Company executives and local officials – including municipal committee members of the governing Communist Party of China – often mentioned their cities’ high GDP growth rate, their businesses’ advanced technologies, their high rankings among the leading players in areas they excel, and the fact that they are “the first” in such and such area.

It seems that individually those cities and companies are competing among themselves for dominance and recognition, both on the domestic and international grounds. But collectively, they are among the small and large engines that are powering the Chinese economy, which has now become the second largest in the world. Without contributions from those cities and businesses, China as a whole would not have achieved the kind of growth and wealth it has enjoyed over the past decades.

The trip, which covered the cities of Hangzhou and Jining, was organised by the state-run English-language newspaper China Daily. Twenty journalists from Asia, Europe and Africa were invited.

Hangzhou and Jining are both proud of their history and culture that date back several millennia. In the present days, both are focusing on digital and data industries, which have become the main driving force behind their economic growth.

In Hangzhou, city officials do not forget to tell visiting journalists that when merchant traveller Marco Polo went there in the 13th century, he called it the “best city on earth”.

The capital of eastern Zhejiang province in the Yangtze River delta, Hangzhou was the capital of the Song Dynasty and is home to two Unesco World Heritage Sites – West Lake and Grand Canal. The city hosted the G20 Summit in 2016 and will hold the next Asian Games in 2022.

Portraying itself as an “innovative city”, Hangzhou houses the headquarters of global e-commerce giant Alibaba Group, digital solutions provider New H3C Group, and start-up hub Dream Town.

Dream Town, initiated in 2014 and acting as an incubator for startup ventures, has attracted over 10,000 tech hopefuls and entrepreneurs, including many non-Chinese. It offers successful applicants free office space, cash subsidies and training. And the startup hub now is already home to hundreds of small businesses in such areas as e-commerce, mobile gaming, Internet of things (IoT), virtual reality and car networking.

Thanks to its location near the sea, Hangzhou is also a key point in China’s Belt and Road Initiative, which the Chinese government is promoting as the “21st-Century Silk Road” linking countries in Europe, Asia and Africa in terms of trade and investment.

Jining, a major city in Shandong province, is renowned as the hometown of ancient philosophers Confucius and Mencius. Also, it is regarded as a crucible of Chinese civilisation and Confucian culture.

At present, industrial parks have sprung up in Jining, which is home to many production centres for engineering machinery, biotechnology and textile materials. The city has attracted investments from top global companies such as Hewlett-Packard and Siemens while cradling home-grown companies that are expanding overseas.

Prominent among these ambitious Chinese firms are luxury garment company Shandong Ruyi, papermaking company Sun Paper Group, and machine-maker Yonghua Machinery.

Ruyi, claiming to be the “Chinese Louis Vuitton”, started acquiring world-famous fashion brands in Japan, France and the United Kingdom since 2010 including Bally, Durban, Lycra and Cerruti 1881. Last year, it was ranked 16th among Deloitte’s top 100 luxury groups and aims to become one of the top-10 globally-known fashion groups with annual sales of 100 billion yuan (Bt500 billion), according to a company executive.

At Yonghua Machinery, a spokesperson said the company has a technology that allows the production of metal parts for “intelligent equipment” with extremely high precision. “We are the second best in the world, after Germany. Now our technology is equal with Japan’s,” she told the visiting journalists.

Sun Paper claims to be the largest papermaking company in China and among the world’s top 20. The company, which hires more than 10,000 employees, has an annual production capacity of 7.5 million tonnes of pulp and paper. Its myriad products range from tissue paper and baby napkins to printing paper and packages. Not surprisingly, China is the world’s largest producer and consumer of paper products.

Jining also houses Huawei Big Data Centre, one of more than 30 cloud computing service stations the Chinese technology giant sets up around China. The centre covers an area of 24,000 square metres for over 1,000 cloud server cabinets, with a storage capacity of 700 petabytes (about 700 million gigabytes).

“This data centre is like the brains for the city,” Zhang Tongzhong, project manager of Huawei Technologies, said proudly at the Jining data centre.

The survey is done in 137 countries. Japan is ranked 10 globally and thus highest in Asia in terms of the judicial freedom. It is followed by Singapore (19) and Malaysia (33).

India is ranked 41 in terms of judicial independence. The country has seen some conflicts in terms of the judiciary being biased owing to political affiliation.  It is followed by China ranked 45 and Indonesia ranked 50.

Thailand is ranked 61 globally. Analysts say the country needs judicial reforms to contribute to the improvement of judicial improvement and better and partial accessibility. Thai “judiciary needs sufficiently to be empowered and independent to play that constitutional role, while showing both sufficient integrity to avoid corruption and sufficient restraint not to overreach into the political realm”.

South Korea is ranked 63 followed closely by Brunei ranked 64 and Laos (69).

Judiciary in Pakistan has always been in turmoil for not only lacking independence but also ‘abetting the consolidation of illegal powers’.  The government has made significant efforts to keep the judiciary week and under control. The other two South Asian countries Sri Lanka and Nepal are ranked 72 and 88 respectively.  Nepal is followed by Vietnam (89) and Bangladesh (93).

The judiciary in Philippines has been termed to be ‘under attack’. The United Nations Rapporteur recently stated that there was a “worrisome deterioration of the rule of law and that the independence of justice in the Philippines is under attack”.  It is ranked 105 followed by Mongolia at 113.

Judiciary in Cambodia is the least independent from government influences and the corruption in the judiciary is stated to be endemic. The rights groups have always criticised the government for undermining the independence of courts.

The Silent Mentor programme was introduced by Professor Dr Chin Kin Fah, chairman and founding director of the Academy for Silent Mentor in Malaysia, on March 23, 2012. This programme encourages donors to donate their bodies after death.

Donors have selflessly donated their bodies for the advancement of medical research, education and training, motivated by love for mankind.

The technology of rapid freezing, followed by a surgical dissection model that is comparable to operating on a live human being, provides an opportunity for realistic surgical training without risk to the patient.

The Silent Mentor programme is not solely a medical programme as it is underpinned by empathy teaching. This benefits the participants, primarily medical students, in learning soft skills in a holistic environment. It also supports their quest to be better doctors of tomorrow.

On July 29, I attended an Appreciation and Initiation ceremony for my beloved late sister, Jaclyn Lim Chooi Li, who had signed up to be an i.Silent Mentor. On that day, it had been exactly 383 days since my sixth sister left the family to mourn our loss. It was surreal yet profoundly emotional to be able to see her physical body again. Her body had undergone embalmment for a period of one year and was undergoing deep freezing for treatment.

Since she left us, not a day goes by without all of us missing her deeply. She will always be cherished by her loved ones who include her mum, remaining six sisters, her son Bryan and all her nieces and nephews who regarded her as their “coolest aunt”.

Jaclyn was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2008. After intense treatment, including mastectomy, followed by chemotherapy and radiation, she recovered and was in remission for eight years.

Unfortunately, life continues to throw us “curveballs” when we least expect it. She suffered a relapse with bone cancer, followed by the devastating news that the cancer had metastasised to her liver, and then stomach and lungs. We lost her on July 10 last year despite her courageous battle against the disease with numerous surgeries and aggressive chemotherapy sessions for the six months before that.

Being a generous and compassionate person, Jaclyn had pledged to be an organ donor while she was alive. However, as a cancer survivor, her desire to be an organ donor could no longer be fulfilled. As such, when Prof Dr Chin approached her to participate in the Silent Mentor programme, she did not hesitate to sign up. She realised this was an alternative way for her to continue to do good with her life and body.

Regardless of the race or religious beliefs of Silent Mentors, the teachers, all students and the Academy for Silent Mentor pay them the utmost gratitude, respect and love. Not only do the Silent Mentors pledge to donate their bodies, they also share their life stories that become a teaching tool for liberal arts and humanities educational programmes.

Upon signing the pledge on the Pledge Stone, they reaffirm the core values of an i.Silent Mentor: truth, goodness and beauty.

It was on the long train journey along the scenic East coast of Scotland that Prof Dr Chin felt the grace of God descend upon him. He was travelling back from an interview for admission into the medical school at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland. At that precise moment, he realised he was on the path to becoming a doctor to look after the living. However, never did he imagine that he would also care for the dead.

UTAR’s MBBS students, who organised the Appreciation and Initiation ceremony, shared their thoughts regarding Jaclyn and the Silent Mentor programme:

> “What makes the programme unique is the character portrayed by the Silent Mentor. Compassion, empathy, love, self-sacrifice and the caring heart were the qualities the Silent Mentor has shown to his or her family members, relatives, friends and the public throughout their lifetime.”

> “Medical students can learn a lot from the Silent Mentor through their life history and the qualities they possess that (also) reflect the character of a good medical doctor.”

> “Donating our bodies is most joyful. Learning that our families and loved ones would always be proud of who we were, we never really die.”

> “The action of donating our bodies is subtle but never silent. It preaches to the children to be selfless; it reminds the living to be dauntless; and it teaches the students to be humble.”

> “While we live, our body is of use to us. After we have passed away, it can be of even greater use by teaching doctors to save lives.”

> “Silent Mentors may not speak anymore, but their words will always resound.”

Hearing the above words from the medical students themselves, made me feel extremely proud of Jaclyn. We will always remember her for her selflessness, generosity and courage. She is clearly an unsung hero.