To 27-year-old Zack from New York, the trip to China is like opening a pop-up book, after which China's rich culture became "alive" from the original rigid images of China, like Kung Pao Chicken and Kung Fu.

Globetrotter Zack Wilson recently visited the cities of Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing and Yunnan Province, a trip opening his eyes to a cultural China, instead of the national image that is portrayed in politics and business activities.

"China's image tends to be distorted or simplified in the west," Zack said, adding that most media in the west covers China's economy and politics, rather than its culture.

"The only exposure of Chinese culture most foreigners get is Chinese food, Kung Fu movies and the Olympic Games. Few foreigners have been exposed to the philosophies, cultures and history of China," Zack said.

This observation is echoed by former Chinese foreign minister Li Zhaoxing. "In the United States, it is quite rare to see China's programs broadcast on TV," said Li, a member to the National People's Congress.

The influence of the culture of the United States, Japan and the Republic of Korea is quite widespread in China, but Chinese culture, despite its 5,000 years of history, still has a limited impact worldwide.

"I believe China, as one of the oldest and richest cultures in the world, has a significant amount of good it can contribute to the world, especially with concepts such as harmony," Zack said.

China has made some efforts in introducing China's culture to the outside world.

More than 300 Confucius Institutes and 300 Confucius Classrooms were set up in 98 countries and regions worldwide in the past five years.

Confucius' hometown, Qufu City, in east China's Shandong Province, plans to build a base for students of Confucius Institutes to experience Chinese culture.

"Many of Confucius' theories are still valid today, such as 'seeking harmony rather than uniformity' or 'people resent inequality more than scarcity," said Kong Deyong, chairman of the World Federation of Confucius' Descendants.

In terms of the going-out of Chinese literature, Anne Thielen, head of the literature department at FNAC Belgium, the largest bookstore in Brussels, said that "Novels by Chinese authors represent around 5 percent of the novels we have here in the bookstore".

Prof. Francoise Lauwaert, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, said that Chinese writers and universities should cooperate more with their counterparts in Europe and introduce more interesting and true stories of China.

"Some cultural forms, such as traditional literature and acrobatics, are quite popular in foreign countries, but generally speaking, we still have too few popular carriers of our culture and the quality of the cultural products should be further improved, said Lu Fengding, former Ambassador to Sweden.

Further, traditional culture should be present to the outside world in a holistic way. Confucius Institutes should spread the core value of Chinese culture, rather than just the language itself, Lu said.

"I hope to see more masterpieces by Chinese writers and their work should have quality translations into foreign languages and good marketing," Lu said.

"Just as McDonald's has to localize to suit the Chinese taste, in order to be accepted by foreign audiences, our cultural products should also be presented in ways that can satisfy foreign tastes," said Chen Jianguo, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.

"For the contributions of Chinese culture to be seen and accepted internationally, China needs to open its media to become more credible and entertaining to the rest of the world," Zack said.

(Xinhua News Agency March 14, 2011)