I have been very privileged to tour China with the Confucius Institute, these last two weeks. I have had a front row seat at a series of significant historical and cultural locations and events as varied as a Beijing opera performance and the opportunity to experiment with a new building system based on ancient temple construction techniques. Perhaps the biggest surprise is a 1,000 year old loom that is programmed, computer style, with knotted strings that hold the instructions for weaving incredibly fine brocade woven from gold thread and peacock feathers. I kid you not.
Here is a translation of the very basic speech that I made to my hosts at the Chinese Museum of Mining and Technology in halting Chinese. The language is deliberately very simplistic as my vocabulary is very limited. If the Chinese does not match the English, that is completely due to mistakes made on the day by me. This is the raw video, as I do not have access to video editing tools while travelling.
Friends and class mates, I will now talk about history, ancient history, and culture: Ancient Chinese history and culture. I have explained this in English so that you all understand.
Teachers and respected hosts, I was born in Australia. I speak only English. When I was a boy, I felt that 200 years was ancient history.
In the last month, I have learned a lot. I now feel that 2,000 years at least, is ancient history. I also know that British culture is very young. Australia’s original culture is also ancient, but is not respected by the British.
I am very old. I know that the world has many problems. Mining and technology can help us solve some of these problems. Both China and Australia have many minerals and brains. I hope that your University and my University, together, can help to solve these problems.
I would like to thank you for this opportunity.
<I would also like to thank Tony, my room mate, for making the last two weeks happy ones.>