EU exchange creates knowledge gap
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The point could be illustrated by other statistics such as the number of Chinese studying European languages compared to Europeans studying Chinese. The sales of music, films and other products would tell the same story.
This imbalance in the flows of culture of course looks good for Europe, which can see this as a success, even if it does not always directly produce measurable results in terms of sales or power of the soft or normative type that Europeans like to believe they have. Still, the EU can point to the direct influence it has in some areas of policy making in China. For instance, much Chinese legislation and policy in areas such as social welfare and the environment is heavily influenced by European models.
The EU has a huge and growing cultural surplus with China, but as in the case of trade imbalances, this brings with it a downside. The cost for Europe of its cultural surplus is a large knowledge deficit. In the process of cultural exchange China will learn from Europe, and also about Europe.
But the opposite is not happening to the same degree. While a reasonably educated Chinese is exposed broadly to European cultures, and probably in depth in his or her area of specialty, even the most educated European will have almost no direct exposure to Chinese culture or knowledge of China.
If Europe is to respond adequately to the rise of China, then it will have to accept greater equilibrium in cultural exchange. While many Chinese are eager to learn from and about Europe, the reverse is not generally the case.
Indeed, very few Europeans would believe they have anything to learn from China. Of course not all Europeans can or should learn Chinese, read Chinese books or study in China. But Europe will have to make a greater effort to redress the current imbalance. Even if Europe does not wish to learn from China, there is a need to learn about China.
The author is a senior researcher at Brussels Institute Contemporary China Studies.
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