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Twenty-two-year-old Bo Guagua certainly has his own fashion sense. His slim-cut white shirt and brown pants give him an energetic appearance, while his red cufflinks and crimson-striped socks add a hip vibe to his semi-formal look.
Holding a philosophy book on ethics, Bo sits in a Beijing courtyard, sipping pu’er tea. He says he is preparing for his university examinations for next May and is working on his master’s degree application.
Bo Guagua is the grandson of great Chinese revolutionary Bo Yibo, one of the core members of New China’s founding fathers’ generation. His maternal grandfather, Gu Jingsheng, is also a Communist revolutionary general and leader of the 12.9 Movement that propelled China to unite against Japanese invasion in 1935.
The student at Oxford University, where he majors in modern greats (philosophy, politics and economics), says he is interested in education and culture, which he believes will be crucial to China’s future and mutual understanding between the East and West.
At age 12, he left home to study at a preparatory school in UK. Later, after taking the national Common Entrance exams he was accepted into the prestigious boarding school Harrow in Britain, becoming the first Chinese mainland student on the campus. The school’s alumni include former British prime minister Winston Churchill and the first prime minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru.
“I enjoyed the challenges of a completely different environment,” Bo says.
“While I was inevitably homesick at times, I was excited by the new opportunities.”
Before setting off for Britain, Bo lived with his grandparents because his parents were not in Beijing. His father is Bo Xilai, former commerce minister and now, secretary of the CPC Chongqing Municipal Committee.
“Of course, (my grandparents) pampered me, but only emotionally,” he says. “They always made it very clear that I had to be independent, so I never felt spoiled.”
Bo faced critical comments about China while living abroad.
“Most of my classmates’ knowledge about China comes from Western media or is limited to the theoretical, academic realm,” he says.
“I don’t mean to imply Western media are deliberately biased in their reports about China, but the cultural background from which they report is so strikingly different and unavoidably blemished by historical sentiments that I don’t think they can paint an objective picture of China.”
He says he is not inclined to propagandize for China in these discussions.
“I simply hope to provide more firsthand information, so they can have a more enlightened and informed view of China, which I have faith will be more positive.”
He points out that Chinese sometimes also misunderstand the West, citing himself as an example. A photo of him posing with two Western women at a fancy Oxford dress party that was posted online caused some debate but only because some Chinese people don’t understand the culture of student parties, Bo says.
Bo hopes to serve as a bridge connecting China and the West, and is determined to work on education and culture, because he believes these two fields can eliminate misunderstandings between the two societies.
Bo does feel those that are born after the reform and opening up are the “most blessed people in the world”, because “nowhere else is as exciting as China at this time. For the first time in centuries Chinese people are free from the fear of starvation, but because we are not yet a fully developed country, there is a magnificent scope for us to grow peacefully. We can all be the building blocks of our country. The Chinese dream is very much alive.”
Bo’s first English-language book, Uncommonwealth, was published when he was aged 17. It features the illustration of an adolescent with covered ears and a covered mouth, and a waterspout pouring into his brain. The caption reading “education” alludes to his discontent with pedantic education that inculcates ideas in the students.
“By learning from both China and the West, I try to create my own way of thinking,” he says.
“I need to be argumentative and logical for school essays, but I prefer to be more emotive and spontaneous in my own writings.”
He hopes that an authentic Chinese aesthetics can emerge alongside China’s economic rise — one that defines modern Chinese elegance.
Bo’s ultimate aspiration is to “serve the people”, he says.
“Although this phrase has become a platitude, it does concisely summarize the ideal that my family has taught me. So for me, it is something very close to my heart.
“No matter where I end up, working for my country and for the people tops my to-do list.”
For all his endeavors, he received the Big Ben Award for Top 10 Outstanding Chinese Young Persons in the UK in May.
Like other members of the post-80s generation, the young man has many hobbies, such as equestrian sports and fencing. His physique also shows that he goes to the gym frequently.
He loves a diversity of music and is learning how to play guqin — a seven-stringed Chinese zither. He plans to bring the instrument to Oxford so people there know more about traditional Chinese music.
“Guqin is more like a language and an instrument for personal meditation, rather than a musical instrument to perform for audiences,” he says.
He also loves photography, and shows some pictures he snapped while visiting the poor in Chongqing. He recently became infatuated with Polariod cameras. And he’s also spending his spare time writing more books, which he’s now authoring for his mother.
Though the Bo family never holds birthday parties, they always celebrate National Days. This year is also Bo’s father’s 60th birthday.
“In 1999, when we celebrated the 50th anniversary of the country’s founding, I got over-excited and tripped on the ground, breaking one of my teeth,” he recalls.
“I hope I won’t break another one this year.”
