Cycling 30,000 km, ex-UK police officer presents a true China

Click "Shenzhen Daily" to follow us!

Editor’s Note:

A growing number of foreigners who are living or have lived in China are now presenting China’s real life to the outside world through their videos and tweets. Today, we present you the second of a series of stories about the social media influencers who are endeavoring to right the wrong of the Western perception of China.

编者按：

越来越多外国网红正在通过社交媒体向世界展示真实的中国，努力纠正西方对中国的偏见和错误认知。本文是Shenzhen Daily“洋网红”系列报道的第二篇。

洋网红（2）：骑行3万公里 前英国警官向世界传播美好中国

JERRY GREY, a U.K.-born Australian, came to China in 2004 with many stereotypes and doubts about the country. During his first several months working as a teacher in Zhongshan City, Guangdong Province, all he wanted was to finish his 10-month contract and get out of the country because of the inconvenience he experienced in a city with very few foreigners.

杰里·格雷（Jerry Grey）是在英国出生的澳大利亚公民，2004年带着对中国的许多成见和疑虑来到这个国家。在广东省中山市当教师的头几个月里，他只想尽早完成已经签下的10个月的工作合同并离开，因为他在这个外国人很少的城市里遇到了生活上的诸多不便。

But now, after 16 years living in China, and cycling about 30,000 km around the country, Grey, a former British police officer, declares that “I’m now an active China supporter” after witnessing the tremendous changes in China, especially the significantly improved lives of the Chinese people.

但现在，在这里生活了16年并骑车畅游中国约3万公里后，格雷见证了中国的巨大变化，特别是人民生活的显著提高。这位前英国警官宣称，“我现在是中国的积极支持者。

Jerry Grey at the Dongjiang Lake scenic area, Chenzhou City, Hunan Province, during his cycling trip from Urumqi, the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region to Zhongshan, Guangdong Province in October 2019. Courtesy of Jerry Grey

In addition to maintaining his YouTube channel and an account on Medium, an online publishing platform, he is on Twitter almost every day and writes extensively about China. His Twitter account, under the name “Jerry’s China,” currently with around 15,200 followers, records his cycling trips around China, his views on the country and his rebuttals of various misunderstandings and lies concernig the country, especially about Xinjiang, which he has visited several times since 2005. Some of his articles were translated into Chinese and published on Toutiao, and one of the articles received more than 1 million views, according to Grey.

除了维护他的YouTube频道和在线出版平台Medium上的账户外，他几乎每天都会在Twitter上发表关于中国方方面面的推文。他的推特账户“Jerry's China”现有15,200名粉丝。他在推特上记录了他在中国各地的自行车旅行，他对中国的看法，以及他对有关中国的各种误解和谎言的反驳，特别是有关新疆的各种谣言（自2005年以来他多次访问新疆）。格雷的一些文章被翻译成中文并发表在今日头条上，其中一篇文章的阅读量超过了100万。

“Jerry’s China” Twitter account profile page.

The real Xinjiang 

真实的新疆

When he cycled from Guangdong to Ningxia, Gansu and Xinjiang in 2014, a 4,500-km trip that took him and an expat friend, Phil Behan, to more than 20 cities in 57 days, he witnessed “devastatingly poor people, some living in caves, using donkeys for transportation, and roads that were not much more than dirt tracks” in some rural areas. In 2019, when he cycled through the same region again in a reverse journey, this time with his wife Liang Yuhua and fellow Australian Bevan Cobbe, he found amazing differences: “There are cars, shopping centers, main roads and new, modern apartment blocks” in the previously barren and dilapidated areas.

2014年，他和外籍友人Phil Behan骑自行车从广东到宁夏、甘肃和新疆，在57天内走了20多个城市，全程大约4500公里。途中，他目睹了一些偏远地区“极为贫困的人口，他们有些住在窑洞里，有些地方人们用驴子当交通工具，道路也不过是泥巴小径”。2019年，当他和妻子梁钰华以及澳洲友人Bevan Cobbe从新疆反向骑行回广东途中穿过同一地区时，他发现了惊人的变化。在以前荒芜破旧的地区，他们“现在看到了汽车、购物中心、主干道和现代化的新住宅楼”。

During both trips in Xinjiang, Grey said, he saw heavy security but “I have never witnessed any form of oppression, never seen any signs of oppression or persecution. If Uygurs are being forced to work, I saw no indication of it, most of them are happy to interact with a stranger on a bike,” he wrote in an email to Shenzhen Daily.

格雷说，在这两次旅行中，他都看到了严密的安保措施，但“我从未目睹过任何形式的压迫，从未见过任何压制或迫害的迹象。我没有看到维族人被强迫工作的任何迹象，他们中的大多数人都很乐意与骑行路过的陌生人交流”。他在给英文《深圳日报》的电子邮件中写道。

Debunking lies 

揭穿谎言

When Xinjiang became a highly contentious topic worldwide earlier this year, Grey defended China vigorously. In an article published on Medium on March 1, Grey debunked allegations by Nathan Ruser, a 22-year-old former university dropout who works as a researcher with the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI). Ruser had falsely labeled some commercial and public buildings in Xinjiang as detention centers.

今年早些时候新疆成为一个全球话题时，格雷大力为中国辩护。在3月1日发表在Medium上的一篇文章中，格雷驳斥了内森·卢瑟的无理指控。卢瑟今年22岁，读大学期间辍学，目前在澳大利亚战略政策研究所（ASPI）担任研究员。在其一项卫星图像“研究工作”中，卢瑟将新疆的一些商业和公共建筑物错误地标为拘留中心。

Grey pointed out that Ruser, despite being touted as an expert on the situation in Xinjiang, has never visited Xinjiang, not even been to China. ASPI derives much of its income from the Australian Government and other sponsors that include the likes of Raytheon, BAE and Lockheed Martin, all part of the Military Industrial Complex, Grey said, citing publicly available information.

格雷指出，尽管卢瑟被吹捧为新疆局势的专家，但他从未去过新疆，甚至连中国也未曾来过。格雷说，ASPI的大部分收入来自澳大利亚政府和其他赞助商，包括雷神、BAE和洛克希德·马丁等军工企业。

He also took a swipe at a BBC report on Xinjiang: “Throughout the report not one local person was interviewed,” he said, adding that the article is supported by unsubstantiated documentation provided by Adrian Zenz, an infamous far-right bigot on a self-proclaimed “mission from God” to destroy “communist China.”

格雷还对BBC关于新疆的一篇报道进行了抨击：“在整个报道中，BBC没有采访过一个当地人，”他说。这篇文章主要信息来自Adrian Zenz（郑国恩）撰写的没有事实依据的论文。Zenz是一个臭名昭著的极右偏执者，其自称执行“上帝的使命”来摧毁“共产中国”。

Cycling around China

骑行中国

Because of his staunch support of China, “I have received some criticism from both the ABC and Rupert Murdoch press. They never interview me, but post inaccurate information about me,” he said.

由于对中国的坚定支持，“我受到了澳大利亚广播公司和默多克媒体的一些批评。他们从不采访我，而是发布关于我的不实信息。”格雷说。

Grey (R) discusses his views on Xinjiang and China’s response to COVID-19 during an interview with Australian Citizens Party in October 2020.  Screenshot from YouTube

Western criticism has left Grey unfazed. In fact, Grey’s confidence in speaking out for China derives from his understanding of the country through extensive travels. Working for different organizations in the past, which included training, consultancy and even examining, he has stayed in more than 100 cities and there are only four provinces he has not visited. “I think it’s fair to say, I’ve seen more of China than most Chinese people,” he said.

面对西方的批评，格雷不为所动。事实上，格雷为中国发声的信心来自于他通过骑行全国对这个国家的深入了解。他过去为不同的机构工作过，其中包括培训、咨询并担任考官，因此在100多个城市停留过，只有四个省没去过。“我认为可以这么说，我在中国去过的地方比大多数中国人都多。”他说。

Grey tweets about his trip in Yangshuo, the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, on April 20, 2021.

In addition to the two one-way cycling trips to and from Xinjiang, in 2018 Grey biked from Harbin in Northeast China to Zhongshan in South China, a trip covering more than 3,600 km.

除了两次单程往返新疆的长途骑行，格雷在2018年还从中国东北的哈尔滨骑行到中国南方的中山，行程超过3600公里。

In cycling across the country, “I’ve slept on the floors of restaurants, I’ve slept in bus shelters and under bridges, I’ve camped in deserts and on mountains, I’ve been to five-star luxury resorts and I’ve stayed in the meanest of guesthouses which might rent a room for as little as US$4 a night,” he wrote in an article published on Medium in February 2021.

在骑行穿越全国的过程中，“我睡在餐馆的地板上，睡在公交车候车亭和桥下，在沙漠和山上露营，我住过五星级的豪华度假村，也住过最简陋、每晚4美元的招待所。”他在2月份发表在Medium上的一篇文章中写道。

People’s party 

人民的政党

Grey has called China his home for 16 years but “the adjustment was not easy” for him. “There are aspects of living in China that are difficult [for expats], such as banking, hotel check-ins, medical treatment and a few others,” he said. However, “I have seen incredible improvement in the lives of Chinese people since I arrived. Most of my Chinese friends have cars and apartments now, many did not. Lifestyle is much more modern and convenient now and this has all happened in the last 15-20 years,” he told Shenzhen Daily.

虽然以中国为家已经16年了，但对格雷来说，“适应并不容易”。他说：“（对外籍人士来说）在中国生活还是有一些不便，如到银行办事、酒店入住、医疗和其他一些方面。”然而，“自从我来到这里，我看到中国人的生活水平有了不可思议的提高。我的大多数中国朋友现在都有汽车和房子，许多人以前没有这些。现在的生活更加现代和方便。”他对英文《深圳日报》说。

When asked to comment on the Communist Party of China, he said: “They are very definitely a party of the people and for the people.”

当被要求对中国共产党进行评价时，他说：“他们绝对是一个属于人民、为人民服务的政党。”

“I like the [Chinese] government and what it does. I like how it works and how it manages aspects of everyday life,” he added.

“我喜欢（中国）政府和它所做的一切。我喜欢它的运作方式，以及它如何管理日常生活的各个方面。”他补充说。

Grey revealed that his wife’s parents are members of the Party, a fact he did not learn until 12 years after he knew them. “I’ve never seen them use their membership to gain any influence and they certainly have not benefited financially; they live a very modest life on modest pensions in a modest house,” he wrote in an article in February. In China, “The people are the party and the party is the people,” he added.

格雷透露，他的岳父岳母都是党员，这一点是他认识他们12年后才知道的。他在2月份的一篇文章中写道：“我从未见过他们利用自己的党员身份获得任何影响力，他们当然也没有在经济上获益；他们在一个简陋的房子里靠并不丰厚的退休金过着非常简单的生活……在中国，人民就是党，党就是人民”。

Contributions to charity 

热心慈善

Grey had worked as a police officer in the United Kingdom for 10 years before moving to Australia in 1987. Down under, he started working with a security company at the very bottom of the ladder, and became the general manager of a division of the multinational company 18 years later. After leaving the company, he moved to China, where he worked as a teacher and an IELTS examiner, studied Chinese culture and achieved a master’s degree in cross-cultural change management.

在英国当了10年警察后，格雷于1987年移居澳大利亚。在澳大利亚，他开始在一家安保公司工作，从最底层做起，18年后成为这家跨国公司一个部门的总经理。离开该公司后，他来到中国，担任教师和雅思考官，研究中国文化，并取得了跨文化变革管理的硕士学位。

His cycling trips to and from Xinjiang in 2014 and 2019 were partly aimed at raising money for disabled people. In doing so he has been part of a group that has raised over 4 million yuan (US$617,950) in charitable donations, he said. He has won charity awards from Zhongshan and Guangdong authorities for his contributions to charity in the region.

他在2014年和2019年骑行新疆，部分目的是为残疾人筹集资金。他所参与的这个慈善组织到目前为止一共筹集了超过400万元人民币的捐款。由于对慈善事业的贡献，他被中山市和广东省有关部门授予慈善奖。

Grey, 62, no longer working full-time, is free to do a lot of things he would like to. One of them is to travel across the country and let the world see the real China. Grey and his wife returned to Zhongshan on May 6 after a 45-day cycling trip in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and parts of Guangdong.

62岁的格雷不再全职工作，因此他可以自由地做很多自己喜欢做的事情，其中之一就是在全国各地骑行，并通过社交媒体让世界看到真实的中国。今年3月，他和妻子骑自行车前往广西。他们5月6日回到中山，结束了45天的骑行之旅。

Grey praises Shenzhen’s efforts to adopt a green transport system on his Twitter account April 19, 2021.

He said he loves to visit Shenzhen for a short stay and enjoy the cosmopolitan feel of it. He also approves of the city’s efforts to adopt a green transport system. “When ‘developed’ countries consider the benefits of electric vehicles and how to implement infrastructure required to support them, Shenzhen, China already has all buses, most taxis and over 60,000 delivery vans on the grid. All GBA cities are doing this,” he tweeted April 19.

格雷说他喜欢到深圳短暂停留，享受这里的国际大都市的感觉。他也称赞深圳发展绿色交通的成就。“当‘发达’国家正在研究电动车的好处，以及如何实施支持电动车所需的基础设施时，中国深圳已经将所有公交车、绝大部分出租车和6万多辆送货车电动化。所有大湾区城市都在这样做。”他4月19日在推特上说。

Editor/Chen Siqi

WeChat Editors/Holly, Jane

Scan the QR codes below to download the Shenzhen Daily app.

扫码下载Shenzhen Daily app

iOS

Android