China's Growing Influence in the World

Within the last several decades - and even inside of these last several months of this writing - China, its culture, history, people, and even the land itself have captivated the increasing attention of people across the globe.

Ubiquitous Culture

More commonly known cultural events such as the Lunar New Year and the summertime Dragon Boat Festival take place everywhere. These cultural events sport the appropriately red-and-gold varnish viewed by people abroad as "Chinese style decorations." Similarly in our vocabulary we have "Chinese New Year," (sometimes called Spring Festival), a time of year that is actually celebrated by agricultural societies across the world - not just in China. We also have "Chinese chopsticks," again an example of something used not only in China, but throughout Asia and beyond. Despite being attended by peoples of other Asia-Pacific cultures such Vietnam, Malaysia, Japan, and even Hawaii, I recently partook a local "Dragon Boat Festival" whose theme was decidedly Chinese.

In her wonderful book, The Fortune Cookie Chronicles, Chinese-American author Jennifer 8. Lee (yes, her middle name is "8.") provides us with a light-hearted accounting of an unquestionably Chinese cultural institution: the fortune cookie. As a surprising conclusion to one of her many delightful stories, Lee tells us the fortune cookie may likely had its origin in Japanese culture.

Among the several examples mentioned - the decorations, the chopsticks, the festivals and the food - these things are fervently shared by or even originated from non-Chinese lands. However, in the minds of many people (from the West especially) they are somehow ubiquitously attributed as "Chinese."

The Topic of Discussion

China is the topic of discussion in many formal venues. These include politics, academia, government, as well as business institutions such as international chambers of commerce and the hundreds of business conventions they hold both in China and lands abroad. Discussion about China spans the globe and covers the gamut. The conversation shows up at any time now, and in the most unlikely of places: two brothers from India who successfully closed a profitable China business deal recently decided to celebrate their success together, not surprisingly over a meal of Chinese food...in Prague.

"Made in China"

Closer to home, China greets us everywhere. What household (for example, in America) can say that it does not have several products bearing the message "Made in China." I recently visited a bicycle store and saw a product label curiously stating, "Proudly assembled in the USA of foreign-made components". In turning the bicycle this way and that, I saw various other labels stating, "Component made in China." In my local grocery store I spotted more than several food items - among them ginger and garlic - marked, "Product of China."

The "Middle Kingdom"

While modern China has greatly unraveled a decades-long policy of fanatic isolationism fostered by its founder, Chairman Mao Zedong, China remains in many ways the "Middle Kingdom" - the name China gives itself in its own native tongue. As the Middle Kingdom, China greatly remains within its own mind the immovable stone, the Middle of the Universe - the only known, trusted, and civilized country in a world filled with many other seemingly strange countries.

While a similar national world outlook can be attributed to practically every other country on the globe, what brings the spotlight to bear on China recently is the extremity of its example. China is a nation of 1.4 billion people. It is a nation that has risen quickly from an isolated "third-world" status to a "significant global player" - so much so that Western countries, mired in economic downfall, seek relief in China's massive coffers to bail out their collective woes.

A Global Enbranglement

While the fact may not be a palatable notion for some, so embrangled has the world become with China, that we cannot go onward without paying it serious consideration. When China scratches an itch, we feel it on this side of the world. When China suffers from an implacable ill, we here in foreign lands likewise suffer along with China in some way. While the effects of China's joys and woes may not be direct, they necessarily reverberate throughout the world.