An old friend retraces his routes

Moving as one

"What impressed me most is that the entire country is so standardized in poverty alleviation,"Brown said.

"Every province, every county, every town and every village is very clear what they have to do to get people out of poverty and there is no cheating because they watch, check and inspect everything very carefully."

Brown said despite China's changes, some people in the West still have biased views of the nation. To counter those views, he said, it is important to tell the stories of ordinary Chinese people to let them share how their lives have changed.

"The only way to understand China is to understand the Chinese people themselves," Brown said.

"Some foreigners insinuate that I've cherry-picked only the good stories," Brown added.

"For those people, no matter what I say, they will find fault. I don't think you can do anything to change those people's minds. Life is too short to waste my time on them. Some people are receptive to the truth, so I speak to them."

To help foreigners better understand China's story, three years ago Brown became one of the editors for New Channel International Education Group's bilingual book series, Stories of China Retold in English, which was released in April by the People's Publishing House.

The series not only introduces readers to China's rich history but also reveals its dynamic modern development, he said, adding that the stories allow overseas readers to understand that China has always valued peaceful coexistence, which is why it is one of the world's oldest living civilizations.

"The book series is good not only for foreigners to learn about China, and Chinese youth to learn English, but also helpful for Chinese to better understand their rich history and modern development and for foreigners to improve their Chinese," he said.

Hu Min, chief editor of the series and president of New Channel, said that as more Chinese students learn English, they often absorb foreign culture but neglect their own. The series wants to change this, he said.

When asked about his future, Brown smiled and said,"China is so exciting, with so much to learn and so much to see.

"My China dream is to have another 30 or 40 more years to witness its development."