S M Hali Currently, I am touring China at the invitation of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, as part of the celebrations of 60 years of diplomatic relations between China and Pakistan. My first visit to China was in 1974, when Chairman Mao was alive and things were very different. Men and women dressed in the same bland military uniform with Mao caps and the red star; one could hardly distinguish between males and females. Slowly and gradually things started to change as women started to wear more colourful dresses, while men suits; bicycles and horse carts were replaced by cars, but they were the early days of cultural change. In Beijing, for example, one could see six lanes on the roadside with five reserved for bikes and one for cars. Now Beijing still has the six lanes, but five are for cars and one for bikes. Anyway, our visit commenced with the ECO-city Project, which was launched on November 18, 2007, after Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and Singapore PM Lee Hsien Loong signed Framework Agreement for the Development of an Eco-city in Tianjin Binhai New Area. The project is likely to reach fruition in 2020, but already the infrastructure was visible. It is a massive display of the Chinese endeavour to tackle global climate changes, strengthening environmental protection, conserving resources and energy, and building a harmonious society. The harnessing of the natural resources like the sun and wind, conserving energy and transforming deserted salt pans, saline-alkaline non-arable land and water bodies with pollution into eco-friendly areas is remarkable. It serves as a platform for the innovation and application of technologies in ecological and environmental protection, energy conservation, emission reduction, green building and recycling economy, and provides a window for participation in the global campaign of ecological and environmental development. If Tianjin was a pleasant surprise, Chongqing, with its towering mountains and roaring rivers with over 3,000 years of civilisation, but now transformed into a modern metropolis, was an even a bigger surprise. Once the wartime capital of China, it is now the largest industrial and commercial city of the region with a GDP growth rate of nearly 18 percent. A modern state-of-the-art methods for dairy products and a modern village, which could outsmart any modern city, with amenities like clean houses, paved streets, electricity, gas, and internet connections Chongqing is a well hidden secret, which is now being exposed. It is the largest of the four direct-controlled municipalities of China, ahead of Beijing and Shanghai. It is being developed as Chinas first free inland trade zone and it will be the first to be linked to both a harbour and an airport, with a vast array of express train network. The construction is expected to finish and operations to start by 2015. Chongqing will utilise its water transport capacity and the foundation of the free-trade area to build itself as Chinas western logistics hub, achieving a quicker transfer between domestic and international destinations. Also, Chongqing is the third largest centre of motor vehicle production and the largest for motorcycles. In 2007, it had an annual output capacity of one million automobiles and 8.6 million motorcycles. The municipality is also one of the nine largest iron and steel centres in China, and one of the three major aluminium producers. Important manufacturers, include Chongqing Iron and Steel Company and South West Aluminium - Asias largest aluminium plant. It was heartening to see the humble beginnings of the Chinese Communist Revolution, where Mao Zedong, Zhou En Lai and others had sought refuge when the Japanese had invaded China. The history of great movements shows that humble beginnings culminate in great zeniths. Chongqing has come of age as taking its rightful place in the comity of greatness and needs to be showcased to the world. My trip is still on; we have reached halfway in the tour, after landing in Hangchow. However, the yearning is great that Pakistan too could take a leaf from the book of the Chinese in having taken a quantum leap of development and aspire for greatness through hard work and zestful enterprise. The writer is a political and defence analyst.