在广场上，我们会看到一些景象。在西方国家，我们通常不会在广场上看到年轻人以外的任何人，因为广场和酒精以及酒吧有关，老年人和小孩子往往不会去这些地方。但在中国不是这样的。我们会在广场上看到人们在跳舞。事实上，我们常常加入到他们中间。资深的舞者在前面，经验不足的则在一旁看着。孩子们坐在他们前面。男人们坐在一旁下棋。这是一个美好的画面。但这提醒我们，对于中国人而言，年轻人和孩子是重点关注对象。

We know how investment in young people and in children pays off multiple multiple times if you can get it. And so the fact that you would see children not just playing with other children, not just on their own, but actually surrounded by adults all fighting for the opportunity to look after the child. You realize this is very important in understanding China. They invest in their future. They invest in their children. And you see that then reflected in education.You see the education performance, PISA, which is the international ranking of educational performance looks at all of the countries around the world and where does it find the math and science performance is the best in Shanghai. Amazing. That out of all of the countries in the world, China, which still in nominal GDP terms, is only 72nd in the world should come top because of the importance of education.

我们知道，如果在年轻人和孩子身上进行投资，你会得到好几倍的回报。你会看到孩子们不仅仅是在和其他孩子一起玩耍，不仅仅是自己玩耍，实际上他们被大人们包围着，他们都在争先恐后地照看孩子。要了解中国，知道这一点非常重要。他们对自己的未来进行投资。他们对他们的孩子进行投资。这一点在教育问题上得到了反映。

你可以看一看教育方面的表现，国际学生评估项目（PISA）是国际教育成果排行榜，考察世界各国的教育成果。它发现在数学和科学方面上海学生得分最高。太神奇了。在世界上的所有国家里，中国这个名义GDP只排全球七十二位的国家居然位于榜首，这是由于对教育的重视。

I remember going through Suqian, and we were walking through Suqian and at the end of the day I would stop and talk to people who was there with Xuelin.And we were talking to an old man who was raking the sides of the road, the sides of the road, the way that they maintained in China is wonderful and we saw a lot of these people always working, looking after and keeping the road very tidy and free from litter. And this man was working in the heat of the day and I started talking and said is this your piece of land. He said no. I said is this your job and you paid to do this. He said no. I said so why are you doing it. And he said because work is good for you. Work is good for you. I agree with that. I agree with that.

我记得在宿迁，我们结束一天的徒步后，我和雪琳会停下来和人们聊天。我们跟一位老人聊天，他在清洁道路。中国的道路清理地很干净。我们看到很多人都在劳动，保持路面干净整洁。这个人在炎热的天气里工作，我问他这是你的地吗？他说不是。我又问他这是你的工作吗，你做这个会有酬劳吗?他说没有。我就说那你为什么这么做？他说，因为劳动对你有好处。劳动对你有好处，我同意这一点。我确实同意这一点。

图：解读中国

Hard work, so education, investing in the young. Hard work, these are all important lessons for the future. But there was another element. You see, China is actually quite a sentimental country. It’s very optimistic. There was a YouGov opinion poll which is carried out and it said that do you believe the world is getting better. Most of the countries in the world it was either negative or very slightly positive. The UK came in about 4%. In China, 41% thought the world was getting better. Amazing. So 41% think the world is getting better.

努力工作，重视教育，对年轻人进行投资。这些都是实现未来发展的重要经验。但是还有一个元素。中国实际上是一个相当富有感情的国家。他们非常乐观。YouGov的一个民意调查，受访者被问到是否相信世界正在变得更好。世界上大多数国家给出的答案是否定的或是稍稍肯定的。英国仅有4%的受访者给出积极回答。在中国，41%的人认为世界正变得越来越好。太神奇了。41%的人认为世界正在变得更好。

There is a saying. It says this, we see the world not as it is, but as we are. If you are pessimistic, then you won’t see the value in investing in the future and investing in yourself. If you are optimistic, you are excited about the future. You want to invest in the future. Important lesson No.3 about China, it’s an optimistic world. If you come here as a pessimist, you’ll never understand China. You need to be positive to understand China.

有一种说法，叫做我们所看到的世界其实就是我们自己的模样。如果你悲观，那么你就看不到对未来和对自己进行投资的价值。如果你是乐观的，你对未来感到兴奋。你想对未来进行投资。这是关于中国的第三条重要经验。中国是一个乐观的国度。如果你作为一个悲观主义者来到这里，你根本不会了解中国。你需要变得积极，这样才能了解中国。

That investment in children feeds through into infrastructure. So many people have talked about the importance of infrastructure. The massive growth of high speed rail lines around the country is quite amazing and there is still a queue of people trying to get on them. There is no empty seats on the train. Such is the demand. There is twice as much high speed rail track in China already than there is across the whole of Europe. That’s quite amazing.

对孩子进行投资延伸到了基础设施领域。很多人都谈到了基础设施的重要性。中国各地高铁的高速增长令人惊叹，人们出行都想坐上高铁。火车上没有空座位。这就是需求。中国的高铁轨道长度是整个欧洲铁轨长度的两倍。真是太神奇了！

The investment in infrastructure we heard about One Belt One Road is important in road ways which have doubled in size of the last five to six years. It’s in the growth of airports which have also increased in size. Just take ports for example, because that is a very instructive issue. Ports, of the ten busiest ports in the world, how many do you think are in China. Well, let me tell you, seven. How many do you think are in the United States? None. How many do you think are in the Europe? None. It’s remarkable what is happening here. Now, is it remarkable in some senses, yes, of course it is.

中国在基础设施建设方面的投资，正如我们知晓的，“一带一路”倡议，其中陆路交通非常重要，其规模在过去的五、六年间翻了一番。机场规模也有所扩大。仅仅以港口为例，因为这是一个非常具有代表性的问题。世界上最繁忙的十个港口中，你们认为有几个在中国？好吧，让我告诉你，有七个。有几个你认为是在美国的？一个也没有。你认为在欧洲有几个？一个也没有。中国的发展真是太了不起了。从某种意义上说，这是很了不起的。

But we go back to this point that China has been a dominant economic power through human history. It comes because of the central plain which I was walking right across between the Yellow River and Yangtze River. It’s an immensely fertile plain. It’s surrounded by hills which protect it from invaders. So not surprisingly, it was always going to be a place where civilization would flourish. It was so fertile that farmers could actually get two crops per year. One crop that they could use to feed their family. Another crop that they could trade. The prosperity that you see.

我们回到这一点上，中国自古以来是一个主要经济体。这是由于黄河和长江之间的中原地区，我徒步走过这一片平原。这是一片非常肥沃的平原。它的四周群山环抱，保护它免受入侵。所以，毫不意外，它将永远是一个文明繁荣的地方。它是如此肥沃，农民每年可以收获两次，一次可以用来养活他们的家庭。另一次则作为产品进行交易。你可以看到这种繁荣。

That passion for education of course continues with young people beyond school age. It goes into universities. Two thirds of the population of overseas population of universities around the world are made by Chinese. There are 17,000 students attending UK universities from the United States. There are 19,000 that are attending UK universities from India. The figure for China is 90,000.

当然，对教育的热情一直延续到学龄以上的年轻人身上，直到进入大学。中国留学生的数量占世界各个大学留学生数量的三分之二。有17000名美国学生来英国留学，有19000名印度学生来英国留学，而中国留学生的数量是90000人。

What’s more, 78% of those young people come back. They come back to China. They don’t stay in the west. They come back. They go and get their education and then they come back, the so-called turtles who come back because the opportunities are so immense here. Now, the opportunities are fantastic.