Exporting Chinese martial arts, Buddhism, Confucianism to the West

I would advocate that China would exert its influence in the West by
exporting not only durable goods but also cultural products.
Spaghetti, pasta, paper, gun powder, the compass - are examples of
Chinese made products and inventions that were exported to the West.
So are many other cultural aspects of Chinese culture, such as Chinese
restaurants and Bruce Lee martial arts movies.

Having said that, I believe that President Hu Jintao should embark on
the same path undertaken by Chinese rulers in the past, that had
turned Chinese culture into a dominant force throughout East and
South-
East Asia: Korea, Thailand, Japan, Vietnam, Burma (Myanmar) were all
dominated and influence by us in the last 2500 years. All these
countries have Confucianism, Chinese manuscript, chopsticks, Shaolin
Budhism that spawned martial arts and other forms of literature, way
of life and philosophy.

Nowadays we see Hollywood dominating the world culturally; the US
military is all over the map, including in China's back door - the
Philippines, Japan, Azerbaijan etc; the US dollar as the world's de-
facto currency; Christians missionaries attempting to convert people
from traditional religions to Catholicism or Protestantism.

So the punch line of this post is to call on President Hu Jintao and
his executive committee to export our great traditions all over the
world. Make Americans learn Chinese like we do English; convert people
into Budhism and Confucianism; make people eat with chopsticks rather
than forks and knives; remember - we used to be the highest-cultured
nation in the world only 500 years ago, at a time when Europeans were
considered barbarians.

Like the low-budget Bruce Lee Kung Fu flicks in the 1970s, that worked
to spike an interest in Oriental martial arts, we need to find ways to
influence other peoples' cultures, like the British have their own.

David Huang

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