I recently traveled to China with a congressional delegation. As I boarded the Air China plane, the flight attendants were welcoming, accommodating, and professional. They seemed to take great pride in their work. One stood up before the passengers to give the usual spiel about how to buckle your seatbelt and negotiate other safety measures—a talk few people pay attention to. What then followed was quite unusual. The security team leader authorized by the Security Administration Act of the People’s Republic of China made an announcement: there will be penalties and punishments for noncompliance, including for “behaviors that would disrupt the normal order of the cabin.” I wrote a note to myself: “What a different world I’m entering.”

China is a country fraught with contradictions. China has a capitalist-communistic system; China seeks to overcome past humiliations with increasing aggressiveness; China has rapidly expanded economic freedom while restraining many others.

A brief review of recent history can perhaps give some insight. In the latter part of the 20th century, Chairman Mao’s Cultural Revolution starved millions and firmly established communist rule. In the late 1970s and 1980s, Deng Xiopeng delivered another model by ending agricultural collectivization and realizing the potential of the market system. The current President Xi Jinping has moved quietly to consolidate political power and reconcile a market economy with ancient tradition and collectivist control. He is considered the core, a fatherly figure of virtue who will shepherd China’s new ascendency. China is now repositioned as a rising power.

The underlying driver of it all is China’s economy. The country has a strong work ethic and dedication to individual advancement. However, a number of industries are state-owned. Until recently, China achieved an astounding 10% per year growth rate. At the same time, China’s economic development has great costs, contributing to extreme wealth disparity and severe environmental degradation. Beijing is so polluted that living there strikes five and a half years off an average lifetime. One Chinese person whispered to me, “What’s the point of all this economic growth if it kills you?” Interestingly, China is emerging as a world leader in advancing the use of renewable resources.

Regarding questions of security, China desires to overcome its past dominance by foreign powers. In relation to America, China claims that plenty of room remains in the Pacific for two superpowers. Yet shared power is a foreign concept to the Chinese. China values stability, yet expanding Chinese ambition in the South China Sea is disturbing the region’s normal nautical equilibrium. America pushes China to try and control its neighbor, North Korea, from its destabilizing and nationalistic militarism, but the effectiveness of China’s efforts has been unclear—and at this point matters may be beyond their control.

Finally, in a very privileged meeting with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, we had a frank and open conversation about our need for friendship, honest discussion about differences, and harmonious relations. The congressional delegation and I talked about a range of issues including North Korea, the South China Sea, the issue of intellectual property rights, and censorship. I thought it was particularly important to use the Chinese concept of individual economic liberty to press for additional space for religious expression. I quoted China’s president, who has called for a spiritual and cultural renewal. In return, I received a polite and thorough answer about the Chinese constitution’s guarantee of religious freedom and the Confucian religious tradition. Ironically, as we were meeting, crosses were being removed elsewhere in the country in an ongoing “beautification” campaign that over two years has eliminated an estimated 2,000 crosses from churches.

As I wandered through Tiananmen Square under the watchful eye of the image of Chairman Mao, I felt safe from crime and any hostility, or even any security scrutiny. The Chinese citizens around me appeared to go about their business with a curious indifference to my presence. In the side streets, beyond the formal government buildings and urban skyscrapers, it was a bit of a different flavor; the people were welcoming and friendly, eager to smile and engage.

From my hotel room window, Beijing showed itself a thriving metropolis of modern offices, hotels, apartments, luxury retail, and neon lights. On closer examination, right below me, I saw an old neighborhood of traditional Chinese architecture, preserved from modern development: a maze of narrow alleyways, curving peaked roofs made of clay tile, and a type of functioning poverty. And next to that was another startling sight, what I believed to be a “Patriotic” Catholic Church, a 100 year old structure reopened after the Cultural Revolution. China truly is a curious mix of seemingly contradictory forces that marches toward ever increasing power.