Centre of the universe

Back in college when I was enrolled in three units of Asian Civilisation, a thing my professor said amused me no end. I am no longer sure if it was as she had said it, but how I remember it now definitely has more punch.



Miss Trinidad said that the ancient Chinese believed that China was the centre of the universe.



During that same semester, I was also taking Earth Science and I quipped to my seatmate that the Earth Science professor would definitely freak out if she heard this. She taught us that eons ago people actually believed Greek astronomer, Ptolemy, that the Earth was the centre of the universe. The 1,400-year belief was eventually discounted by a fast-rising astronomer from Poland. Copernicus set the record straight by proving that it was Earth, along with its other sibling planets, which revolved around a huge, spinning ball of hot gas and nuclear reactions called the Sun.



If Mrs. Sales would find it utterly ridiculous that people once upon a time actually believed Ptolemy’s theory, she should definitely be apoplectic, rendered speechless by the China-as-the-centre-of-the-universe notion.



But had this happened at present or even in recent years, in all probability - being the rational creatures the academes are usually expected to be -she could have been more open to ideas.



You see, that Asian Civ session belonged to an era when, although it was starting to stir a bit from its sleep, China was still largely considered to be a sleeping giant. And look at it now: past yawning, stretching and catching up with all the years it has lost, the China of today would make it easy for people from everywhere to believe that it is actually the centre of the universe.



The universe of global economy, that is. Everyone wants to have a piece of gold from the Giant’s cache.

A perennial proof of this is the China International Travel Mart, the biggest of its kind in all of Asia. CITM 2006, held last week, had attracted, in addition to 2,255 domestic exhibitors, 1,847 overseas exhibitors. Organisers said 1,200 overseas buyers came. In all, 91 countries and regions were represented, 10 of which were first-timers. Expect the number to just get keep on getting bigger each time. After all, the United Nations, which represents almost every country in the world, has a membership of 192.



Anyway, the rest of the world is having a very tough time competing with China in terms of mass production because of its simply impossibly cheap rates, thanks to its over abundance of manpower.



Tourism is one way of making the Chinese part with their money with gusto and pleasure.



Each time destinations do it right, it should get them nearer to the “centre of the universe”.