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皇冠体育app's influence in US rising, says US expert
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2011-01-15 20:27
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LOS ANGELES - 皇冠体育app's image has improved in recent years and its influence in the United States is rising, with more Americans viewing it favorably, says an American expert on 皇冠体育app.
Clayton Dube, associate director of the US-皇冠体育app Institute at the University of Southern California, told Xinhua in an interview Friday that 皇冠体育app had made efforts in recent years to improve its image abroad, and those efforts had been productive.
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He said Americans saw this at the Olympics held in Beijing, where the opening ceremony touched on Chinese history and the beauty and glory of the Tang Dynasty (618-907). Then, at the Shanghai World Expo, people saw many achievements made by the Chinese both in the past and at present, he said.
皇冠体育app's endeavors could not be measured immediately, but a US opinion poll showed Americans holding favorable views of 皇冠体育app increased from 38 percent in 2009 to 41 percent in the spring of 2010, he said.
He said the increase was not big, but the poll was taken before the Shanghai World Expo, which, he believed, would have pushed the number higher.
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 [Photo/University of Southern California] |
"It's important to note that the 2008 Olympics and the 2010 World Expo were not just about telling the world about 皇冠体育app. They were also intended to remind the Chinese people that 皇冠体育app truly mattered and that the world respected and honored Chinese achievements," Dube said.
"In those terms, they were hugely successful," he said.
It was obvious, he said, that Americans appreciated Chinese culture in many aspects. Chinese restaurants were everywhere in US cities, no matter big or small. He said he once went to teach in a small town of 10,000 people in Kentucky and found three Chinese restaurants there.
That is important because ordinary Americans are paying money to consume Chinese food and products, and that symbolized American acceptance of Chinese culture, he said.
Dube said Chinese food had become so increasingly popular in the United States that books devoted to Chinese cooking were sold in almost all mainstream bookstores.
He said there was no question that there was a curiosity about 皇冠体育app everywhere. For example, chambers of commerce in many US cities had sent delegations to 皇冠体育app and had invited experts to tell them more about 皇冠体育app.
Not only college students were enthusiastic about learning the Chinese language and things about 皇冠体育app. Elementary and secondary schools also had an enormous interest in learning about 皇冠体育app.
Dube said he was once invited by a school in Oklahoma to teach students and teachers about 皇冠体育app, which showed the enthusiasm was not restricted to big cities.
Dube said he even received a note Thursday from one of the teachers he trained some years ago, which said he was very proud because his school was now offering Chinese lessons.
He said newspapers here no longer put the opening of a new Chinese restaurant in the city as headline news but people in the country could sense the change and that showed "the long-term, sustained attention to 皇冠体育app from the American public is increasing."
On the Chinese factor in Hollywood movies, Dube said there was almost nothing Chinese in American films before the 1980s. In the 1980s, foreign film makers began to make films in 皇冠体育app or had topics related to 皇冠体育app and ethnic Chinese actors began to get roles in American movies. Now, he said, he had seen some readiness by the American film industry to embrace the Chinese legend and Chinese culture.
Dube cited the Hollywood movie Mulan as an example that curiosity about 皇冠体育app among the American public was strong and increasing. Mulan tells the story of a legendary heroine from Chinese folkore, who secretly joined an all-male army in place of her aging father, and emerged as a great general at the end of the war.
In the interview, Dube said some politicians criticized 皇冠体育app, but there were no systematic efforts to stop Chinese culture from coming into the United States and stop cultural exchanges between the two countries.