Culture is often regarded as a nice-to-have addition besides economic and political co-operation. It is all the more remarkable that, during German Federal Chancellor Merkel's first visit to China in May 2006, China's Premier Wen Jiabao and Ms Merkel agreed that education, culture and science would be priority sectors to further deepen the already excellent relations between the two countries.

This may be easier said than done. The cultural exchange between China and Germany has already experienced a previously unimaginable upturn.

Performances by German orchestras in China are just as common today as Chinese films are in German cinemas. Contemporary Chinese avant-garde art is sold at top prices in international art markets, and to exhibit in Beijing or Shanghai ranks high on the wish lists of the international artists' and collectors' elite.

China's cultural scene today is much richer and more diverse than 20 years ago. Nowadays, China reaches out more actively worldwide in order to foster the interest in its language and its culture in other nations, notably by establishing Chinese cultural centres and by promoting Confucius institutes. The Chinese Government recently identified culture as a "major task" of its foreign policy, pointing out that China must spread its culture abroad to let the world better understand the country.

The Goethe Institute in Beijing was set up as early as 1988 - actually the first foreign cultural institute in New China. While in the beginning the institute was only allowed to hold language courses, such restrictions are now history. The Chinese Cultural Centre in Berlin is scheduled to open in spring 2007. At the same time, Confucius institutes are mushrooming, and one can expect about seven of these to become operational in Germany by the end of this year. As Confucius said: "Is it not a delight after all to have friends come from afar?" Whereas Confucius Institutes are a matter of co-operation between universities, they receive financial support and political backing by both governments - a very future-oriented model of public-private partnerships.

Language is indeed a key factor in deepening exchanges. Introducing Chinese as a foreign language in German schools has just begun.

And further joint efforts are badly needed to spread German as a foreign language in China's middle schools; statistics show that the number of Chinese university and middle school students learning German is lower than in Japan and only a fraction of the number in Russia.

History of academic co-op

Academic exchanges between China and Germany started in the early 20th century. As of today, there are over 300 co-operation agreements between German and Chinese universities, supported and co-ordinated by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD).

With almost 25,000 students, Chinese students have become the biggest group of foreign students in Germany. Many of them have in the meantime returned to China to take up important academic and administrative positions.

Just as important are the many thousands of scientists from all fields who have created a dense network of academic and personal relationships. In 2005, 56 German universities and colleges were conducting joint research and study programmes with Chinese partner institutions. The Tongji University with its Chinese-German College in Shanghai and the Sino-German Centre for Research Promotion in Beijing are outstanding examples. The Max Planck Society operates a joint research institute with the Shanghai branch of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

An outline of Sino-German cultural exchanges would be incomplete without mentioning sports. Just two examples: The recent football world-cup in Germany was followed with enthusiastic interest by hundreds of millions of Chinese, and the orderly and friendly atmosphere greatly strengthened international confidence in the German people as a peace-loving nation; the German Football Association regularly invites Chinese football coaches for further training. Secondly, sailing: China, as the host of the 2008 Olympics, is faced with the challenge to set up sailing infrastructure in Qingdao, and the north-German city of Kiel - host of many Olympic water sports competitions - is proud to provide advice in this regard.

The cultural relations between China and Germany will hopefully reach one of their peaks in 2007 and 2008, when a series of "German Weeks" will be carried out in several major Chinese cities, shedding light on many aspects of German culture and way of life. Furthermore, a "German Information Centre" (GIC) is being established within the German Embassy in Beijing, as one of only three such centres worldwide.

The new GIC and the Goethe Institute will bundle their efforts to provide information for Chinese Internet users on more broadly based, professional and attractive websites.

Future relations

Looking towards the future, the challenge is not only whether cultural relations can catch up with the breathtaking speed in which our economic co-operation has developed. The quantity of cultural and educational exchanges alone does not automatically lead to mutual acceptance and understanding. China and Germany (as well as other Western countries) still remain sort of "foreign" to one another in certain cultural areas.

Both sides' perceptions of one another continue to be unavoidably affected by stereotypes, cliches and prejudices to some extent. Therefore in line with the changing nature of our economic relations - we need to make the transition from "export" to "exchange" and then to "co-operation" also in the cultural field.

History indicates that a rapid increase in encounters between people from different nations without a better understanding of the respective culture can even create the potential for conflict.

But according to Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, the danger of serious misunderstandings seems not too great between China and Germany. As he pointed out in his letter to his friend Eckermann in 1827, "the Chinese people think, act, and feel almost exactly like we do, and you can very soon feel like one of them " So it seems that, though geographically far away from each other, our two countries have far more in common than we realize.

(China Daily 09/13/2006 page17)