A Cuban cultural anthropologist's academic quest in China

For many years, veteran Cuban cultural anthropologist Jesús Guanche Pérez viewed China as a distant and intriguing country, but it was only in 2018 that he was able to explore it for himself, thanks to an invitation from a private university.

His opportunity came when the Hebei International Studies University in Shijiazhuang, capital of north China's Hebei Province, reached out to Guanche Pérez via email, asking the established scholar if he would consider joining the university as its vice president.

Having sojourned and worked on several continents, including North America, Europe and Africa, the 74-year-old scholar is deeply invested in the field of cultural anthropology and has earned various titles from academic institutions such as the Cuban Academy of Sciences and the New York Academy of Sciences.

Propelled by a perfect match between his field of interest and professional experience in academia and the position offered by the university, Guanche Pérez accepted the tenure after several months' communication, finally embarking on the journey from his Caribbean hometown to the northern Chinese city.

He quickly adapted to the new cultural environment in China and continued his unrelenting pursuit of academic studies.

"From Monday to Friday, you always see him writing for hours in a row on his office desk, except for short breaks and the time to handle administrative affairs," said Yang Zhen, vice president of the Hebei International Studies University.

Guanche Pérez's devotion has yielded fruitful results, with a raft of academic works published one after another, including Ethnographic Dictionaries on the Peoples of the World, Latin American and Caribbean Studies on China, Cultural Identities and Diversity: Interculturalism vs Multiculturalism.

In China, he also witnessed the country's rapid development and was impressed by the achievements of its reform and opening up drive, as well as its poverty alleviation efforts.

Gaining first-hand knowledge of China's politics, economy and culture, Guanche Pérez became interested in the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and started to incorporate his BRI research into his studies on global history.

The BRI has raised a new conception of cooperation and provided an equal platform for the development of different countries and different peoples, said Guanche Pérez.

Under the initiative, China and Latin America continue to deepen trade flows and steadily increase the scale of trade. Since 2012, China has maintained its position as the second-largest trading partner of Latin America, data from China's Ministry of Commerce showed. In 2022, the trade volume between China and Latin America approached 500 billion U.S. dollars, maintaining rapid growth for six consecutive years.

Hailing the progress of China-Latin America cooperation, Guanche Pérez said, "This is a favorable result that should grow through the implementation of joint projects."

The BRI is not only limited to economic and technological aspects. More importantly, the initiative has a cultural dimension. "This global project is an example of the strategy to achieve a shared future for humanity featuring lasting peace and increasing sustainability," he said.

Speaking highly of the eight major steps announced by China in 2023 to boost high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, Guanche Pérez said, "I see an excellent, brilliant future for this project of the world. It is not only an initiative for China, but an initiative for the world."

Cuba was the first country in the Western hemisphere to establish diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China. For Guanche Pérez, the exchanges and cooperation between China and Cuba are not only an important subject of academic research, but also a cause in which he has actively participated.

From the establishment of a China-Cuba joint BRI research center at Hebei International Studies University to the promotion of academic exchange activities between Chinese and Cuban higher education institutions -- Guanche Pérez has provided support and assistance to the best of his ability.

In 2020, in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the socioeconomic development of Hebei Province, he received a friendship award from the provincial government.

"This honor is not just for me but belongs to our university as well. It is also a symbol of the brotherhood between Cuba and China," said Guanche Pérez during the award ceremony.