It was the kind of moment that the organizers of the Asia Society’s cultural mission to China had been hoping for. As Chinese-American cellist Yo-Yo Ma (馬友友) performed an eclectic, quirky concert showcasing US culture, one of China’s rising political stars gave her blessing, standing up to wave to the crowd between pieces.
With tensions rising between the two powers, the concert was a rare moment when art really did seem to transcend politics.
The event was part of the US-China Forum on the Arts and Culture, which brought over such artists as Ma, actress Meryl Streep, director Joel Coen and authors Amy Tan and Michael Pollan. It included an organic cooking class (in the land of MSG and pesticides), a discussion on media censorship (in a country with elaborately monitored Internet), movie screenings and, at the evening concert on Friday last week, the improbable sight of Ma and Streep mock-kowtowing to each other, ending up prostrate on the floor and leaving the mostly Chinese audience in stitches.
“Our intention was to be spontaneous and somewhat risk-taking,” said Orville Schell of the Asia Society, which organized the festival. “That was initially unsettling to the Chinese, but I think they were intrigued to see this engine of innovation at work.”
The program was widely covered and praised in the official Chinese media and on informal social networking sites. It was embraced by the senior official, Liu Yandong (劉延東), a member of the Chinese Communist Party’s powerful politburo and the country’s highest-ranking female politician. Schell said there were discussions about a return engagement next year.
However, its success raises an uncomfortable question for the US: Why are there not more programs like it?
Many Chinese are fascinated by the US and it remains a top destination for China’s young people to study. Some US programs do send musicians or speakers to China and invite Chinese opinion makers to see the US firsthand, but the four-day US-China Forum event highlighted how unusual it is for Washington to provide broad access to US culture beyond pirated Hollywood movies.
“They’re [the US] not nearly as proactive as other countries,” said Alex Pearson, a Briton who runs an independent bookstore in Beijing and an international literary festival. “Their embassy has an arts section, but they don’t seem to have any money.”
It was not always thus.
During the Cold War, the US Information Agency ran extensive cultural programs, including America Centers that were part of the fabric of many countries. In places like South Africa, the agency helped foster democracy and civil society. It was a victim of the post-Soviet “peace dividend” — its budget was cut in 1998 and most of the centers were closed.
Some financing was restored after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, but the efforts were then aimed mostly at the Muslim world.
“Since 9/11, the US has been in a very risk-averse position,” said Nicholas Cull, professor of public diplomacy at the University of Southern California. “It’s gone into a shell.”
The US Department of State runs a Bureau for Educational and Cultural Affairs with a budget of nearly US$500 million, but most of its money goes to programs that invite foreigners to the US to study or visit. Officials said only US$16 million goes on cultural diplomacy around the world. They said they could not provide a precise figure for the total spent in China, but suggested that it could be as much as US$2 million.
While significant, the four-day US-China Forum last week cost US$1 million to produce. It was sponsored by the Asia Society, the Aspen Institute and other private organizations.
US officials say they are trying to do more. The US embassy said spending was increasing, including a program of matching grants to set up America Centers at Chinese universities.
“Our programs are generally addressed to Chinese opinion leaders, youth and policy experts, and seek to supplement and fill out the great flow of information about the US offered by the thousands of cultural, educational and professional exchange programs planned and operated by the non-federal sector,” an embassy statement said.
Still, the US feels absent in Beijing’s intellectual life.
“I’ve never heard of American cultural programs,” said Tan Wei, a 24-year-old office worker who was recently visiting the British Council. “We can buy a lot of American literature and movies in stores, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen an American speak.”
Most striking is the lack of a US cultural center in Beijing.
The Beijing American Center, an office for educational exchanges, has no significant Internet presence and no publicly available schedule of events. The most recent event posted in Chinese is a four-year-old movie festival.
By contrast, countries like Spain, Germany, France and Britain all have cultural centers in Beijing with libraries, as well as film and lecture series. The British Council, Alliance Francaise, Germany’s Goethe-Institut and Spain’s Instituto Cervantes all have budgets of more than US$2 million a year to spend in China, a figure that does not include embassy spending on culture.
For many Chinese, they offer a steady diet of alternative sources of information and perspectives. Many events are packed with young people and academics.
“We believe in the importance of being present,” said Inma Gonzalez Puy, who heads the Cervantes center in Beijing.
In cities like Berlin, private organizations have filled the gap in US cultural presence. The American Academy in Berlin hosts more than a dozen resident US academics, artists and musicians each semester, and dozens of speakers each year. Schell’s dream is to create something similar in Beijing.
Although China’s rulers are wary of independent bodies, they have permitted other countries to set up open-door cultural centers, and the Chinese Communist Party is promoting the power of culture as a way to improve China’s international image and its somewhat frayed international ties. That was part of the reason the US-China Forum was able to stage its events in Beijing’s prestigious National Center for the Performing Arts, Schell said.
“These things are best done people to people,” Schell said. “The key was we were all friends having fun. It wasn’t a political concoction.”
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