Searching for Kung Fu, produced by the China Daily website, discusses the fundamental aspects of kung fu by tracing the footsteps of its masters.

Brahm, who trained in the United States as a lawyer and economist, arrived in China four decades ago and worked with the Chinese government on financial, banking and enterprise reform through the 1990s. He has written more than 20 books covering Asia.

For his major contributions to the development and greater understanding of the country, Brahm received the 2019 China Friendship Award on the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China.

Laurence Brahm practices with Shi Deyang, one of the kung fu masters at the Shaolin Temple in Henan province. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

Firm foundation

Throughout its history, the CPC's emphasis on equality, consensus building and other tenets have formed a firm foundation for the country, Brahm says.

"The CPC came to power on the mandate that it was going to create a sense of equality, and to try to bring everyone up together.

"To a great extent, the Western world doesn't really understand the China model, but that is the mandate that's being carried through today, and that still captures the hopes and aspirations of Chinese people," he says.

"That's why the CPC is extremely strong in its political position today. Despite all of the predictions by Western think tanks, ivory-tower academics and people who have never had to deal with the reality on the street.

"We have to understand, in the context of 100 years, why the CPC is able to not only maintain its momentum, but in many ways today to even have a greater momentum than ever before," Brahm says.

"There's a lot of debate within the CPC about what kind of policies to adopt and how to solve problems, but those debates occur within a process of consensus building.

"That process is one of constant internal lobbying, many meetings; there are different views, there are different divergent views. And what happens is, over time, there's a filtering process to find common ground that will work. This is a process which is very dynamic in the Party," he says.

"This is very different from what you see in a Western context. It's not about personality attacks; it's about solving problems.

"Once that consensus is there and everyone's saying, 'look, we've got to do this thing', it allows for very rapid implementation of policy decisions."

The Party-led success is critically and continually grounded in meeting the needs of the people and providing solutions to real problems, Brahm says.

"We have to understand that the Party, by its nature, is constantly observing conditions and people's response. And, if a policy is not working, its leaders and members will rethink and respond with a new one quickly," he says.

Laurence Brahm practices with Cheng Hejing, a master of Wing Chun, a style of Chinese martial art. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

Change and challenges

The CPC approach, as proven through the decades, comes in large part from its adaptation to change, something that is inherent in Chinese culture, Brahm says.

"This is key to the success of the Party as a governing structure to respond to the dynamism of change.

"It understands change because that is a very fundamental part of Chinese culture－change is part of one of the earliest philosophies that arose, the fact that the only thing that's constant is change itself. The ability of the Party to constantly remake itself each decade to meet each circumstance is something that the West doesn't give it credit for," he says.

Those strengths are important because the Party needs to continue tackling the challenges that come with the country's transition in modern times, Brahm says.

"I have these discussions with leaders all the time here, and they are very open to ideas. We speak very frankly, and I say that from my experience here, having been an adviser to the government on many stages of transition and different policy issues, that when you solve one problem, in many ways, you create another problem. Then you have to solve that problem, too. It's a kind of dialectic," he says.

The process can be seen from how the country went from attracting foreign investment in the 1980s amid the initial stages of reform and opening-up, to rapid economic transformation in the decades that followed, dealing with major challenges ranging from housing to healthcare, Brahm says.

"Suddenly, everything changes and the whole of society has to change. And these are the kind of huge transformations.

"China becomes the exporter of the world, the manufacturing center of the world. So now there's a new, big challenge: How do you convert fossil fuels into renewable energy systems? It's a huge challenge which affects technology, law and finance. But there's already policy adaptations: the energy grid is in fast-track transformation away from fossil fuels toward new green energy systems," he says.

"These are where we need technology. We need to harness big data in a sensible and constructive way.

"Take the planet. How do we not destroy the planet with rising populations? How do we ensure food, water supply? These are the crises of the future that China, the CPC and frankly, the rest of the world, is going to have to face together," Brahm says.

"That is the vision of the Party today, that we have to actually do it together.

"Certainly, from what I can see here, the CPC is ready to work with other parties and other governments across the world in trying to seek solutions," he says.

The cultural strengths of the Chinese people put them in good stead to take on those new challenges, Brahm says.

"When we talk about the Communist Party structure, we cannot leave out the framework of Chinese culture. This is something that has evolved and is, in many ways, continuing to evolve around the core energies of Chinese culture.

"Chinese people are reaching back to their roots, projecting that culture into the future through modern technologies, through new ways of thinking, through adaptation. Culture is always evolving. And it develops on the foundations of economic abundance that allows culture to nurture."

Contact the writer at alexishooi@chinadaily.com.cn