China is striving to dissolve the misconception of its
development as the "China threat" in the wake of its rapid economic
growth, by making its traditional value systems known to the
world.
"It's high time to make ourselves better understood by people
all of the world," said Prof. Du Ruiqing, former president of the
Xi'an International Studies University.
Once they come to know the Chinese people better, they would
find out that harmony is an essential part of the Chinese tradition
and a country that highly values harmony will absolutely pose no
threat to the rest of the world, acknowledged Prof. Du at the
ongoing 17th annual international conference of the Sino-American
Education Consortium.
According to Du, now a visiting scholar at the State University
of Kennesaw, US, culture is a soft power that penetrates
effectively to quench the misunderstanding and hostilities between
the people of different races.
He said China should help people in other nations acquaint
themselves with the Chinese culture, including its traditions,
religions and particularly the Chinese way of thinking. "This will
help China overcome its 'cultural deficit'," he told the conference
in Chengdu, capital of southwest China's Sichuan Province.
In fact, the "cultural deficit" as he refers to has caught much
attention from Chinese officials and scholars in recent years.
In terms of international exchanges and trade in culture, "we
still have a very bad deficit to resolve", says Zhao Qizheng,
former minister of China's State Council Information Office.
What runs counter to China's fast-growing economy, and what has
been expanding by an average 9.6 percent yearly from 1979 to 2004,
Zhao said.
China's booming economy has resulted in a worldwide craze in the
Chinese language and culture studies.
In the United States alone, nearly 800 colleges and universities
have Chinese courses, and about 2,400 high schools and 2,500
primary schools are planning to teach the Chinese language and
culture soon.
"We really need to help our students understand what China is
really like. And a Chinese course is already on our agenda," said
Jeri Hatler, principal of Marietta City School in Georgia.
China's Ministry of Education says that approximately 40 million
people are learning Chinese as a foreign language worldwide and the
figure will hit 100 million by 2010.
By then, it adds, the world will be in need if at least 5
million Chinese teachers to teach overseas students.
In China, about 6,000 teachers are teaching 110,000 foreign
students Chinese, said Prof. Deng Shizhong, an international
education specialist with the Southwest University of Finance and
Economics.
"Another 34,000 are working overseas. But the group is still too
limited in scale to cope with a growing demand from international
students who wish to study Chinese language and culture," he
said.
In an effort to promote Chinese language and culture abroad,
China plans to set up 100 "Confucius Institutes" around the world
to help foreigners learn Chinese.
On the other hand, the country has been exerting itself to
present its culture to the world by staging heritage exhibitions
and art performances abroad. "These endeavors tell its aspiration
to present a true, peace-loving China to the world," said Dr. Wan
Yiping, president of Sino-American Education Consortium.
"An open China is appealing to the people the world over. I am
convinced that the Chinese will become an increasingly popular and
widely used international language in the decades ahead," Prof.
Deng said.
(Xinhua News Agency May 29, 2006)
