Cathay was the wistful word that the world once used to refer to China. I first came across it in an alluring advert shot for TV welcoming tourists to China about three decades ago. The advert, plugging the almost boundless reach of the airline Cathay Pacific, conjured up an inviting smorgasbord of places to see: the river of bricks that is the Great Wall, the wall of pillars that are the Tianzi mountains, the pillars of mankind’s aesthetic summitry that is the Nanjing pagoda.

For all its obvious charms, Cathay or China was still the forbidden kingdom for me. In my mind I had built it up, not without reason, as a malevolent sorcerer’s lair to be avoided at all costs. And I stuck to my guns, even boycotting Chinese products so as not to fuel its diabolism: an existential threat to its neighbours.

But three decades on, events conspired to break my resolve, and I found myself aboard a Cathay........

© News18