"Heart of Darkness" in Asia

Asia has always seemed exotic and mysterious, "the Orient" to Europe's "civilized and "improved" society. In much the same way that Joseph Conrad compares the Congo to Europe as the "heart of darkness", the Congo is comparable to Asia. Joseph Conrad makes the Congo Europe's hypocritical venture into the unknown, seeking to "civilize", but in reality only destroying and exploiting.  Asia is always seen as the peculiar and strange side of Europe. It's accents are foreign, but not sophisticated, its achievements seen other worldly. When we talk about Asia we use tones of awe and wonderment, isolating this continent from reality. We visit and marvel at the wonders these countries hold, or volunteer to help in places like India or Tibet, but we end up only exploiting these countries turning them into peripheral economies. We use China primarily for work we don't want to dirty our hands with, such as sweatshops and horrible working conditions, but then we profit and thrive off this exploitation. We need to treat Asia as our equal and above all human and not lesser than.