Alexandre Trudeau shares family's unique relationship with China
In Mao Zedong's day, China was a special place for former prime minister Pierre Trudeau. Chairman Mao was rarely seen in public and at the time of Trudeau's 1973 visit, Mao was almost 80 years old.
Trudeau's abiding interest in China has passed on to the next generation with eldest son, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's recent first official trip to the country, and second son, Alexandre's own extensive travels.
In the years after Pierre Trudeau's death, son Alexandre — perhaps better known to many as Sacha — travelled extensively through China, getting to know intimately the country that had so entranced his father.
We travel because it's the work of our soul.- Alexandre Trudeau
Alexandre Trudeau writes about his travels in Barbarian Lost: Travels in the New China and tells The Current's Anna Maria Tremonti that he thinks his dad was so drawn to the country for the same reasons he is.
"It's such a huge intellectual challenge … It's a place that's unique. It's separate."
"We tend to forget how powerful and influential the West has been over the last five six centuries such that virtually everywhere you travel to is organized along some kind of Western ideals — China's not," says Trudeau.
The title of Trudeau's book, Barbarian Lost, comes from a memory Trudeau shares with Tremonti about a visit to the sacred Taishan mountain with his dad and brother, Justin, in 1990. As teenagers, they saw this mountain as a playground — a contrast to official boring visits mostly sitting down. The brothers jumped and bounced down the high stairs acting rambunctious.
Trudeau remembers his father was rather angry.
"He turns to us and says, 'Boys, you know the Chinese use to look at Westerners as barbarians. You know, you guys are giving him reason to.'"
During the 1973 trip to China, Margaret Trudeau accompanied her husband while she was eight months pregnant with Alexandre.
"The idea when you're pregnant to travel around — to be involved in a state visit — was completely remarkable and strange for the Chinese, but I think... in some ways sort of inspirational to see," says Alexandre Trudeau.
There's nothing physical about travel according to Trudeau. He defines the experiences as intellectual and even spiritual.
"We travel because it's the work of our soul… to try and you know get closer to who we are in one way and another way abnegate who we are."
Listen to the full conversation at the top of this web post.
This segment was produced by The Current's Kristin Nelson.